# ⑤ To send

Four WhatsApp rules that explain almost every rejection we see.

**The 24-hour window and the template.** It is **failure number one** —one customer collected **68 rejections** from it— and it is step ④: inside the window you send free-form text, outside it only an approved template. If the concept isn't clear yet, read that one first; this is just the operational rule. _It unlocks: writing when the customer didn't write first._

**Files go by a DIRECT link to the file.** A Drive or Dropbox link returns a **page**, not the file, and Meta can't download it: **26 failures** across two customers from this alone. It has to be a public URL that answers with the file. _It unlocks: sending invoices, receipts and photos._

**Your contact list has to be clean.** A number that isn't on WhatsApp bounces, and **bouncing repeatedly lowers your number's quality rating** — and with a lower rating Meta lowers your ceiling. One customer collected **32** rejections this way. _It unlocks: not losing reach to a stale list._

## Notes

- When the same error repeats (5 times in an hour), the panel tells you on the Activity screen with what to do about it, not just with a count.
- All of these rejections arrive with a stable code in `lastErrorCode` — the full catalog is in the Complete level of this documentation.