MESSAGE TEMPLATES
Build, submit and send approved templates
Outside the 24-hour window, a template Meta has approved is the only way to reach a customer on WhatsApp. This is where you write one, get it through review, and then send it with the values filled from your own records.
How it works
Write, submit, send.
Write it where you will see it
The editor shows the message as the recipient will read it — header, body, footer, buttons — and each blank is a chip in the sentence rather than a numbered box underneath. Arabic and other right-to-left bodies type correctly, line by line.
Submit it to Meta
Every shape is validated against Meta’s own rules before it is sent, so the usual rejections — a value flush against punctuation, too many buttons of one type, a missing sample — are caught in the editor rather than two days later.
Send it, with real values
From the inbox, from a Bitrix24 automation rule, from a campaign, or from the API. The values come from the fields you point at; the picture in a media header comes from the file you uploaded.
Every shape Meta supports
Not a subset.
Headers
Text with a value, or an image, video or document, or a location card. The file you upload is stored and used on every send.
Body values
Numbered or named, up to thirty on a Bitrix24 automation step. A value used twice is one value, decided by its name.
Buttons
Quick replies with a payload, a link that takes a value in its URL, a copy-code button for a coupon, and a call button.
Authentication
One-time passcode templates, copy-code or one-tap. The code itself is never stored anywhere — not in the message row, not in a log.
Carousels
Up to ten cards, media or product, each with its own body values and buttons.
Offers and catalogue
Limited-time offers with a real expiry, and catalogue, multi-product and single-product messages for a connected Meta catalogue.
The parts that take the support calls
And what we do about each.
- A media header needs the file, not an identifier — every time. Meta gives you one handle when you create a template and a different kind of media id when you send one, and asking Meta for the template back returns neither: it returns an expiring link to the sample it approved. So the only way to send a media header twice is to still hold the original bytes. We store the file, re-upload it per number, and cache the resulting id for its lifetime. A template you built in the WhatsApp Manager rather than here has no stored file, so we adopt Meta’s own approved sample into our storage the first time you send it — which is why those templates work at all.
- Values are filled in place, in the message. Thirty numbered boxes under a wall of text is how the wrong value ends up in the wrong blank. Clicking a blank opens a menu of the fields available on that record, with a search.
- Switching template clears the values above the new count. Five values down to two leaves three holding the old ones — invisible, still stored, and refused by Meta at send time. Every declared value is published to the editor so it can be cleared, not just the ones currently in use.
- A blank value on an automation step sends a dash, not a failure. A CRM field that happens to be empty on one record should not stop a notification going out. Each blank keeps its own place and renders as a dash; nothing shifts up, so value three never becomes value four.
- A rejection names the rule it broke. Meta’s review message is often a sentence about policy; the editor adds the mechanical reason where there is one.
- Ten statuses, not five. Approved, rejected, paused, disabled, pending, in appeal, limit exceeded, pending deletion, archived, deleted — all of them shown, because a template that is paused and one that is rejected need different actions from you.
- The library keeps itself current. Meta tells us when a template’s status changes, and we re-read the whole library when a number connects, when Meta names a template we do not hold, when the page has not been read for six hours, and once a day in the background. The refresh button is an override, not a step.
What it costs
Included; Meta charges for the send.
Building, submitting and sending templates is in the lowest tier, from $50 per connected number per month. Sending to an audience in bulk is a campaign, which is in the top tier.
Meta charges per message, by category — marketing, utility or authentication — and bills you directly on your own WhatsApp Business Account. What Meta charges.
Limits, honestly
Three are Meta’s and one is ours.
- Meta reviews every template and can reject or pause one at any time. Nobody can promise approval, and a vendor who implies otherwise is describing a review they do not control.
- Some shapes do not render everywhere. Copy-code buttons do not render on WhatsApp Web; limited-time offers do not render on web or desktop; four or more buttons, and a quick reply mixed with another type, do not render on desktop. The editor says so where it applies.
- A media carousel always sends the card count it was created with. Meta’s rule.
- Catalogue and product messages need a Meta Commerce catalogue connected to your WhatsApp Business Account, and calling buttons need WhatsApp Calling enabled on the number. We read both from Meta and tell you which is missing; we cannot connect a catalogue or enable calling for you.
Questions
The ones that come up first.
How long does Meta take to approve a template?
Usually minutes to a few hours, sometimes longer for marketing. Our editor’s job is to make sure the first submission is the one that passes rather than the third.
Can I edit an approved template?
Within the limits Meta sets, yes — and an edit is re-reviewed. For a carousel whose cards already hold approved images, cards cannot be moved or removed on an edit, because the stored image is keyed to the card position.
Do my templates move if I change provider?
Templates belong to a WhatsApp Business Account, not to a provider. If the account is yours — which it is on the official platform — they travel with it.
Can a Bitrix24 automation rule send a template?
Yes. A second automation step sends an approved template with up to thirty values, each filled from a field on the record. How the Bitrix24 side works.
Next
Where templates are actually used.
The shared inbox
Where a closed window offers a template instead of refusing your message.
WhatsApp in Bitrix24
The automation step that sends a template from a record’s own fields.
Pricing
Which tier includes campaigns, and what Meta charges on top.
Get a template approved today
Write it the way it will be read, submit it once, and send it with your own data in it.