Question 1

What are Webhooks and how do I use them to receive notifications when Workflows are completed?

Accepted Answer

Webhooks allow you to set up your own integrations to Malcolm! Workflow.

Webhooks are endpoints on web servers you own. Whenever a Workflow is completed the configured Webhooks will be notified. The Payload will contain the completed Workflow Session, related Workflow and (optionally) the submitted Workflow Values.

Configuration

Webhooks are are configured in "Workflows > Edit > Configure > Webhooks" section of MyMalcolm.

Webhook URL

The only requirement is to provide the URL of your Webhook. This is the URL Malcolm! will send the Payload to.

The URL should be a secure endpoint which means it should start with https://, although we do support http:// too. The endpoint should also be accessible which means hosted on a remote machine, not behind a firewall and not requiring Authentication.

Include the Workflow Values

There is an additional option to include the submitted Workflow Values in the Payload. This option is disabled by default for security reasons but available to use should you wish to enable it. By enabling the option you agree to the following terms -

(a) I would like the Workflow Values included in the Webhook Payload (b) the recieving web server is private and properly secured (c) I am aware the use of Webhooks can facilitate the transfer of end-user personal data to third party Data Processors and my use of Webhooks adheres to my responsibilities as Data Controller under applicable Data Protection Laws.

Secure your Webhook with a secret token

Webhook URLs can be called by anyone and are therefore insecure.

To ensure a request to your Webhook URL comes from Malcolm! a secret token known only by yourself and Malcolm! can be used to generate a Signature.

Malcolm! will take the Payload and the secret and create a Signature. This will be passed to your App as the request header X-Signature. Your App will use the same secret and the received Payload to generate a second Signature. If the Signatures match you know the request came from Malcolm! and not another source.

The secret token can be any string you like, but Malcolm! recommends using a random string of at least 36 characters. For example in a Terminal window run -

ruby -rsecurerandom -e 'puts SecureRandom.hex(18)'

To validate the Payload from Malcolm! use the HMAC SHA-256 algorithm to create a hash using the Payload as the data and your secret as the key.

For example in PHP use the hash_hmac function to generate a binary hash.

$key = 'Your secret token'; $data = file_get_contents('php://input'); $hash = hash_hmac('sha256', $data, $key, true); // true = output raw binary data

Next encode the binary hash using a Base 64 encoder, in PHP this is the base64_encode function.

$encoded_hash = base64_encode($hash);

Finally prefix the encoded hash with "sha256=" and compare with the value of X-Signature. In PHP you can use the $_SERVER variable to access the headers.

$signature = 'sha256=' . $encoded_hash; if ($_SERVER['HTTP_X_SIGNATURE'] === $signature) { // Request is valid }

Conditional settings

There are conditional controls available too. If you have a condition configured the Webhook will only be notified if the conditions at the end of the Workflow are satisfied.

Headers

The HTTP POST will contain the following Headers.

Header Description Host The Host of your Webhook URL. Content-Type With value "application/json" X-Instance-Id The ID of the Instance. X-Signature The request Signature, if using a secret token.

Payload

The Payload will be a JSON Body containing the Workflow Session.

Attribute Type Description id string The ID of the Workflow Session. label string A descriptive label, which will include the name of the person who completed the Workflow if your Workflow contains name attributes. description string An extended version of the label which also includes the Workflow name. text string The same as the description but often a attribute named "text" is automatically picked up by some services. locale string The locale used during the Workflow Session. started-at string The date and time the Workflow Session was started, in ISO 8601 format. completed-at string The date and time the Workflow Session was completed, in ISO 8601 format. workflow object[Workflow] The related Workflow. values array[Value] The submitted Workflow Values (if included).

Workflows are defined as -

Attribute Type Description id string The ID of the Workflow. name string The name of the Workflow. published-at string The date and time the Workflow was published, in ISO 8601 format. version string The name of the Workflow version.

Workflow Values are defined as -

Attribute Type Description id string The ID of the Workflow Value. field object[Field] The related Workflow Field. value mixed The submitted value.

Workflow Fields are defined as -

Attribute Type Description id string The ID of the Workflow Field. name string The name of the Workflow Field. query-name string The URL query name for the Workflow Field if defined.

