How to Set Default Chat Folders in Telegram: Custom Startup Workspaces, Tab Reordering & Zero-Distraction Inboxes
The folder tabs across the top of the chat list can be reordered, and one of them can be made the one Telegram opens on. That is a small setting with a disproportionate effect, because it decides what you see every single time you open the app.
Most people leave it on everything, which is the one view guaranteed to contain something you were not looking for.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Choose which folder opens first.
- check_circle Put the tabs in the order you use them.
- check_circle Decide what belongs in the opening view.
- check_circle Move between folders without going back to the list.
Dragging a tab changes the order, and the first one is what opens.
folder_special The first screen is a decision
Opening the app puts you somewhere, and that somewhere sets what you do next. Land in everything and you will see the group that has been arguing all afternoon before you see the message you came to answer.
Reordering the tabs moves a folder to the front, and the front one is what opens. Making a small folder — the people you actually converse with — the opening view changes the app from a feed into an inbox.
The others are still one swipe away, which is the point. Nothing is hidden; it is simply not the first thing.
Four ways to arrange the tabs
The right arrangement depends on what you open Telegram to do.
group The conversations
work When it is a tool
feed Subscriptions at the end
rule Three or four, not nine
Put what you came for first and what you browse last. The opening screen is the whole setting.
settings Arranging them
- Open the folder settings From the chat folders section of settings.
- Drag the folder you want to open first to the top That one becomes the default view.
- Order the rest by how often you use them Left to right.
- Put channels last Reading is a separate activity.
- Delete any folder that is never unread It is costing a tab for nothing.
- Swipe between tabs rather than tapping It is faster and needs no aim.
This page arranges the tabs. The curriculum step is what goes in them: the filters that build a folder, separating conversations from subscriptions, unread badges, and the folder structure that makes a large account manageable.
Folder tabs at a glance
The first tab as the opening view, reordering, people first and channels last, swiping between them, and keeping the count small, on one page. Tap to open it at full resolution.
![[Telegram 19] Chat Folders & Left Sidebar Navigation: Custom Icons, Unread Badges & Tab Ordering](https://tgway.com/images/guides/guide_16229.webp)
