How to send files to users with a Python Telegram bot?

Other Questions Telegram bot
1

I’m working on a Telegram bot using the python-telegram-bot library. Text commands are working fine, but I’m stuck trying to send a document to users. Here’s what I’ve tried:

def send_file(update, context):
    with open('resume.pdf', 'rb') as file:
        return update.message.reply_document(file)

However, I’m getting an error:
AttributeError: 'Message' object has no attribute 'reply_document'

Can someone help me figure out the correct way to send files to users through my Telegram bot? I’ve looked through the documentation but can’t seem to find the right method. Any tips or code examples would be really helpful. Thanks!

2

hey claire29, i had the same problem b4. try this:

def send_file(update, context):
    chat_id = update.effective_chat.id
    context.bot.send_document(chat_id=chat_id, document=open('resume.pdf', 'rb'))

make sure to import the right stuff. hope this helps!

3

The issue you’re encountering is a common one. Instead of using ‘reply_document’ on the message object, you should use the ‘send_document’ method on the bot object.

Here’s a corrected version of your code:

def send_file(update, context):
    chat_id = update.effective_chat.id
    with open('resume.pdf', 'rb') as file:
        context.bot.send_document(chat_id=chat_id, document=file)

This code sends the document directly through the bot. Be sure your handler function accepts both ‘update’ and ‘context’ as parameters. Moreover, if you’re sending documents repeatedly, consider using file IDs to improve performance, especially with larger files.

4

I ran into a similar issue when I first started working with Telegram bots. The problem is that you’re trying to use ‘reply_document’ on the message object, but it should be used on the bot object instead. Here’s how I got it working:

def send_file(update, context):
    chat_id = update.effective_chat.id
    with open('resume.pdf', 'rb') as file:
        context.bot.send_document(chat_id=chat_id, document=file)

This method uses the bot object from the context to send the document. Make sure you’re passing both ‘update’ and ‘context’ to your handler function. Also, don’t forget to close the file after sending it.

One more thing: if you’re sending large files, you might want to use send_document with a file_id instead of opening the file each time. This can improve performance for frequently sent documents.