Sign in with Telegram
On the Shelf login page, choose Continue with Telegram. Approve the Login Widget in the Telegram app — you land in My Content with your Telegram identity linked. Email/password and Google sign-in still work the same way.
Already signed in? Open the reader and tap the Telegram icon beside Spotify, or go to App settings → Connect Telegram. That opens a one-time bot deep link so your existing library stays on the same account. When linked, the icon shows a connected badge and the panel says Connected to Telegram.
Forward PDFs to the bot
After linking, send or forward a PDF to the Shelf bot. Shelf saves it to My Content at the library root — same storage and indexing path as an in-app upload. The bot replies with a link to open the file in Shelf.
Telegram bots cap downloads around 20 MB. Larger files should still be uploaded from the Shelf app. Non-PDF files are ignored with a short hint.
Send a library PDF back to Telegram
Share on a page (reader or library) includes Send to Telegram. The bot DMs you the PDF — same chat you already use to import — so you can forward it into a study group. Files over ~50 MB cannot go through the bot; enable Anyone with link and use Share link in Telegram instead.
Notebooks and typed docs are not PDFs, so Send to Telegram posts a Shelf open link rather than a file. Share link in Telegram uses Telegram’s own picker and works for any chat, including groups the bot is not in.
Read and study as usual
Imported PDFs use the same reader workspace: tabs, highlights, and Tutor. Disconnect Telegram anytime from Settings if you want to stop bot imports without deleting your library.
WhatsApp ingest is not part of this release — Telegram is the first messaging path for study PDFs.
Link once, reuse everywhere
Telegram Login on the web and Connect Telegram in Settings both bind the same Telegram user id to your Shelf account. After that, the bot recognizes you without pasting tokens each time.
If you signed up with Telegram first, Settings already shows Linked — you can forward PDFs immediately. Email or Google users should Connect Telegram so bot imports land in the library they already use.
Where files land
Bot imports create library-root pages under My Content, not inside a random collection. Rename or move them later with the same explorer tools you use for manual uploads.
Titles come from the Telegram file name when present. Storage counts against your plan quota the same way as an in-app PDF upload, and Tutor indexing runs after the page is saved.
Limits to know
The bot path is PDF-only in this release and respects Telegram’s roughly 20 MB download cap. Oversized notes still belong in Shelf’s direct upload flow.
The bot only sees messages you send or forward to it — it cannot scan private groups or channels unless you add it and forward the file yourself.
Open the PDF on the web
When a save succeeds, the bot replies with an Open link into Shelf. Sign in on that browser (Telegram login works) and the reader opens the new page like any other library file.
Highlights, Ask AI, planner Schedule, and sharing work on bot-imported PDFs the same as uploads from the Add page dialog.
Disconnect without losing files
Disconnect in Settings clears the Telegram binding and stops bot imports. Pages already in My Content stay put — disconnect does not delete library files.
You can reconnect later with a fresh Connect Telegram deep link if you switch Telegram accounts or want bot ingest again.
Study groups on Telegram
Forward a classmate’s handout from a Telegram study group into the Shelf bot, then keep your annotated copy private in your library. Send the file back from Share → Send to Telegram (it lands in the bot chat so you can forward it), or enable Anyone with link and Share link in Telegram for a view-only Shelf URL.
WhatsApp Business ingest is a separate roadmap item. For now, Telegram is the supported messaging path into and out of Shelf.
Send PDFs back from Share
Share on a page includes Send to Telegram for the linked bot chat (PDFs up to ~50 MB). The bot cannot post into arbitrary groups on its own — you forward from that chat, or you share a Shelf link with Telegram’s picker.
If send fails with a Start hint, open the Shelf bot once so it is allowed to message you, then retry.