When you import chat history into a chat from other apps, imported messages will be sorted by original sending date and merged with existing messages in:
Newly created 1-on-1 and group chats.
Any existing 1-on-1 chats that have fewer than 1000 messages (on Telegram).
Smaller existing group chats with basic settings that have fewer than 1000 messages (on Telegram).
Unfortunately, it is not possible to merge existing and imported message histores in chats which have more than 1000 messages and in large groups (or groups with altered settings: e.g., with "message history" set to visible for new members, etc.)
In the cases when it's not possible to merge histories, imported messages are placed into the moment when they were imported. All messages include their original timestamps and follow one another in the correct order.
Workaround
To make it easier to navigate chats where merging is not possible, you can pin the last message in the chat before you import messages. This way you can quickly jump past the imported messages if you need something above them.
"not useful" -> says who? My chat is completely uselss right now. Since i had a couple months of history, suddenly now i got a year of messages spammed in the middle, and I'm supposed to just continue where i left off? Also deleted the imported messages is not possible, since you can only select 100 at a time which would take ages to do. Why not give users the option if they want it sorted by date? (which imo would make sense - it still has the "this message is imported" flag visible)
the technical limitations should've been already assessed before rolling out the feature. There are many options to adapt the technical framework to make a useful feature out of this.
I have the same issue. I got only some parts of the chat imported. What's app makes multiple files while exporting. Maybe telegram is importing only the last database? Can any dev confirm?
Victor Gomes
Yeah. Another problem is with your name. If your name on WhatsApp is different (at least by a letter) the import on Telegram get broken.
Telegram needs to put a notice like: "Check if your name on Telegram is exactly the same as WhatsApp".
Martin Reed
I would like to add my +1 to this topic. The import chat feature is totally useless if it does not import the original conversation to the correct date and time.
J
Juno Hu
It's hugely frustrating to not preserve the original timestamps. The point of this feature is for a Telegram customer to bring migrate fully to the Telegram platform. For this the experience needs to be top notch. The chat history is someone's shared memories. Importing them out of order makes it impossible to recall when something was said - at what stage of their life they said something or had that experience. I would strongly suggest improving this import feature. If WhatsApp can export timestamps correctly, Telegram should be able to import them correctly.
Pieter Jan De Smedt
This is indeed a problem. I switched to Telegram a month ago and with the import I have to scroll waaaaaaaaay back to be able pick up the conversation again. The imported messages should be inserted in the chat in the order of their original timestamp, not the order of the import timestamp.
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My chat is completely uselss right now.
Since i had a couple months of history, suddenly now i got a year of messages spammed in the middle, and I'm supposed to just continue where i left off?
Also deleted the imported messages is not possible, since you can only select 100 at a time which would take ages to do.
Why not give users the option if they want it sorted by date? (which imo would make sense - it still has the "this message is imported" flag visible)
the technical limitations should've been already assessed before rolling out the feature.
There are many options to adapt the technical framework to make a useful feature out of this.
Telegram needs to put a notice like: "Check if your name on Telegram is exactly the same as WhatsApp".