In this article
Chat folders exist on every Telegram client, but on desktop you can give each one an icon and move the whole row down the left edge of the window instead of across the top.
On a wide screen that is the difference between four cramped text tabs and a vertical dock you can hit without reading. The clip shows both; below is how to set them up and how far the free limits go.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Give every folder its own icon so you recognise tabs by shape rather than by reading them.
- check_circle Move the folder row to a vertical dock on the left of the window.
- check_circle Switch folders from the keyboard without touching the mouse.
- check_circle Know the folder and chat limits before you design a system around them.
The icon picker opens from inside Edit Folder, not from the tab itself — that is the step people look for and cannot find.
folder Why the layout matters more on desktop
On a phone the folder tabs sit across the top because that is the only place they fit. On a desktop window the top strip is the narrowest part of the screen and the left edge is the tallest — and the left edge is also where your pointer already is when you are picking a chat.
Moving the tabs there costs a little horizontal room and buys a target you can hit without aiming, with the folder name next to its icon rather than truncated to fit.
Folder sets that survive contact with a busy account
The common mistake is one folder per topic, which ends in fifteen tabs nobody reads. These four cover most people, and each says what to exclude — the exclusions do more work than the inclusions.
work Work
group People
feed Reading
smart_toy Bots
The rule behind all four: include by type, exclude by noise.
tune Setting it up
- Right-click a folder tab On Telegram Desktop or the macOS client, right-click any tab and choose Edit Folder.
- Open the icon picker Click the icon slot beside the folder name. A set of icons appears — work, study, money, games, a lock and so on.
- Move the row to the left On macOS this is Settings, then Chat Folders, then the Tabs on the Left switch. On Telegram Desktop the same option lives in the folder settings.
- Learn the shortcut Ctrl and 1 through 9 jump straight to a folder on Windows and Linux, Cmd and 1 through 9 on a Mac. This is faster than any layout.
table_chart The limits
| Limit | Free account | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Folders | 10 | 20 |
| Chats pinned per folder | Limited | Doubled |
| Chats included per folder | 100 | 200 |
Note rules such as "all groups" or "all bots" do not consume the per-chat allowance So a type-based folder has no practical limit
This page is the desktop presentation. The curriculum step covers the folders themselves: how the include and exclude rules combine, unread badges per tab, and sharing a folder as an invite link.
At a glance
- 1Folder icons
Give each folder its own icon so tabs are recognised by shape.
- 2Side dock
Move the folder row to a vertical bar on the left of the window.
- 3Keyboard switching
Jump between folders with keyboard shortcuts.
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