Question 1

Can I put tracking (or other) tags in my FAQs / Workflows / Hosted Hub?

Accepted Answer

You can add Javascript tracking tags via the Settings Section of MyMalcolm. Select Tracking tags within that section.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/dcbZzXmJdp/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2019.07.30-19_55_21.png (Tag management in MyMalcolm)

For Google Analytics you can just add your GA ID.

For users of Google Tag Manager you can add your GTM ID then manage all tags via their interface.

For any other tags add these in the "Any other Javascript snippets" area.

If you wish to use another tag manager you could add that tag managers code in the "Any other Javascript snippets" area and then manage your tags via their interface.

Question 2

How do I delete data submitted to a Workflow?

Accepted Answer

You can delete some or all of the submitted data (including uploaded files) associated with a Workflow by selecting "Delete Data" in the Analyse tab of the relevant Workflow.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/tRaFrYJwoo/resources/lcSsh5w64C/Screenshot%202020-11-20%20at%2023.06.05.png (Delete Data dialogue in MyMalcolm)

You can choose to delete all data or selected data between two dates. Note that as well as removing data the delete process will also remove any exports you previously generated that contain the data plus any files uploaded via the Workflow and MyMalcolm activity logs. Please therefore export and download to your local system any data you wish to keep before starting the delete process in MyMalcolm.

Ratings, analytics and feedback associated with deleted Workflow completions will be kept and can still be reviewed via MyMalcolm post delete.

Question 3

Can I put Malcolm! Widget code into another site via Google Tag Manager?

Accepted Answer

If you are using Google Tag Manager on a site or application it is very easy to deploy the Malcolm! widget into that property via GTM.

Here is a step by step guide:

Set up your widget in the Share section of MyMalcolm (there is a guide here) and copy the embed code to your clipboard
In GTM click "Add a new Tag"
In Tag Configuration select a "custom HTML" tag type
Paste in the embed code from your clipboard
You don't need to support document.write
For your trigger use page view on all pages (assuming you want the widget to appear on all pages)

Question 4

Can I turn off the "Email this Answer" / send by email functionality?

Accepted Answer

If you would like to turn off the ability for a user to have a particular FAQ emailed to them you can do this on a per FAQ basis via the Configure / General area of the FAQ in MyMalcolm:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/YodRL1xSiq/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2019.10.17-20_14_58.png (Turn off Send by email on a single FAQ)

If you want to turn off this feature for all FAQ's in the instance you can do this globally via Settings / FAQs / General Settings:

Question 5

Can you create logos and branding for my Hosted Hub?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we do offer this service via "Malcolm Agency Services".

See here for further details and to get a quote.

Question 6

Can I pass secure values into Malcolm! Workflows via the URL?

Accepted Answer

Passing data into a Workflow via the URL is a feature we've had for a while - read more - but what if the data you want to pass is confidential?

Understandably, you wouldn't want to pass that straight in. Luckily Malcolm! understands how important protecting your data is so we've come up with a solution that allows values to travel safe and secure with minimal effort!

A beginners guide to encryption

Suppose you have a value, such as an account number, that you don't want anyone else to read. Encryption provides a way to scramble this value so only you and the people you share the password or secret key with can read it.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/FR8yDloV2d/encryption-diagram.png (encryption-diagram.png)

The sender uses the secret key to scramble the original value and the encrypted value is sent to the receiver. On receipt of the encrypted value the receiver uses the same secret key to unscramble the value back to the original.

And that's encryption in a nutshell!

Step 1: Generate a secret key

The secret key can be any string you like, but Malcolm! recommends using a random string of at least 36 characters. A simple ruby command can quickly generate one for you.

Keep your secret key safe - you'll need it later!

Step 2: Share your secret key with Malcolm!

We do this via the Workflow Builder. Any question field that supports URL query values can now be secured with your secret key - e.g. text fields, hidden fields, number fields, email address fields, etc.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/g6hGpX1dvl/Screenshot%202021-11-10%20at%2013.43.37.png (Screenshot 2021-11-10 at 13.43.37.png)

Here's a simple example which starts with a text field renamed to "Account number".

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/b4uJV41azB/Screenshot%202021-11-10%20at%2013.51.53.png (Screenshot 2021-11-10 at 13.51.53.png)

To enable URL values open up the edit window, scroll to the bottom and turn on "Allow a value to be set in URL query". Malcolm! will automatically generate a query name for you but you can change it to something different if you prefer.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/7OhxX21Mdq/Screenshot%202021-11-10%20at%2013.52.01.png (Screenshot 2021-11-10 at 13.52.01.png)

Next turn on the "Secure the query value" and paste in your secret key.

Hit save and that completes the configuration!

Step 3: Encrypting values

Malcolm! uses OpenSSL and the "aes-128-gcm" cipher to decrypt values.

Passed values need to be encoded and made up of three parts -

The Initialisation Vector used during the encryption
The Authentication Tag resulting from AEAD ciphers
The encrypted string

Initialisation Vectors are generated using the OpenSSL rand function. For our chosen cipher these need to be exactly 12 bytes long. If using PHP you can use the openssl_random_pseudo_bytes function.

Why 12 bytes? This just happens to be the required length for our chosen cipher. In PHP you can verify this by using the openssl_cipher_iv_length function.

This will output -

Next use the OpenSSL enc function to create the encrypted string. Here's an example using the PHP openssl_encrypt function.

This will assign an Authentication Tag to the $tag variable (passed by reference) and an encrypted string to the $ciphertext variable.

Note - in PHP we pass OPENSSL_RAW_DATA to generate binary data.

Complete the process by concatenating $iv, $tag and $cipertext into a single string - Malcolm! needs all three for the decryption process!

