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Telegram's posting limits for ads

Every ad on Onflow Ads is posted by our bot, so it has to fit the limits Telegram sets for bots. Every builder checks your ad against those limits while you write it, and again before any money is held. An ad that can be built can always be posted exactly as you built it.

The same on every plan

Telegram's limits are the same for everyone. Your plan decides other things, such as how many pictures or buttons an ad may have, but never lets an ad go past Telegram's limits.

How long the text can be​

Telegram allows 4,096 characters in a text post and 1,024 characters in a caption. A caption is the text under a picture or a video. The caption limit is the same whether the post has one picture or a full album; it does not shrink as you add pictures.

Telegram counts characters its own way, and the counter in every builder counts the same way:

  • Formatting is free. Bold, italics and other styles add nothing.
  • A text link counts its words only. The address behind the words is not counted.
  • A web address typed into the text counts in full, every character of it.
  • Most emoji count as two characters, and so do a few rare symbols.

What Onflow Ads adds to your text​

Onflow Ads may add one line under an ad, and the builder keeps room for it, so the counter shows what is left for your own words.

  • Paid Promotions, Cross-Promotion and the exchange keep room for the attribution line, "advertisement via onflowads.com". It is left out when the channel carrying the ad is on Plus or above, but the room is kept either way, because the channel is not known while you write.
  • Syndicate adds its own attribution line, "Source:" with the channel's name and Join. A post that cannot fit with that line is refused when you add it to your library, with the number of characters it is over. See Your Syndicate library.

Pictures, albums and buttons​

Telegram sends several pictures together as an album. An album holds 2 to 10 pictures or videos. Your plan may allow fewer; the builder shows your number.

  • Photos and videos can share an album. Files and audio can only be grouped with their own kind, and an animation (a GIF) is always posted on its own.
  • An album cannot carry buttons. Telegram does not allow buttons under an album. The builder tells you this before you book, and shows the choice it offers.
  • One picture or one video can carry buttons, with the caption above them.

File sizes and picture shapes​

A photo the bot uploads can be up to 10 MB, and a video or other file up to 50 MB. A builder may set a smaller limit of its own, and its upload field says so.

A photo's width plus height can be at most 10,000 pixels, and its long side at most 20:1 times its short side. A picture outside these is refused when you upload it.

When a saved ad no longer fits​

Once a day Onflow Ads checks every ad that is live or still to be posted, and every Pulse draft, against these limits. An ad saved before a limit changed may no longer fit.

If yours is one of them, you get one notice, "Your ad can't be posted as it is", saying which ad and why. Nothing is changed or shortened for you. Open the ad, edit it so the counter is no longer red, and save it. The next check clears the notice's flag.

If something goes wrong​

These cards cover the messages you may see about Telegram's limits, where each one appears and what to do next.

"Your ad can't be posted as it is"​

  • Where you see it:

    In your notifications, by email and in Telegram, naming the ad and the reason.

  • Plans affected:

    Every plan.

  • Why it happens:

    The daily check found that Telegram would refuse the ad as it is saved, for example a caption that is too long or an album with buttons.

  • How to fix it:

    Open the ad from the notice, shorten the text or change the pictures until the builder shows no error, and save it.

"This post can't be licensed: with the attribution line it would be…"​

  • Where you see it:

    On the Syndicate Add to library panel, after you pick a post.

  • Plans affected:

    Every plan.

  • Why it happens:

    The post plus the attribution line would be longer than Telegram allows. The message says how many characters the post itself may have.

  • How to fix it:

    Shorten the post in your channel by the number shown, then add it again.

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