How to Use Telegram Bot Menus: Contextual Command Palettes, Role-Based Access & Quick Action Buttons Guide
Next to the message box in a bot chat there is a menu button. Tap it and you get the bot's commands as a list, each with a description, instead of having to know that it answers to a slash and a word.
Bots used to require memorising their vocabulary. The menu turned them into something you can use without having read anything first, which is most of why they are worth using at all now.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Find out what a bot can do without guessing.
- check_circle Tell the three kinds of button in a bot chat apart.
- check_circle Get a stuck bot back to a known state.
- check_circle Recognise the commands almost every bot understands.
The menu pill replaces the message box for a moment and lists what the bot actually accepts.
menu_open Three kinds of button, and they behave differently
The menu button beside the message box is the bot's own command list, always available, written by its developer. Tapping a command sends it for you. On some bots this button opens a mini app instead of a list, which is a web page inside Telegram rather than a conversation.
The buttons under a message belong to that message. They do things without sending anything visible, and they are the ones that stop working when the message is old — the bot has often forgotten what that message was about.
The keyboard that replaces your keyboard is the third kind. Those buttons send ordinary text; you could type the same words. That is why the bot understands them whether you tap or type.
Four situations with a bot
The first two are how to start. The last two are what to do when it stops making sense.
touch_app Start with the menu, not the message box
checklist The conventional handful
autorenew Nothing is happening
group Talking to a bot in front of people
The menu is the bot's manual and it is one tap away. Read it before typing anything.
settings Working with a bot
- Press start Nothing happens before that; a bot cannot open a conversation with you.
- Open the menu beside the message box And read the commands and their descriptions.
- Tap one rather than typing it No spelling to get wrong.
- Type a slash to search commands Once you know the names.
- Use cancel or start to reset When the bot seems to be waiting for something you cannot identify.
- Keep sensitive requests in the private chat Not in a group where the answer is public.
This page is the bot you open a chat with. The curriculum step is the other kind: bots you call from inside any conversation by typing their name, what an inline query is, and why those never join the chat at all.
Bot menus at a glance
The menu button, the three kinds of button, the conventional commands, resetting a stuck bot, and behaviour in groups, on one page. Tap to open it at full resolution.
![[Telegram 58] Granular Admin Permissions: Principle of Least Privilege & Role-Based Access Control](https://tgway.com/images/guides/guide_18431.webp)
