⭐ Advanced Text Editor Is Already in Beta

Users with a Telegram Premium subscription and a Beta version of the Telegram app can now send Rich Formatting messages from the new full-screen text editor.

It includes many styling options: headings, tables, LaTeX math formulas, code blocks, block quotes, expandable spoilers, collages, carousel slideshows, and more. We provide more details about the new editor UI in our initial post.

In the past few weeks, the feature only worked on the test server, but is now available to everyone with a Premium subscription. To try the feature at this stage, you must use the Beta versions of the Telegram apps: version 12.9 if you're on mobile (Telegram for Android and Telegram for iOS), or version 6.9.4 of Telegram Desktop.

Beta versions of the Telegram apps:
• Android: official channel
• Telegram Desktop (Windows/macOS/Linux): official website
• iOS: not available for new testers at the moment.

The editor is available under 📎 Attach › Article. Alternatively, in mobile apps you can tap the ↖ icon above the “Send” button.

Subscribe to @betainfo — our second channel. There, our team shares all the new features discovered in the Telegram beta versions.

#Android #iOS #Desktop #Beta

Fullscreen Rich Text Editor, Communities, New GIF Search, and Ephemeral Messages

Telegram for Android and iOS updated to version 12.9, while Telegram Desktop updated to version 7.0. In its July update, Telegram brings a much more extensive variety of text formatting options, communities, and much more:

• Advanced Text Editor: Users can now send Rich Formatting messages from the new full-screen text editor. It includes many styling options: headings, tables, lists, quotes, LaTeX math formulas, code blocks, and expandable spoilers. It also allows users to mix photos and videos right in the middle of messages by creating collages or carousel slideshows.

The editor is available under 📎 Attach › Article. Alternatively, in mobile apps you can tap the ↖ icon above the “Send” button. The full-screen editor allows users to send messages that are up to 32,768 characters long.

Most of the key features of the full-screen editor are only available to Premium users, although the full-screen UI itself can be used for free.

• Communities: Organize communities that bring theme-related chats, channels, or even bots closer together. You can't add big entities, though: Telegram limits chats and channels by their member count. The @tginfo editors are still researching the limitations of this feature.

Make sure not to confuse communities with forums: each chat and channel remains independent, while users can view the list and join each separately.

Community chats can be visible to all members or be hidden, in which case only community admins and the members of the hidden chat can see it. Community chats and channels can merge into a single item in the chat list — this is controlled by each community member for themselves.

• Ephemeral messages for bots: Bots and users can now message and reply to each other privately even in the middle of a group chat — such messages are visible only to the specific recipient and the bot that sent them. Ephemeral commands and replies to them are marked with a special 👁 crossed-out eye icon.

When a command is ephemeral, the user's initial message remains fully invisible to all members and bots, which allows confidential interactions to take place even in public spaces. Besides, such messages will be invisible if you log into your account from a new device.

• Updated GIF Search: The GIF panel now searches across 350 million GIF animations in 36 languages. The search engine works thanks to Telegram's indexing of widely shared, publicly available GIFs using the in-house Cocoon AI project. Alas, Telegram doesn't clarify what “publicly available” entails.

The change was caused by Google shutting down access to its Tenor GIF library. Telegram claims the new GIF search is private and doesn't depend on third-party services, and adds that it works much faster than before.

Article: telegram.org/blog/communities-editor-invisible-messages/

Download the update
• Android: Google Play, APK from the official website or verified channel.
• iOS: App Store.
• Windows/macOS/Linux: official website or GitHub.
• Windows: Microsoft Store.
• Linux: Flathub or Snapcraft.

#update #Android #iOS #Desktop

Welcome Messages, Article Buttons, New Table Options

The August Telegram update coincides with the messenger's 13th birthday: the mobile apps have updated to version 12.10, while Telegram Desktop has received a version 7.1 update. This update introduces the following features:

• Welcome Messages: Admins can set and edit up to 3 welcome messages in their groups and channels. The message appears for the user when they join the chat or channel, but it is ephemeral and invisible to other members.

To set a welcome message, open group or channel Settings > Welcome Message. Only the owner and admins with “Manage Welcome Messages” permission can change this setting. Even if you are an admin who had full permissions in a chat or channel, this permission is not granted by default.

• Buttons in Articles: Users can now turn part of the text in paragraphs into buttons that are styled to look like links. The feature is available in the built-in full-screen article editor on Android and Desktop, but not iOS.

The buttons can currently perform three types of actions: Link, Copy, or User Profile. The created button can be configured — for example, the style of the button can be set to dangerous (red), success (green), or primary (theme accent color). On Android you can set the style by tapping the link-button a few times, until you get the needed color.

Keep in mind: Together with inline buttons, Telegram introduced full-sized buttons in articles. There are differences in how they are created across platforms:
• Android: Type the / symbol and select “Button” in the dropdown menu.
• iOS: Tap “+” and select “Button Row”.
• Desktop: Tap 🔗 and choose “Button”.

• New Table Formatting Options: The Rich Text tables received a few extra options: you can now remove cell borders or use Compact style to reduce inner padding in the table so it takes up less space.

Download the update
• Android: Google Play, APK from the official website or verified channel.
• iOS: App Store.
• Windows/macOS/Linux: official website or GitHub.
• Windows: Microsoft Store.
• Linux: Flathub or Snapcraft.

#update #Android #iOS #Desktop