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Message ID Ranges

Complete guide to downloading specific message ranges from Telegram entities.

Overview

Message ID ranges allow you to download specific portions of a channel, group, or bot chat by specifying start and end message IDs.

Benefits: - Download only what you need - Re-download specific sections - Skip old or irrelevant content - Manage large archives efficiently - Targeted backup strategies

Understanding Message IDs

What are Message IDs?

Every message in a Telegram chat has a unique sequential ID number.

Message ID 1  ← First message (oldest)
Message ID 2
Message ID 3
...
Message ID N  ← Latest message (newest)

Key points: - IDs start at 1 - IDs increment by 1 for each message - IDs are unique within each entity (channel/group/bot) - IDs never change - Deleted messages leave gaps

Finding Message IDs

Method 1: From Telegram Desktop

  1. Right-click on a message
  2. Select "Copy Message Link"
  3. Link format: https://t.me/channel/12345
  4. The last number (12345) is the message ID

Public channel example: 

https://t.me/technews/12345
                      └─┬──┘
                    message ID

Private channel example: 

https://t.me/c/1234567890/54321
                       └───┬──┘
                      message ID

Method 2: From Downloaded Files

tgdl names files with message ID:

ls downloads/entity_1234567890/
# Output:
# 12345.jpg    ← Message ID is 12345
# 12346.mp4    ← Message ID is 12346
# 12347.pdf    ← Message ID is 12347

# Download single message to see its ID
tgdl download-link https://t.me/channel/12345

# Check downloaded file
ls downloads/
# Output: 12345.ext

Method 4: From Telegram Mobile

  1. Long-press message
  2. Tap "Forward"
  3. Forward to "Saved Messages"
  4. In Saved Messages, the forwarded message shows original date
  5. Use method 1 (copy link) from there

Basic Range Syntax

Command Format

tgdl download -c|g|b ENTITY_ID --min-id MIN --max-id MAX

Parameters: - --min-id - Start from this message ID (inclusive) - --max-id - Stop at this message ID (inclusive) - Both are optional - Can use one or both

Examples

Download Specific Range

# Messages 100 to 200 (inclusive)
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 100 --max-id 200

This downloads messages: 100, 101, 102, ..., 199, 200

From Specific ID Onwards

# From message 500 to latest
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 500

Up to Specific ID

# From oldest to message 1000
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --max-id 1000

Single Message

# Only message 12345
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 12345 --max-id 12345

Use Cases

1. Archive Historical Content

Scenario: Download old messages from a channel you just joined.

# First 1000 messages (historical archive)
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --max-id 1000

Benefits: - Get old content without downloading everything - Separate old from new - Manage archive sizes

2. Get Recent Updates

Scenario: You've already downloaded messages 1-5000, now want 5000+.

# Everything after message 5000
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 5001

Alternative (automatic): 

# tgdl automatically tracks progress
tgdl download -c 1234567890
# Will download from last saved message ID

3. Re-download Failed Section

Scenario: Downloads failed for messages 2000-2100, want to retry.

# Re-download specific range
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 2000 --max-id 2100

4. Download Specific Event/Period

Scenario: Know that interesting content was posted in messages 3000-3500.

# Download specific event range
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 3000 --max-id 3500 -o ~/Events/Conference2024

5. Incremental Backups

Scenario: Create monthly backups with specific ranges.

# January (messages 1-1000)
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 1 --max-id 1000 -o ~/Backups/2024-01

# February (messages 1001-2000)
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 1001 --max-id 2000 -o ~/Backups/2024-02

# March (messages 2001-3000)
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 2001 --max-id 3000 -o ~/Backups/2024-03

6. Sample Downloads

Scenario: Want to see what's in different parts of a large channel.

# Sample early messages
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 1 --max-id 50

# Sample middle
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 5000 --max-id 5050

# Sample recent
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 9900 --max-id 10000

7. Skip Unwanted Content

Scenario: Channel has spam/ads in messages 1000-2000, want to skip.

