How to Customize Link Previews in Telegram: Media Size Toggles, Above/Below Text Layout & Multi-URL Selectors
The card that appears under a link is not fixed. It can be large or small, it can sit above your text instead of below it, and when a message has several links you choose which one it belongs to.
Most people never touch any of that, which is why most posts look the way the destination site decided they would.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Switch a preview between a banner and a thumbnail.
- check_circle Move it above the text when the picture leads.
- check_circle Pick which link previews in a message with several.
- check_circle Remove it when it works against you.
The preview options appear on the draft before sending, next to the link itself.
image The picture is the post
In a scrolling feed the preview image is what the eye lands on. Your sentence is read second, if at all. Leaving the layout to whatever the site published means the loudest part of your post was written by somebody else.
Which is why the two controls that look cosmetic are not. A large banner turns the link into the headline; a small thumbnail turns it into a footnote next to your own words. Putting the card above the text makes the picture the opening and your line the caption; leaving it below makes your line the opening and the card the evidence.
None of this changes where the link goes or what the site says about itself. The title and image still come from the destination, and a preview remains a claim made by whoever published the page.
Four layout choices
Each is a different answer to the same question: what should the reader meet first?
| Choose it when | What the reader gets | Where it goes wrong | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large or small card | Large when the image is genuinely good and is the reason to click — a photograph, a chart, a cover | Small keeps the post readable when you are sharing several things, or when the destination's picture is a generic logo. | A full-width banner on every post trains subscribers to scroll past. Size is only emphasis while it is not constant. |
| Above or below the text | Above for an announcement; below for a recommendation | Above, the image opens the post and your words explain it. Below, you say why it is worth reading and the card sits there as the proof. | In a private chat, above is nearly always wrong. The other person is reading your message, not browsing a feed. |
| Several links in one message | Whenever the post contains more than one address | Only one link gets a card, so pick the one you actually want opened rather than accepting the default. | Left alone it takes the first link, which is often a supporting reference rather than the destination that matters. |
| No preview at all | When the site's own image or headline says something you would not have written | The text stays one readable block, which is what a long post with several references needs. | Removing it from something people were meant to click. A card is also a target; a bare link in a wall of text is easy to miss. |
The preview is the picture on your post. Decide it deliberately, or the destination site decides it for you.
settings Setting one up
- Paste the link and write the message The preview appears on the draft.
- Open the preview options Next to the card, before sending.
- Choose large or small By how good the image is, not by habit.
- Choose above or below By what should be read first.
- Pick the link when there are several Rather than accepting the first.
- Remove it when it works against you A clean paragraph beats a bad card.
This page arranges the card under a message. The curriculum step is the message itself: bold and code and quotes, hidden spoilers, and building a post that reads well before any picture is attached to it.
Link preview layout at a glance
Banner against thumbnail, placing the card above or below the text, choosing which link previews, and when to remove it, on one page. Tap to open it at full resolution.
