Connecting a Telegram group to Planfix
Planfix can be connected to a Telegram group to receive and reply to messages.
Features
- Single-window operation. Receive all messages from your Telegram group and reply directly from Planfix.
- Process automation. Messages from the group are automatically linked to a corresponding task in Planfix.
- Extended features. Utilize extra features of your custom bot in the group to make working with tasks, customers, or employees easier.
Setup
- Authorize Telegram in Planfix. Each employee who will interact with the Telegram bot and send it commands must do this.
- Add Planfix's bot for Telegram or your own bot to the group.
- Link the Telegram group to a task in Planfix:
- Create a task in Planfix or use an existing one.
- In the Telegram group, write a command to the Planfix bot: /task <New task name> or the number of an existing task without <>.
- After you have linked the task to the Telegram group, new messages from the task will be sent to the Telegram group and messages from the Telegram group will be sent to the task:
Automatic task creation when the bot is added to a group
By default, a task for the group is created manually: after adding the bot, an employee writes the /task command in the group. If the bot was added to the group by someone who is not in the system, nothing happens — no task is created and the command hint is not posted to the group.
This behavior is inconvenient if your clients create groups for communication: they add your bot, send messages and assume you see them, but nothing gets into your system.
To have a task created immediately, enable the bot option "Automatically create task when the bot is added to group" in Account management — Integrations — Messengers — Telegram — Personal bot.
When the option is enabled:
- The task is created immediately after the bot is added to the group, regardless of who added it, and the group is automatically linked to that task.
- If the bot was added by a person who is not in your system, a contact is additionally created for them.
- The message with the list of commands is not sent to that person: commands are available only to account employees. If an employee later joins the group, the commands will work for them as usual.
- If the bot was added by an employee, they will, as before, receive a hint in the group with the list of commands.
When the option is disabled:
- Everything works as before: the task is created by an employee with the /task command, and adding the bot by an outside person does nothing.
Note: a new task for the group is created only if there is no previously linked active task — or if the linked task is inactive (completed or deleted). While the linked task is active, messages from the group continue to go into it.
There is a similar option nearby in the bot settings — "Automatically create task when launching bot ". It works for personal chats: a task is created when the person presses the Start button in the bot. The settings are independent; you can enable either or both. More details: How to create your own Telegram bot.
Additional settings
- Connecting a bot in Telegram is not possible in anonymous mode. Before activating the bot, turn off anonymous mode in the Telegram group settings: Administrators — Remain anonymous:
- When using your own bot in the group, disable GroupPrivacy in BotFather:
Limitations
- There are some limitations when using the integration. They are described in the main article about the integration with Telegram.
- Telegram prohibits any third party from starting a personal conversation with users. So, to write back to someone who has written in the group with a personal message, you must reply to them directly in Telegram.