Pointing somebody at a moment is a different problem from sending them a video. Telegram has three ways to do it, and which one is right depends on whether the moment is inside a video, inside a conversation, or inside a channel.
All three produce something tappable that lands the reader exactly where you meant, instead of at the top of something long.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Send a link that opens a video at a particular second.
- check_circle Link to one message in a public group or channel.
- check_circle Point at part of a long recording without making anyone scrub.
- check_circle Choose the right one of the three, which is what usually goes wrong.
Tapping a timecode moves the playhead rather than opening anything new — the video you are already looking at simply jumps.
link Three different kinds of "here"
A timecode points into a video. Written beside the video — in its caption, or in a reply to it — a time like 4:12 becomes a link that seeks to that moment.
A message link points at a message. Any message in a public group or channel has one, and opening it takes the reader into that chat at that message with the conversation above and below intact.
A forward takes the message with you. It is the right answer when the reader should not have to go anywhere, and the wrong one when they need the context around it.
Which one, for what
Four situations. Picking the wrong tool here is why so many messages say "it's about halfway through".
play_circle "Watch from here"
link "This post, in that channel"
schedule An hour of recording
text_fields In a private conversation
In order of preference: reply, then timecode, then message link, then forward.
settings Doing each one
- Timecode Write it in the video's caption, or reply to the video and write it there. Plain colon notation, nothing else.
- Chapter list One time and one label per line, in the caption, starting at 0:00.
- Message link Hold the message, choose Copy Link. Paste it wherever you like.
- Reply Swipe the message, or hold it and choose Reply. Fastest of the four and the one people forget.
- Check the colour A timecode that did not turn blue was not attached to a video.
This page is pointing at a moment. The curriculum step is moving the thing itself: what a forward carries with it, when attribution matters, and how a message travels between chats intact.
At a glance
- 1Reply is clearest
Reply to the video so everyone sees the moment in context.
- 2Timecodes
A time in a caption or reply jumps to that second.
- 3Message links
Link one message in a public chat for people outside it.
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