Example

POST /webhook HTTP/1.1 Host: yourdomain.com Content-Type: application/json X-Instance-Id: xxxxxxxxxx X-Signature: xxxxxxxxxx { "id": "xxxxxxxxxx", "label": "Completed by Tom Jordan", "description": "Workflow \"Open Support Ticket\" was completed by Tom Jordan.", "text": "Workflow \"Open Support Ticket\" was completed by Tom Jordan.", "locale": "en-GB", "started-at": "2020-04-01T12:00:00+00:00", "completed-at": "2020-04-01T12:05:00+00:00", "workflow": { "id": "xxxxxxxxxx", "name": "Open Support Ticket", "published-at": "2020-04-01T09:00:00+00:00", "version": "Version 1" }, "values": [ { "id": "xxxxxxxxxx", "field": { "id": "xxxxxxxxxx", "name": "Your name", "query-name": "name" }, "value": "Tom Jordan" }, { "id": "xxxxxxxxxx", "field": { "id": "xxxxxxxxxx", "name": "Your email address", "query-name": "email" }, "value": "tom.jordan@malcolm.app" } ] }

Question 2

Do you support animated GIFs?

Accepted Answer

Yes you can use animated GIFs in Malcolm! placing them in your FAQs or in Workflows (via the Content element).

You can upload the animated GIF into the media section of MyMalcolm or you can pull in externally hosted GIFs.

This cat has been uploaded to MyMalcolm:

To pull in external GIFs use the following Markdown syntax: ![Image Description](https://media.giphy.com/media/QpWDP1YMziaQw/source.gif)

The above Markdown results in this:

Have fun!

Question 3

How do I use Make (formerly Integromat) to connect Malcolm! to other applications or services I use?

Accepted Answer

Malcolm! now integrates with Make (formerly Integromat). Make is an integration platform - it connects thousands of apps to other apps.

In the context of Malcolm! this means that when a Workflow is completed you can use our Make integration to route some or all of the data that has been collected from that Workflow through into Make and then in turn onto thousands of other apps or services.

Here is how to set things up:

Firstly set up and publish a workflow in Malcolm! that collects the data you wish to move into other applications.
In MyMalcolm go to the Settings Section, then Workflows, then Integrations, then click on Make.

Once you have set things up, you can test the integration by clicking "Run Once" in the Integromat interface, then complete the Malcolm! Workflow in question. The actions you have configured in Integromat should then happen, or you may see details of errors that need correcting.
When you are happy you can then set the scenario to run immediately (ie each time a Workfow is completed) or periodically.
Back in MyMalcolm, if you find the Workflow you set up with Integromat in the Library, select it, then go to Configure then Integrations you should be able to see Integromat has been added. You can turn the integation off here if you want and/or configure it to be conditional (for example to only run when certain choices have been made on a Workflow).

You can also see a video walkthrough below:

Remember that Malcolm! always stores your data (which you can download anytime) - so if Integromat goes down or your integration doesn't seem to work properly no data will be lost.

We are hugely excited about the possibilities opened up via Integromat - we hope you are too! If you have questions or need a hand setting things up just contact us and we'll be happy to help.

Question 4

Can I change the sender and email address in the emails Malcolm! sends my customers?

Accepted Answer

Malcolm! can send emails to your customers/users in the following situations:

Workflow email answers where you have configured the email answer to be sent to the email address specified in the Workflow
Email this answer functionality on an FAQ
Sending the resume later Workflow link
Payment confirmation email

By default these emails come from the sender "Malcolm!" with the email address noreply@malcolm.app You can now change this by connecting Malcolm! to your Mailgun or SendGrid account.

To do this, goto Settings --> Instance --> Emails and toggle Custom email sending to be active. You can then supply your Mailgun or SendGrid credentials and specify your desired sender name and email address.

You can also change the look and feel of these emails - please see this FAQ for further details.

Question 5

How do I embed content from Malcolm! into my own website or app?

Accepted Answer

You can easily embed content from Malcolm! into your existing website, app, product or online service with just a few lines of code.

Begin by going to the Share section of MyMalcolm and then select Embed.

We offer the following type of embeds:

Floating Widget (with button and draw options) - this option floats a button or drawer “pre-expand” over your site, application, product or service - when clicked a content panel opens up
Overlay / Pop Up - this opens an overlay / popup over whatever the user is currently seeing - it’s triggered by a link you can place wherever you want in your site, application, product or service
Inline - pull content directly into the same pages/screens your users are seeing with this option - use blend mode for a truly seamless experience!

