Telegram — not just a messenger for communication. It's a full-fledged application that is constantly updated, opening up new opportunities for users. Let's look at five interesting, simple, and convenient Telegram features that might have gone unnoticed.

Folders with chats in Telegram

The more chats and channels we are subscribed to, the harder it is to quickly find the desired chat. Telegram offers a solution: create folders for chats. This way you can group chats by categories, such as "Work," "Friends," "News," and so on.

All users can create folders with dozens of chats and share them with friends, colleagues, or subscribers. To do this, just create an invite link to a public group or channel, or to private groups and channels where you are an administrator. By clicking on the link, other users will have the opportunity to add the folder and join all the groups and channels in it.

You can create an invitation link to a public group or channel, as well as to private groups and channels where you are an administrator with the right to invite other users. By the invitation link to the folder, users can join all the chats in it, including private ones, as they received an invitation from the group administrator.

Telegram users can have up to two shared folders, for example, for work chats or discussions with friends. Each folder holds up to one hundred chats. Subscribers to Telegram Premium have access to twenty shared folders, which hold up to two hundred chats, as well as up to one hundred different invitation links for each folder.

How to create a folder for chats in Telegram

• Open settings.
• Select "Chat Folders."
• Create a new folder by adding the necessary chats to it.

After that, you will see the new folder in a separate tab in the chat list.

How to share folders with chats in Telegram

If you want to share a link to a chat folder, click on the folder name in the chat list and select the "Share" option. Or open the menu, select general settings > "Folders with chats." You can also create an invite link to the folders you want to share there.

To avoid getting confused in folders and chats, give each link a unique name. To do this, press and hold on the desired folder. In the menu that appears, select "Customize Folder" and click on the desired link: three dots on Android and "Rename" on iOS.

You can create up to 100 unique invitation links for each folder, giving access to different chats. For example, the "Designers" link will give access to all chats from your work folder, while the "Accounting" link will give access to several.

How to mark a dialogue as unread in Telegram

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it's easy to forget about an important message you planned to read later. Or there are situations when you can't reply right now to a received message or you don't want the user to see a read notification. For such cases, Telegram has a convenient feature that allows you to mark a message as unread.

To do this, press on the dialogue and hold it to bring up the context menu. In it, select "Mark as unread." Alternatively, press on the chat and swipe it to the right, click on the blue "Unread" window. After this, a bold blue dot will appear in the dialogue, indicating that there are messages to be read later.

For those who want to read a message so that the interlocutor does not receive a read notification, Telegram has a chat preview feature. To do this, hold your finger on the dialogue on the main screen, and you will see a preview window with the chat and settings menu. In the thumbnail, you can view the chat by scrolling it up.

Cloud storage in Telegram using Favorites

"Favorites" in Telegram can be used as cloud storage. Collect and store information, easily find and share it without the risk of losing it. By the way, in a Telegram Premium subscription, you can add tags to messages in "Favorites" to find them more easily later.

How to make Favorites a cloud storage

Just open the "Favorites" or "Saved Messages" chat, click on the paperclip in the message field, and upload photos, videos, audio, and other types of files. You can use "Favorites" even without a Telegram Premium subscription. There's just one limitation: without Premium, the saved file must have a weight of up to 2 GB, and with a subscription — up to 4 GB.

Files can be signed and accompanied with explanatory links to find them quickly later. Forwarding a file from "Favorites" to any chat is also not a problem.

Conducting streams and audio rooms in Telegram

In Telegram, you can not only write messages and make calls but also use many additional options: from video chats in the style of Zoom or Skype to audio rooms and full-fledged live broadcasts. For example, conduct a webinar, an audio session, or a stream in the messenger. Here's how.

How to organize audio and video streaming in Telegram

A call can be made either in a group chat or on a channel. Only administrators can do this. They are the authors, and subscribers are the audience. Listeners can be added as speakers using the "Enable microphone" button or by an invitation link. There can be up to thirty speakers, and as many viewers as you want. There are also additional features to choose from: recording broadcast, screen sharing, setting participant rights, and scheduling call start times.

To conduct a broadcast, go to the group where you are an administrator and start or schedule a broadcast by clicking on the quote icon. Set the stream parameters you need: name, camera, microphone, and launch screen sharing if necessary. At the end of the broadcast, the recording will be saved in the "Favorites" chat.

If you are conducting a live broadcast on another platform to stream it on Telegram at the start of the broadcast, click "Start with." In the menu that appears, an individual link and stream key will appear, which you can insert into any streaming program.

Scheduled messages and silent messages in Telegram

If you and your interlocutor are in different time zones and you don't want to disturb them accidentally late at night or early in the morning, use the "Scheduled Messages" or "Send Without Sound" functions. Also with "Scheduled Messages," you can prepare content in advance, scheduling the publication time you want.

To send without sound or by timer, hold the send button with the arrow on the smartphone or right-click the send icon in the desktop version and select "Send Without Sound" or "Send Later."

You can see all the scheduled messages by clicking on the calendar icon button above the text input field in the chat. They can be deleted, edited, copied, and rescheduled.

Now that you are familiar with five useful Telegram features, you can use them as a convenient and useful tool for daily work in the messenger: eliminating chaos in chats, always having the necessary information at hand, saving time, and constantly staying connected with your audience.