In the HelpDeskEddy system, it is possible to process tickets using a new channel – Telegram messenger.

To configure it, you need to create a bot.

What are bots?

Bots are special accounts in Telegram, created in order to automatically process and send messages. Users can interact with bots using messages sent through regular or group chats.

How do bots work?

As already mentioned, bots are special accounts that do not require a phone number when created. In fact, these accounts perform a role of an interface to your service, which run on a remote server.

The most interesting thing about bots is that you do not need to learn low-level methods of working with MTProto and encryption for their creation - communication with the bot is organised using the usual HTTPS interface with simplified Telegram API methods.

How to create a bot?

Just write to the user @BotFather and follow his instructions.

Write the command /newbot to create a new bot. BotFather will ask you for the name of the new bot and prompt you to come up with a username.

The name will be displayed in contacts and chats.

Username is a short name in Latin, which is used for mentioning the bot and in the links to the profile in telegram.me. Username must consist of letters of the Latin alphabet, underlining and digits and be from 5 to 32 characters in length. Also, the username must end with "bot", for example: "TestHDEBot".

After that you can customize your bot in the way you like: to set a picture, description, etc. A complete list of possible commands is available under the command /help.

System configuration

After creating the bot, you will receive an authorisation key that is required to connect to your HelpDeskEddy system.

 Once you have created the bot and got your authorisation key (token), you can connect the created bot to the HelpDeskEddy system. To do this, go to Manage à Configure Incoming Mail à Channels and enter the created key in the required field.

Also, in order for the bot to work with both normal personal messages and group chats, you must specify in your bot's settings:

• /setjoingroups determines whether you can add your bot to the groups  /setjoingroups = enabled;

• /setprivacy determines whether all messages are seen by your bot in groups. In the off status, all messages will be sent to the bot. /setprivacy = disabled.

Please note that messages from Telegram reach the system in real time, without delays.

Thus, the customer, without even going directly to the system, can write inquiries to your helpdesk system using the habitual Telegram messenger, and you, in turn, will be able to process tickets from a single system - without using third-party services.