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Message identifier in a chat#

The message identifier (idMessage) is a marker that GREEN-API assigns to every message. It is assigned to incoming and outgoing messages and allows you to find a specific message in a chat. Example: 1769676078000.

Important

The message identifier does NOT need to be generated by yourself. It is generated by the system automatically and is returned by various GREEN-API methods.

Uniqueness of the identifier#

The identifier is unique within one chat.
Within an instance and within the messenger, idMessage values are not unique: identical identifiers may occur in different chats.

  • To build an identifier that is unique within an instance, use the combination of chatId and idMessage, for example:
-10000000000000_1769676078000
  • When using several instances, a unique identifier is defined by the full combination of idInstance + idMessage + chatId, for example:
4100123456_100000000_1769676078000

Identifiers are valid within a session

After an instance is re-authorized, synchronization with the messenger is performed anew, and identifiers may be generated differently. Therefore, idMessage values are valid only within the current session.

How to find out the identifier#

The identifier can be obtained when sending, through the journal methods or in an incoming notification in the idMessage field. Example of a SendMessage method response:

{
    "idMessage": "1769676078000"
}

How to use the identifier#

The message identifier is used to find a specific message in a chat:

  • get a message from the journal — using the GetMessage method by the chatId and idMessage pair;
  • edit a message — using the EditMessage method;
  • delete a message — using the DeleteMessage method;
  • quote a message - using the sending methods.