Telegram folders are filtered views of your chat list. A conversation can appear in several folders; moving between tabs does not create separate copies of its history. Use a folder to find conversations, mute to control alerts, and Archive to move chats out of the main list. These are different actions.
The official folder guide documents Settings → Chat Folders in Telegram apps. Android and iOS have different navigation to Settings, so do not look for an Android-style side menu on an iPhone. On desktop, folders can appear in a sidebar rather than mobile-style tabs.
Create a folder you can maintain
- Open Settings and the chat-folder section.
- Create a folder and give it a recognizable name, such as Work or Reading.
- Add a few specific chats first. Save, open the folder and check the result.
- Add category filters only if you want the folder to change automatically as chats match those rules.
For example, put colleagues and a project group in Work. A Reading folder can include channels while excluding ones you do not want there. An Unread view serves a different purpose: conversations disappear from that view after being read. Their history is not deleted.
Folders support included and excluded chats or categories, according to Telegram's introduction. If a chat is missing, inspect both lists rather than adding it repeatedly. For a predictable shared collection, use explicit chat selections instead of dynamic filters.
Folders do not silence notifications
Putting a noisy group in Work does not mute it. Putting the same group in two folders does not create two independent notification settings. Change alerts in the conversation itself; see notification settings.
Archive is another tool. Whether a chat remains archived depends on its notification behavior and Archive settings, not the name of its folder. See archiving and unarchiving for that separate workflow. A folder is also not a password-protected space for hiding conversations from someone using your unlocked account.
Telegram documents folder synchronization across connected apps, with Secret Chats excluded from its general cross-device synchronization. If a cloud chat or folder differs between devices, confirm the same account is selected and let the apps connect before rebuilding your setup.
Share a folder without exposing the wrong group
Open the folder in Settings or use its menu and choose Share. Review the selected groups and channels before copying the invite link. The sharing guide explains these restrictions:
- Folders using category filters such as Groups, Channels or Unread cannot be shared.
- One-to-one chats and bots are not shared with the folder.
- You can include public groups/channels, and private ones where you have invite rights. Public chats requiring join requests have an additional admin restriction.
- A folder link lets its recipient join the selected chats, including chats that normally require join requests. Treat the link as an invitation, not just a reading list.
Use a separate link for each audience. An intern's link should not contain management groups. When you add a chat to your personal folder, recipients do not automatically receive it: update the relevant link, and Telegram offers them the new chats.
Free sharing and Premium limits
Sharing is not Premium-only. The guide's Premium section states that all users can add two shareable folders with up to 100 chats each; Premium allows 20 shareable folders with up to 200 chats each and up to 100 invite links per folder. These are shareable-folder allowances, not a blanket description of every personal-folder limit. Check the limit shown by your account before planning a large rollout.
If Share is unavailable, first remove category filters and inspect invitation rights. Paying for a higher allowance will not fix a folder whose chat selection is ineligible.
Sources and verification
Documentation and public profiles checked on 28 September 2026. This article does not report hands-on testing.