As we're passing this value via the URL we need to first encode it. Use a Base 64 encoder followed by a URL encoder to ensure all the characters are sent correctly. In PHP this is the base64_encode function and urlencode functions respectively.

This is the final encoded string!

For simplicity all the steps from above can be put in a single function.

And that's all there is to it ;)

Question 7

Can I link to a Workflow when a user rates content?

Accepted Answer

When a user rates your FAQ or Workflow you may wish to link to a Workflow from the rating area to collect more detailed, specific information. That Workflow could in turn pass data to your other systems (eg ticketing systems or CRM) via an Integration or Webhook.

This feature can be used in combination with, or as an alternative to, the feedback comments feature.

You can enable this functionality for FAQs and/or Workflows via Settings --> FAQ --> General or Settings --> Workflow --> General respectively.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/VMGzMXACpu/Screenshot%202021-03-11%20at%2008.25.31.png (Post feedback Workflow configuration in MyMalcolm)

Here you can choose the Workflow linked to when the user gives feedback.

The default copy for the link text is "Submit additional feedback" but you can change that via the language file - details on how to do this here.

If you are going to enable this feature it may make sense to turn feedback comments off so all comments are captured in your Workflow. We also recommend you turn off the feedback on the individual Workflow you use for the post Workflow feedback (via the configure tag of the individual Workflow in question). This will avoid the user being asked for feedback on the feedback!

Question 8

How can I password-protect my hub with Auth0?

Accepted Answer

Malcolm supports using Auth0 to password-protect your content.

This guide will help you set up Auth0.

First go to MyMalcolm > Settings > Instance > Visibility and enable Hosted Hub password protection. This automatically enables the built-in password protection.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/ea8meZWJKM/Screenshot%202021-11-25%20at%2016.37.03.png (Screenshot 2021-11-25 at 16.37.03.png)

Next, inside your Auth0 tennant, create a new Auth0 Application. Give it a name and choose Regular Web Applications from the four options.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/VDfX0QpiZh/Screenshot%202021-11-25%20at%2016.31.49.png (Screenshot 2021-11-25 at 16.31.49.png)

Click on the Settings tab and scroll down to the Basic Information section.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/JReEIPSyji/Screenshot%202021-11-25%20at%2016.46.53.png (Screenshot 2021-11-25 at 16.46.53.png)

In MyMalcolm click through to Manage password protection and toward the bottom enable Auth0 for password protection. Copy/paste the Domain, Client ID and Client Secret from Auth0 into MyMalcolm.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/mwX1ffzhIZ/Screenshot%202021-11-25%20at%2016.40.03.png (Screenshot 2021-11-25 at 16.40.03.png)

Next copy/paste the Application Login URI, Allowed Callback URL and Allowed Logout URL from Malcolm! into your Auth0 Application URIs settings.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/ST4LVVMZ3x/Screenshot%202021-11-25%20at%2016.45.36.png (Screenshot 2021-11-25 at 16.45.36.png)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/kpvEhZpVtp/Screenshot%202021-11-25%20at%2016.40.39.png (Screenshot 2021-11-25 at 16.40.39.png)

Save the settings on both sides and you should see your Auth0 login page in your Hub.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/oijJOqmb9t/Screenshot%202021-11-25%20at%2016.42.11.png (Screenshot 2021-11-25 at 16.42.11.png)

But that's not all!

Attributes from your Auth0 users can be pre-populated in Malcolm! Workflows. To enable this feature choose a suitable field on a Workflow, edit the field settings and enable Allow a value to be set in the URL query. Enter one of the four attribute names email, name, nickname or picture to pre-populate those values directly into your Workflow.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/5zfBKHJgrE/Screenshot%202021-11-25%20at%2017.23.01.png (Screenshot 2021-11-25 at 17.23.01.png)

You can read more about passing values in the URL query here.

Question 9

Is there a limit to the amount of media I can upload? How much media space will I need?

Accepted Answer

Each instance of Malcolm! initially comes with a 0.5GB allocation of file storage space.

Because a web bowser will download all content on a page it's good practice (for page loading speed and also SEO purposes) to try and keep each image on your page under 2MB and not include too many images on any one page. Squarespace have a good general guide here.

Video files should not be uploaded to Malcolm! - instead use YouTube or Vimeo and embed your content - see here for more info.. This offers a much better experience for your users (they get a device/speed appropriate stream) and your page download speed will not be compromised.

If you wish to make large documents available for download consider using a dedicated file hosting service (eg Dropbox, Google Drive, WeTransfer etc) and linking to that from your FAQs. This is better user experience because your user will be made aware of the file size before starting the download.

Remember in particular your mobile users who may be viewing your content via significantly slower connections!

If you do find yourself nearing the limit of your initial allocation contact us to request a higher allocation and we can provision this for you - there is no extra charge for this.

Question 10

Can I collect the email address of a user when they leave feedback on an FAQ or Workflow?

Accepted Answer

It can be very useful to offer the ability for a user to leave their email when giving feedback on an FAQ or Workflows so you can follow up with them.

You can turn this feature on for FAQ's and/or Workflows via Settings --> FAQ --> General or Settings --> Workflow --> General respectively.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/Z202OQgYA3/Screenshot%202021-03-11%20at%2008.25.02.png (Leave Feedback email address option in MyMalcolm)

You can enable it for all feedback or just for negative feedback. The default wording shown to the user is "If you'd like a follow up to this comment please leave your email address" but you can change this wording via the language file - see here for more details.

If the user has left an email address, there will be a "click to email" icon displayed next to the feedback in MyMalcolm.

If you'd prefer a user to complete a Workflow when they rate content see this FAQ.