We also offer a fourth option which can be useful in some circumstances:

Redirect - this option creates an automatic redirect which will replace the page the embed is fired from with a Malcolm! hosted page. This is achieved by auto forwarding the user. This option can be useful in certain scenarios, for example if you constrained by only being able to publish via a CMS and want some navigation or pages within your CMS structure to link out to Malcolm! hosted content. Note you will likely want to use URL rules in conjunction with the redirect embed (otherwise the redirect will happen on all pages the embed is present on!).

In terms of the type of content you can embed options include:

Hosted Hub results - paginated results showing the default filtered FAQs and Workflows as seen on your Hosted Hub homepage
A single FAQ - your choice of FAQ
A single Workflow - your choice of Workflow
Author listing - paginated results showing FAQs from a particular author
Category listing paginated results showing FAQs within a partiuclar category
Filtered results paginated results showing FAQs and Workflows filtered by your choice of filter (eg most popular, most recent, most helpful etc)
Search results (contextual) - paginated results showing FAQs and Workflows according to a search query provided via a meta tag on your page
Search results (specified search query) - paginated results showing FAQs and Workflows according to a given search query
Tag listing - paginated results showing FAQs referenced by particular tag

Note that if you just want to embed a single FAQ or Workflow you can also access a quick embed interface via the Library in both the FAQ and Workflow sections of MyMalcolm. Simply select "Embed" from the menu accessible on the right hand side of the respective published FAQ or Workflow.

You can configure various options around the visual stlye of your embed. The exact options available depend on the type of embed you have chosen.

When you have finished configuring the content and visual appearence of your embed, Malcolm! will give you the code that can be used to pull your content into your website, app, product or online service.

Watch a video guide to embeding Malcolm! content into your website below.

Question 6

How do I create a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ)?

Accepted Answer

Within MyMalcolm go the FAQ Section and click "Create a FAQ" towards to the top right of the screen.

This will bring up the "compose your question and answer" dialogue. Here you can input the question, an optional brief summary answer (used in search and browse results) and your full answer. For tips on how to write a good FAQ click here.

When composing your FAQ you can use the formating controls in the "full answer" box or directly enter Markdown. Markdown is a great way of quickly adding formatting to textual content. If you've not used it before it can take a minute or two to get used to it but it's very fast to work with once you have got the hang of it. You can click the "Need help with Markdown?" button bottom left anytime for a quick reference Markdown guide.

You can see what your FAQ will look like to your users by pressing the "Preview" button top right. When you have written your content press "Next: Configure" to move onto the configuration options for your FAQ.

In this area you can control various things about your FAQ such as whether an author is shown, what the URL is, your choice of tags, whether the feedback form is enabled and the category or categories the FAQ lives in. You also have various options around whether the FAQ can be seen by search engines, is password protected or not and can be found or not via the Malcolm! search/browse capability. You can even set the FAQ (or versions of it) to publish and un-publish automatically at certain dates and time in the future.

Watch a video guide to creating an FAQ below.

Question 7

How do I use Zapier to connect Malcolm! to other applications or services I use?

Accepted Answer

Malcolm! now plugs into Zapier. Zapier is an integration platform - it connects thousands of apps to other apps/

In the context of Malcolm! this means that when a Workflow is completed you can use our Zapier integration to route some or all of the data that has been collected from that Workflow through into Zapier and then in turn onto thousands of other apps or services.

Here is how to set things up:

Firstly set up and publish a workflow in Malcolm! that collects the data you wish to move into other applications.
In MyMalcolm go to the Settings Section, then Workflows, then Integrations, then click on Zapier.

In the overlay you'll have an option to choose some featured popular Zapier / Malcolm! integrations or to proceed to Zapier.com to create from scratch.

Sign up for an account at Zapier if you don't already have one - it is free - or login if you do have an account.

Your trigger app should be Malcolm! and you want it to trigger on a new Workflow completion so hit "Save + Continue" once you have selected this option.
You now need to connect your Malcolm! instance to your Zapier account - click "Connect an Account" and follow the instructions. Once connected click "Save and Continue".
Choose a workflow then "Continue".
Wait for a sample to load and then click "Continue".
Choose an action App of your choice and configure as required - the exact process will vary from action App to action App but you are likely to need to agree some permissions and choose some options. Once done click "Save + Continue" or "Finish".
You will then be able to name your Zap and choose whether it is on or not.
Back in MyMalcolm, if you find the Workflow you used in your Zap in the Library, select it, then go to Configure then Integrations you should be able to see Zapier has been added. You can turn the integation off here if you want and/or configure it to be conditional (for example to only run when certain choices have been made on a Workflow).

