How Do You Change or Remove the Formatting of Forwarded Telegram Messages?

Keep it as it was (the default)

Nothing is touched: bold, italics, monospace, strikethrough and clickable links arrive as they left. This is what happens when you do not switch the formatting option on at all, and it is the right choice unless you have a reason.

It works with both kinds of source. Some channels publish text that already carries formatting marks in it; others publish clean text with formatting attached separately. Both are handled, which is why a relayed message does not arrive with stray asterisks or with half a paragraph in bold.

Strip everything: the least-known option

The plain option removes all formatting and delivers the words alone. No bold, no italics, no monospace, no clickable links: just text. It has been available since the beginning and it is documented nowhere, which is why it is so rarely used.

It earns its place in three situations: a source that emphasises half of every post, so that the destination becomes a wall of bold; a destination that must stay uniform because several sources feed it and each formats differently; and content that is going to be read by something rather than someone, where formatting is noise.

Restyle the whole message

These apply to the message as a block, not to parts of it: they are a uniform style, not a way of emphasising a word. Monospace is the one with a genuine use beyond appearance, because it makes a block of text easy to copy without picking up the surrounding formatting.

• Bold — the entire message arrives in bold.
• Italic — the entire message in italics.
• Monospace — the whole message as code, which is the practical way to relay something meant to be copied exactly.
• Strikethrough — the whole message struck through.

What it does not touch

• The words themselves. Changing the style never changes the text; that is what find and replace is for.
• Attachments. A photo is a photo whatever the style of its caption.
• Your own header and footer, which are added afterwards.

Formatting and links

Stripping formatting removes the clickable quality of links, and the address stays visible as text. If what you actually want is to remove, replace or de-activate specific links rather than all formatting, that is a separate feature with its own page and it is far more precise.

Which plans include it

Changing the style, including stripping formatting, starts on the Gold plan. Relaying with the original formatting intact is the default everywhere and costs nothing. The plan comparison is on the pricing page.