If you've ever started a long export, walked away, and found yourself refreshing the dashboard tab every few minutes — you already know the problem this fixes. The ExportComments Telegram bot doesn't run exports for you. It tells you when the ones you started are done.

What the bot does (and doesn't do)

It's worth saying upfront because the wording catches people off-guard:

  • The bot delivers notifications. Status updates, completion alerts, error notices, download links — all pushed to your Telegram chat the moment your export finishes server-side.
  • The bot does not trigger exports. You start exports the same way you always do — on the website, via the REST API, or with the Chrome extension. The bot's job is the last mile: getting the result to you wherever you are.

That distinction matters. Telegram replaces the email-and-refresh dance — not the export form.

Why route notifications through Telegram

Email works, but it's slow, lossy, and easily filtered. Several things Telegram does better:

  • Instant delivery, every time. No spam-folder lottery. No ten-minute SMTP queue stalls. The push notification fires as soon as your export job hits "completed".
  • Every device, no extra setup. Phone, tablet, laptop — Telegram syncs across all of them. If you start an export at your desk and walk to a meeting, the notification follows you.
  • Quiet by default. Notifications go to your Telegram, not a shared inbox or Slack channel where they'd get lost in noise.
  • Direct chat, no third party. Messages are sent from the bot to your account. No CRM, no marketing tool, no notification-aggregator middleman.

How to set it up — four steps

Step 1: Enable Telegram notifications on your export

When you set up an export on the website, scroll to the notification options at the bottom of the export form and tick the Telegram checkbox alongside Email. The first time you do this, the page will prompt you to link your Telegram account before the export can finish.

Step 2: Open the ExportComments bot in Telegram

Click the Connect to Telegram button on the export form. It opens a chat with the bot in Telegram (or t.me redirects you if you don't have the desktop app installed). On mobile, the deep link drops you straight into the conversation.

Step 3: Send the 6-digit linking code

The export form generates a unique six-digit code right next to the Connect button. Copy it, send it to the bot in your Telegram chat as a plain message, and the bot replies confirming the link. Your account is now paired — you only do this once per Telegram account.

Step 4: Run your export

From this point forward, every export you tick the Telegram box on will send a notification when it finishes. The notification includes the export job name, completion timestamp, and a one-click download link to the resulting Excel/CSV/JSON file.

What a notification looks like

Each notification is a short message from the bot. Typical content:

  • Job identifier — the URL or job name you submitted, so you remember which one this is.
  • Status — completed, failed, or partial (with a reason if non-success).
  • Row count — how many comments / reviews / followers came back.
  • Direct download link — tap to get the file on your phone, or open it on a desktop session.
  • Timestamps — when the job started and when it finished.

Common workflows

  • Long-running scrapes you can walk away from. A 50,000-row Reddit thread or a 250,000-comment Facebook page can take 20+ minutes. Tick Telegram, close the laptop, get pinged when it's done.
  • Scheduled exports. If you run a weekly export of your brand mentions, the Telegram notification means you don't have to log into the dashboard to check whether Monday's job ran. The summary lands in chat with the file attached.
  • On-call data ops. Analyst on standby for a campaign-day comment pull? Notifications go to their Telegram instead of a shared inbox where they'd compete with everything else.
  • Mobile-first reviewers. Brand managers travelling don't always have a laptop handy. The Telegram notification + tap-to-download means they can grab the latest sentiment file in a coffee queue.
  • Failure alerts. When an export errors out (rate-limit, blocked URL, expired cookie), the notification fires immediately so you can re-trigger before the day ends — instead of finding the failure tomorrow morning in your inbox.

Plan limits & API access

Telegram notifications are available on every plan, including Free. The export size limits are unchanged: Free up to 100 results per job, Personal 5,000, Premium 50,000, Business 250,000. See pricing for the full breakdown. If you'd rather receive notifications via webhook instead of (or in addition to) Telegram, that's available on Premium and Business through the REST API — point a webhook at your own service and the same payload that powers the Telegram message lands as a JSON POST.

FAQ

  • Can I trigger exports by sending a URL to the bot?
    No. The bot is one-way — it sends notifications, it doesn't accept commands to start jobs. Use the website, the Chrome extension, or the REST API to trigger exports.
  • Does ExportComments see my Telegram chats?
    No — the bot only ever sends messages to your chat. It never reads anything you write to other people, never joins groups uninvited, and the linking step uses a one-time 6-digit code that ties your ExportComments account to your Telegram user ID.
  • Can I unlink my Telegram account?
    Yes. Block the bot in Telegram or unlink it from your ExportComments account settings. After unlinking, exports fall back to email notifications (or whichever other channels you have enabled).
  • Does it work in group chats?
    Yes — add the bot to a group and link the group instead of a personal chat. Useful for shared analyst channels where multiple people want the file.
  • What if Telegram is blocked in my region?
    You can still use email notifications (default on every export) and webhooks on Premium/Business. The bot is one channel of several, not the only path.
  • Is the bot free to use?
    Yes. Telegram notifications are included on every ExportComments plan, including the Free tier. You're not paying extra for the channel — it's there because it's the most reliable way to get a "your export is ready" message.