Remember that Malcolm! always stores your data (which you can download anytime) - so if Zapier goes down or your integration doesn't seem to work properly no data will be lost.

We are hugely excited about the possibilities opened up via Zapier - we hope you are too! If you have questions or need a hand setting things up just contact us and we'll be happy to help.

Question 8

How do I use Malcolm! with my own domain or sub-domain?

Accepted Answer

You can use your own domain or sub-domain with Malcolm! There is no extra cost for doing this.

To set this up go to the Settings Section in MyMalcolm then Custom Domains. Enter your custom domain and you will be given instructions on how to verify domain control/ownership and set up your DNS. We can host on SSL too and we'll automatically generate a secure certifcate for you. Once again, there is no extra cost for doing this!

Once you have set up your custom domain or sub-domain both that and your malcolm.support / malcolm.app URL will work and serve content. If you don't want the .malcolm domains to work just select the redirect option and any traffic will be redirected.

Watch a video guide to setting uo your own domain below.

Question 9

What are featured boxes and how can I use them?

Accepted Answer

Featured boxes are part of your hosted hub theme and are very flexible multi purpose content areas that appear on your hosted hub homepage (and also your FAQs only and Workflows only home if you are using those).

You can use them to link to content within your Malcolm! instance, for example a particular category, tag, FAQ or Workflow and you can also use them to link out to content or functionality you may have elsewhere. They can be a great tactical tool as well, for example if you've written an FAQ about your holiday opening hours and want to draw attention to it use a featured box!

On our own Malcolm! Help & Support Hub the "Using Malcolm! and need help?" and "What do you think of Malcolm?" are featured boxes.

Featured boxes are created and managed via your theme (Brand --> Themes).

You can place featured boxes in the header area and/or body area of the page and choose a display type by row or columns.

When creating a featured box you have various options such as uploading your own icons or choosing one of ours, plus configuring links

Also see promos for similar functionality that enables you to create and manage content at the bottom of your hosted hub home page.

Question 10

Can I change meta information and optimise Malcolm! for SEO?

Accepted Answer

Malcolm! offers lots of options to configure your hosted hub for SEO purposes. Below is an overview.

Hosted Hub Homepage

You can set the page title, meta description and keywords for your hosted hub homepage via Settings --> Instance --> Meta Content.

You can configure whether you want search engines to see this page via the visibility tab.

FAQs and Workflows only homepage

If you use the FAQs only and Workflows only homepages, you can set the page title, meta description and keywords for them via Settings --> FAQs --> Meta Content and Settings --> Workflows --> Meta Content respectively.

You can configure whether you want search engines to see these pages via the visibility tab.

Authors, Categories & Tags

By default the results pages for Authors, Categories & Tags are not shown to search engines, but you can change this and configure the meta information via the respective Author, Category and Tag in the FAQ section.

Advanced Settings

You can set much of the above, and some additional title and meta info via the language file which can be found at Settings --> Instance --> Advanced. Click "Show dictionary" to see what can be edited.

Individual Content

You can edit the meta content and visibility (ie whether a search engine can see it) of an individual FAQ or Workflow via the configure tab of the FAQ or Workflow in question.

Social Images

A social image is the image that will be used when you link to content via services like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.

A default social image is defined in your theme (Brand --> Theme --> edit icon on theme --> General)
That can be overriden by defining a social image in Settings --> Instance --> Meta
For your hosted hub home, the FAQs and Workflows only homepages and the Authors, Categories & Tags results pages the above can be overriden via the respective setting screens mentioned above.
An individual piece of content (ie an FAQ or Workflow) can set their own social image and override the above via the configure tab of the content in question.

Site Map

All published and "visible" pages/content will appear in the sitemap.xml file which can be found at yourhostedhub.com/sitemap.xml where yourhostedhub.com is your actual Malcolm! hosted hub URL.

Schema

We mark up content created in the FAQs section using Schema. This means your content may appear in Google as Rich Results. You can choose between marking content up as FAQPage (perfect for questions and answers) or as a WebPage. See here for more info. In addition if you insert a How-to / Step by Step into your content this is also marked up using Schema. See here for more info.

How can we help?

Using Malcolm! and need help?

What do you think of Malcolm?

Most popular