How Do You Forward Telegram Messages Only During Certain Hours or Days?

A night channel has no business buzzing at three in the morning, and a work account does not need a source that posts all day. Active hours gives each rule its own opening times, and the rest of the day stays quiet.

What happens to a message that arrives outside the window

Nothing, by design. The check is made at the moment the message arrives, and if it lands outside the hours or days you set, the rule lets it go. It is not queued, it is not held in a waiting list, and it does not arrive when the window reopens.

This works like a filter, and that is deliberate: the window decides which messages travel at all. Whoever pauses a rule for the night does not receive the whole night in one burst in the morning — only the messages posted after the window opened are forwarded.

Where the block lives

Open the rule editor, go to the Advanced tab and find the block called Active hours, titled "Limit to certain hours". It has four fields: From, To, Days and Time zone. The helper text reads: "The rule forwards only in the hours and days you choose."

Days, and windows that cross midnight

Days is the list of weekdays; leave it empty and the rule runs every day. Pick Monday to Friday and the weekend stays silent.

A window may cross midnight: From 22:00 to 06:00 runs overnight, which is what most people want from a night rule. The editor tells you when yours does: "This window crosses midnight — it runs overnight, which is what most people want here."

Setting the same time in From and To means the whole day, not an empty rule.

Time zone

When you switch the block on, the time zone is taken from your device, and you can edit it afterwards. The helper text: "Taken from your device. Daylight saving is handled automatically." When the clocks change in spring or autumn, the rule follows; there is nothing to re-set by hand.

If a time zone name is not recognised, the rule falls back to UTC rather than stopping, so a typo never takes the rule down — but it is worth checking the field if the times look shifted.

One window per rule

Each rule has its own window: a rule that forwards a news channel during office hours does not touch the rule that mirrors your own channel around the clock.
The check happens when the message arrives, in the rule's time zone — not when the destination is reached.
And as with everything in the service, the forwarding runs 24/7: there is nothing you need to keep open for the window to be respected.

Which plans include it

Active hours is part of the paid plans from Smart upwards; the comparison is on the pricing page.

Common questions

Will the messages that arrived overnight be forwarded in the morning?

No. A message that arrives outside the window is not queued and not held anywhere: it is simply not forwarded. When the window reopens, only new messages travel. The window works like a filter, not as a delay.

Can a window run overnight, from the evening to the morning?

Yes. A window such as 22:00 to 06:00 crosses midnight and runs overnight. The editor tells you when your window does this.

Does the rule follow daylight saving changes?

Yes. The time zone is filled in from your device and daylight saving is handled automatically. If a time zone name is not recognised, the rule falls back to UTC rather than stopping.

If I limit one rule, do my other rules stop too?

No. Active hours is per rule: the others keep running on their own schedule, including the ones with no window at all.

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