# Get messages before spam
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --max-id 999

# Get messages after spam
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 2001

Combining with Other Filters

With Media Type Filters

# Videos in specific range
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 100 --max-id 200 -v

# Photos from recent messages
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 9000 -p

With Size Filters

# Large files in specific range
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 500 --max-id 1000 --min-size 100MB

# Small photos from old messages
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --max-id 500 -p --max-size 5MB

With Download Limit

# First 10 files from range
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 1000 --max-id 2000 --limit 10

Important: Limit applies AFTER range filter.

Example: - Range: 1000-2000 (1000 messages) - Has: 500 media files in range - Limit: 10 - Result: First 10 of those 500 media files

Combined Example

# Recent videos, 50-100MB, max 20 files
tgdl download -c 1234567890 \
  --min-id 9000 \
  -v \
  --min-size 50MB \
  --max-size 100MB \
  --limit 20 \
  --concurrent 10

Advanced Techniques

Automatic Progress Tracking

tgdl automatically tracks the last downloaded message ID:

# First run
tgdl download -c 1234567890
# Downloads messages 1-1000
# Saves: {"1234567890": 1000} in progress.json

# Second run (later)
tgdl download -c 1234567890
# Reads progress.json
# Downloads messages 1001+ (new content only)

Manual override: 

# Force specific range (ignores progress)
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 1

Finding Latest Message ID

Method 1: Download one message 

# Get latest message
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --limit 1

# Check filename
ls downloads/entity_1234567890/
# Latest file shows latest message ID

Method 2: From Telegram app - Scroll to bottom of channel - Copy message link - Extract ID from link

Batch Downloads by Range

Script example (Linux/macOS): 

#!/bin/bash

CHANNEL=1234567890
BATCH_SIZE=1000

for start in {1..10000..1000}; do
    end=$((start + BATCH_SIZE - 1))
    echo "Downloading messages $start to $end..."
    tgdl download -c $CHANNEL --min-id $start --max-id $end
    sleep 60  # Wait between batches
done

Script example (Windows PowerShell): 

$channel = 1234567890
$batchSize = 1000

for ($start = 1; $start -le 10000; $start += $batchSize) {
    $end = $start + $batchSize - 1
    Write-Host "Downloading messages $start to $end..."
    tgdl download -c $channel --min-id $start --max-id $end
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 60
}

Gap Detection

Find missing downloads: 

#!/bin/bash

# List downloaded message IDs
ls downloads/entity_1234567890/ | sed 's/\..*//' | sort -n > downloaded.txt

# Check for gaps
prev=0
while read id; do
    if [ $((id - prev)) -gt 1 ]; then
        echo "Gap: $prev to $id"
    fi
    prev=$id
done < downloaded.txt

How It Works Internally

Telethon's iter_messages()

tgdl uses Telethon's iter_messages() method:

async for message in client.iter_messages(
    entity,
    min_id=min_msg_id - 1,  # Subtract 1 for inclusive
    max_id=max_msg_id,
    reverse=False  # Newest first
):
    # Process message

Important details: - min_id is exclusive in Telethon - tgdl subtracts 1 to make it inclusive - max_id is already inclusive - Messages fetched newest to oldest (unless reverse=True)

Example: 

# User command
tgdl download -c ID --min-id 100 --max-id 200

# Internal Telethon call
iter_messages(entity, min_id=99, max_id=200)
# Returns messages 100, 101, ..., 199, 200

Progress Tracking Logic

# 1. Read progress
last_id = progress.get(entity_id, 0)

# 2. Use as min_id if no explicit range
if not min_msg_id:
    min_msg_id = last_id + 1

# 3. Download messages
# ... download logic ...

# 4. Update progress with highest downloaded ID
progress[entity_id] = highest_downloaded_id
save_progress(progress)

Limitations and Considerations

Empty Ranges

If range contains no media files:

tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 100 --max-id 200
# May download 0 files if range only has text messages

Check first: 

# Try with limit
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 100 --max-id 200 --limit 1

Deleted Messages

Deleted messages leave gaps in IDs:

Message 10 ← Exists
Message 11 ← Deleted (gap)
Message 12 ← Exists

Impact: - No errors - Simply skipped (not counted) - Range 10-12 downloads messages 10 and 12 only

Large Ranges

Very large ranges may take long:

# Inefficient: Checking 100,000 messages
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 1 --max-id 100000 -v

Better approach: 

# Use limit if you don't need all
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 1 --max-id 100000 -v --limit 100

Range vs Limit Interaction

Important:

# This does NOT mean "download 10 messages in range"
# It means "from messages in range, download first 10 media files"
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 100 --max-id 200 --limit 10

Execution: 1. Filter messages: 100-200 2. Filter media: Only messages with media 3. Apply limit: First 10

Troubleshooting

No files downloaded from range

Possible causes:

  1. No media in range: 

    # Check without media filters
tgdl download -c ID --min-id 100 --max-id 200 --limit 1

  2. All files already downloaded:

  3. Normal behavior

  4. tgdl skips existing files

  5. Range beyond channel size: 

    # If channel only has 1000 messages
tgdl download -c ID --min-id 2000 --max-id 3000
# Downloads 0 files

Wrong range downloaded

Check command: 

# Make sure IDs are correct
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 100 --max-id 200

Verify: 

# Check downloaded filenames
ls downloads/entity_1234567890/
# Should see 100.ext, 101.ext, etc.

Progress tracking interferes

Progress takes precedence: 

# progress.json has: {"1234567890": 5000}

# This command
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 100 --max-id 200

# Actually downloads from 5001 (progress overrides)

Solution - reset progress for that entity: 

# Edit progress.json, remove entity or set to 0
# OR force specific range by ensuring max-id > progress

Beginner Examples

# Download first 100 messages
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --max-id 100

# Download last 100 messages (if latest is 10000)
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 9900

# Download single message
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 12345 --max-id 12345

Intermediate Examples

# Videos from specific range
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 1000 --max-id 2000 -v

# Photos under 5MB from old messages
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --max-id 500 -p --max-size 5MB

# Recent large files
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 9000 --min-size 50MB

Advanced Examples

# HD videos from conference messages
tgdl download -c 1234567890 \
  --min-id 3000 \
  --max-id 3500 \
  -v \
  --min-size 100MB \
  --max-size 500MB \
  -o ~/Conferences/2024/Videos

# Sample every 1000 messages
for i in {0..10000..1000}; do
  tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id $i --max-id $((i+10))
done

# Batch download with error handling
#!/bin/bash
for start in {1..10000..500}; do
    end=$((start + 499))
    if ! tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id $start --max-id $end; then
        echo "Failed: $start-$end" >> failed_ranges.txt
    fi
    sleep 60
done

Best Practices

1. Test with Small Range

Test First

# Test with 10-message range
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 100 --max-id 110

# If successful, expand range
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 100 --max-id 1000

2. Use Appropriate Batch Sizes

Batch Strategy

  • Small files: 1000-5000 messages per batch
  • Large files: 100-500 messages per batch
  • Very large files: 50-100 messages per batch

3. Combine with Filters

Efficient Filtering

# Instead of downloading everything then filtering
tgdl download -c 1234567890 --min-id 1000 --max-id 2000 -v --max-size 100MB

4. Monitor Progress

Track Progress

# Check progress file
cat ~/.tgdl/progress.json

# Backup before major operations
cp ~/.tgdl/progress.json ~/.tgdl/progress.backup

5. Handle Errors Gracefully

Error Handling

# Script with retry logic
#!/bin/bash
for attempt in {1..3}; do
    if tgdl download -c ID --min-id 1000 --max-id 2000; then
        break
    fi
    echo "Attempt $attempt failed, retrying..."
    sleep 60
done

Quick Reference

Command Template

tgdl download -c|g|b ID [--min-id MIN] [--max-id MAX] [OPTIONS]

Common Patterns

# From ID onwards
--min-id ID

# Up to ID
--max-id ID

# Specific range
--min-id START --max-id END

# Single message
--min-id ID --max-id ID

# With filters
--min-id ID --max-id ID -v --max-size 100MB --limit 50

Next Steps