Telegram bot menu error: 404 on edit when no changes made. Using official API docs code

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1

I’m having trouble with an interactive menu in my Telegram bot. I’m using the code from the official Telegram bot API docs. Every time I click the ‘Next’ button, it freezes and I get this error:

GrammyError in middleware: Call to 'editMessageText' failed! (400: Bad Request: message is not modified: specified new message content and reply markup are exactly the same as a current content and reply markup of the message)

I can click ‘Back’ to switch to the first menu, but ‘Next’ doesn’t work. It seems like the error happens because no changes are being made to the message. Has anyone else run into this issue? How can I fix it so the ‘Next’ button works properly?

2

I’ve dealt with this exact problem in my Telegram bot projects. The issue stems from Telegram’s API rejecting edits that don’t actually change the message content.

A simple workaround is to add a unique identifier to your message text each time you edit it. I usually append a timestamp or a random string to the end of the message. This ensures the content is always different.

Here’s a quick example in Python:

import time

def edit_message(chat_id, message_id, new_text):
    unique_id = str(time.time())
    full_text = f"{new_text}\n\n{unique_id}"
    bot.edit_message_text(chat_id=chat_id, message_id=message_id, text=full_text)

This approach has worked reliably for me across multiple bot projects. Just remember to strip out the unique identifier when processing user responses.

3

i had similar issue. try adding a small change to ur message each time, like a invisible character or timestamp. that way telegram thinks its different. or maybe just send new messages instead of editing? both worked 4 me. good luck!

4

I’ve encountered this issue before, and it can be frustrating. The error occurs because Telegram doesn’t allow editing a message with identical content and markup.

To fix this, you need to ensure that something changes when the ‘Next’ button is pressed.

One approach I’ve used is to add a small, invisible change to the message. For example, you could append a zero-width space character (U+200B) to the end of your message text each time you edit it. This way, the content technically changes, but it’s not visible to users.

Alternatively, you could modify your menu structure slightly. Instead of editing the same message, consider sending a new message for each menu page. This avoids the editing issue altogether and can provide a smoother user experience.

Remember to handle potential exceptions in your code, as network issues or other factors could still cause errors even with these workarounds in place.