SendFileByUrl#

The method is aimed for sending a file uploaded by Url. The message will be added to the send queue. The message will be kept for 24 hours in the queue and will be sent immediately after phone authorization. The rate at which messages are sent from the queue is managed by Message sending delay parameter.

The minimum interval for sending messages from the queue using the SendFileByUrl method is 5 seconds.

Video, audio and image files available for viewing and listening to are sent as in native-mode WhatsApp. Documents are sent in the same way as in native-mode WhatsApp. Outgoing file type and send method is determined by the file extension. Description is only added to images and video.

The maximum size of outgoing files is 100 MB.

Request#

To send a file, you have to execute a request at:

POST https://api.greenapi.com/waInstance{{idInstance}}/sendFileByUrl/{{apiTokenInstance}}

For idInstance and apiTokenInstance request parameters, refer to Before you start section.

Request parameters#

Parameter	Type	Mandatory	Description
`chatId`	string	Yes	Chat Id
`urlFile`	string	Yes	Link to outgoing file
`fileName`	string	Yes	File name. Must contain the file extension
`caption`	string	No	File caption. Caption added to video, images.
`quotedMessageId`	string	No	Quoted message ID. If present, the message will be sent quoting the specified chat message

Request body example#

Sending a message to a personal chat:

{
    "chatId": "11001234567@c.us",
    "urlFile": "https://my.site.com/img/horse.png",
    "fileName": "horse.png",
    "caption": "Little horse"
}

Sending a message to a group chat:

{
    "chatId": "11001234567-1581234048@g.us",
    "urlFile": "https://my.site.com/img/horse.png",
    "fileName": "horse.png",
    "caption": "Little horse"
}

Sending a quoted message:

{
    "chatId": "11001234567@с.us",
    "urlFile": "https://my.site.com/img/horse.png",
    "fileName": "horse.png",
    "caption": "Little horse",
    "quotedMessageId": "361B0E63F2FDF95903B6A9C9A102F34B"
}

Link format recommendations

Symbols a-z, A-Z, 0-9, - (hyphen), _ (gentle underscore) can be used in the link
The link must not contain special characters ~$€%#£?! and spaces
UTF-8 link character encoding without BOM
It is required to transfer non-encoded links (the system encodes the link itself)
It is required that the link points to a specific file, and not to the html page link examples
Required to use fast storage, no limit on the number of file requests

Response#

Response parameters#

Parameter	Type	Description
`idMessage`	string	Outgoing message Id

Response body example#

{
    "idMessage": "3EB0C767D097B7C7C030"
}

SendFileByUrl errors#

For a list of errors common to all methods, refer to Common errors section

Request examples#

PythoncURLJava - SpringJava - UnirestVBA

import requests

url = "https://api.greenapi.com/waInstance{{idInstance}}/sendFileByUrl/{{apiTokenInstance}}"

payload = "{\r\n   \t\"chatId\": \"11001234567@c.us\",\r\n\t\"urlFile\": \"https://avatars.mds.yandex.net/get-pdb/477388/77f64197-87d2-42cf-9305-14f49c65f1da/s375\",\r\n\t\"fileName\": \"horse.png\",\r\n\t\"caption\": \"little horse\"\r\n}"
headers = {
  'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}

response = requests.request("POST", url, headers=headers, data = payload)

print(response.text.encode('utf8'))

curl --location 'https://api.green-api.com/waInstance{{idInstance}}/sendFileByUrl/{{apiTokenInstance}}' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "chatId": "12345678910@c.us",
    "urlFile": "https://avatars.mds.yandex.net/get-pdb/477388/77f64197-87d2-42cf-9305-14f49c65f1da/s375",
    "fileName": "horse.png",
    "caption": "лошадка"
}'

var restTemplate = new RestTemplate();
var requestUrl = new StringBuilder();
requestUrl
    .append("https://api.greenapi.com")
    .append("/waInstance").append({{idInstance}})
    .append("/sendFileByUrl/")
    .append({{apiTokenInstance}});

var headers = new HttpHeaders();
headers.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON);

var jsonBody = "{\r\n   \t\"chatId\": \"11001234567@c.us\",\r\n\t\"urlFile\": \"https://avatars.mds.yandex.net/get-pdb/477388/77f64197-87d2-42cf-9305-14f49c65f1da/s375\",\r\n\t\"fileName\": \"horse.png\",\r\n\t\"caption\": \"little horse\"\r\n}";

var requestEntity = new HttpEntity<>(jsonBody, headers);

var response = restTemplate.exchange(requestUrl.toString(), HttpMethod.POST, requestEntity, String.class);
System.out.println(response);

var requestUrl = new StringBuilder();
requestUrl
    .append("https://api.greenapi.com")
    .append("/waInstance").append({{idInstance}})
    .append("/sendFileByUrl/")
    .append({{apiTokenInstance}});

var response = Unirest.post(requestUrl.toString())
    .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
    .body("{\r\n   \t\"chatId\": \"11001234567@c.us\",\r\n\t\"urlFile\": \"https://avatars.mds.yandex.net/get-pdb/477388/77f64197-87d2-42cf-9305-14f49c65f1da/s375\",\r\n\t\"fileName\": \"horse.png\",\r\n\t\"caption\": \"little horse\"\r\n}")
    .asString();

System.out.println(response);

Sub SendFileByUrl()
    Dim url As String
    Dim RequestBody As String
    Dim http As Object

    ' The idInstance and apiTokenInstance values are available in your account, double brackets must be removed
    url = "https://api.greenapi.com/waInstance{{idInstance}}/SendFileByUrl/{{apiTokenInstance}}"

    ' chatId is the number to send the message (@c.us for private chats, @g.us for group chats), urlFile - url link, fileName - file name with extension, caption - title
    RequestBody = "{""chatId"":""90123456789@c.us"",""urlFile"":""https://my.site.com/img/horse.png"",""fileName"":""horse.png"",""caption"":""horse""}"

    Set http = CreateObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP")

    With http
        .Open "POST", url, False
        .setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/json"
        .Send RequestBody
    End With

    response = http.responseText

    Debug.Print response

    ' Outputting the answer to the desired cell
    ' Range("A1").Value = response

    Set http = Nothing
End Sub