ONLYOFFICE bot for Telegram available: work with office files while chatting

Meet the newly released ONLYOFFICE bot which allows opening, creating, converting, editing, and collaborating on documents directly within Telegram. Learn all the details below.

How to get started

To start the ONLYOFFICE bot, follow the given link https://t.me/ONLYOFFICE_bot and click the START button.

START NOW

Next time you will launch the bot, simply use the /start command to access the start menu with the available options.

Create and edit files

Using the bot, you can create new files in DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX formats.

• Click the Create button in the menu.
• Select the desired file format: Document, Spreadsheet, or Presentation.
• Enter the file name.

Once done, the bot will send a message containing a link to the created file. By clicking on this link, the corresponding ONLYOFFICE editor will open (depending on the chosen file type).

Once the editing session is complete, the bot will send the file with the saved changes.

Please note: The editing link will deactivate once the modified file is sent. To reopen the file, simply reply to the message containing the file with any text.

Collaborate on files

To co-edit the created file, forward the message with the link to other Telegram users.

The link remains active for 24 hours. Each time someone clicks on it within this period, the timer resets for another 24 hours.

If the link has expired, an error message will appear. Once all participants who accessed the link have closed the editor, the updated file (if changes were made) will be instantly sent to everyone involved.

Open local files

You can send files from your device to the bot to open them in the ONLYOFFICE editors. There are two ways:

• Send a file to the chat without selecting any command.
• Select options via the bot menu: /start -> Open -> Upload a file from device.

In both cases, the bot will send a message with the link to open. If you send several files in one message, the link will be generated for the first file in the message.

Check the file formats available for editing and viewing

Convert files

To convert using the bot, follow these steps:

• /start -> Convert
• Send the file from your device to the bot.
• Choose the format you want the uploaded file to be converted to.

Once completed, the bot will send the converted file directly to the chat in the selected format.

Check the file formats available for converting

Specifics of using the bot in group chats

The bot’s functionality varies when used in a group compared to one-on-one interactions. Please note the following:

• File creation is managed through three commands: /document, /spreadsheet, and /presentation. Users do not manually set the file name. Instead, it is automatically generated using the template: New [format] Date Time UTC.
• Bot interaction varies based on admin rights. Without admin rights, you need to reply directly to the bot, and it cannot access forwarded file messages (except its own). With admin rights, the bot sees all messages, allowing you to forward files without replying directly.
• To regenerate an editor link for a file, reply to the message containing the file and tag the bot. In certain situations, the bot may require admin access rights in the group.
• When opening files, the bot will not respond to files simply sent to the chat. To open a file, use the /open command and reply to the bot with the file in a response message.
• The bot’s language cannot be set universally for the group. Instead, it will respond in the language chosen by each individual user.
• File conversion is not available.

More helpful commands

To get some hints for working with the bot, use the /help command.

By default, the ONLYOFFICE bot uses the language of the Telegram user profile. If such a language is not available in the bot translations, English is used. If you want to change the bot language manually, enter the /lang command.

START BOT