Question 1

I'd like to open the Overlay embed directly, how do I do this?

Accepted Answer

When you create an Overlay embed we give you two bits of code to add to your page. The first is the master code which you should place just before the closing tag. The second is the inline code which generates the button users click to open the overlay - this goes inside the tags where you want the button to appear. When the user clicks the button the Overlay embed will appear in a modal (pop-up) over your page.

The inline code we give you will look like this -

Sometimes you might want to call the overlay but not use our button. You might want to call it from text or use your own button/graphic or you might want to call it in the background when a user does something else on your page.

You can do this by calling mapi in JavaScript.

The mapi has four methods - open, close, trigger and toggle. Open, close and toggle all return promises (i.e., a function that resolves when the animation is complete or a rejects if something went wrong, e.g., no embed found for the param passed). Trigger is more "fire and forget" - it will call the open function if everything goes well, otherwise it silently fails.

Here is an example using an href link that uses the trigger method to open the Overlay -

Note that you must have our master embed code on your page for the above to work and you need to replace EMBED_ID with your embed ID.

The above may also be useful for customers who are using third party site building systems - sometimes putting inline code into a page on those systems can be restricted so you can't add our inline code to render your button. If you can create inline links you could try using the above example with the trigger method to open the Overlay (again remember you also need the master code on the page).

Question 2

How do I use your Wordpress plugin?

Accepted Answer

First download the Malcolm! Wordpress Plugin here.

In MyMalcolm! create your embeds as normal - instructions here.

At the end of the Embed creation process when your embed code is generated there is some text which says "Embedding in a Wordpress site?" - if you click that text you will be shown your instance ID and for some embed types you will be shown a shortcode. There is also an option to have this information emailed to you.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/Lglywov3F9/Screenshot%202020-05-24%2022.00.27.png (Embedding in a Wordpress site?)

In Wordpress, install the Malcolm! plugin then goto Settings --> Malcolm! and add your instance ID. Currently on some versions of Wordpress when you add the instance ID and press Save there is no acknowledgement of this but you can verify the instance ID has indeed been saved by navigating away and then back to Settings --> Malcolm!

You can see your instance ID in your URL when you are in MyMalcolm eg, https://my.malcolm.app/instances/XXXXXXXXXX/dashboard. The instance ID is the 10 digit code code shown where the X's are above.

For Widget and Full page embeds this is all you have to do - you can then configure on which pages your embeds appear via MyMalcolm (via the URL rules section of the respective embed).

For inline embeds and overlays you need to position where you would like the embed or the overlay launcher in your content. You do this using the Shortcode. Go to the page or post in Wordpress, make sure you are in code editor (not visual editor) and put the Shortcode where you wish the embed to appear / or the overlay be launched from.

If you have any issues with you embeds not appearing first check these things.

Question 3

Can I use two-factor (2FA) / multi-factor authentication (MFA) to secure my MyMalcolm account?

Accepted Answer

You can secure your MyMalcolm user account using two-factor authentication (2FA). To use this feature you will need a native MyMalcolm user account, that is you are not using Sign In with Google.

To turn 2FA on click the "Enable two-factor authentication" button in the Security tab of your profile. To access your profile click your name at the top of the screen where it says "Logged in as".

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/iermJcbNuB/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2023.04.14-15_38_30.png (Enabling two-factor authentication in MyMalcolm)

You will then be shown a QR code you can scan in your choice of authenticator app. Alternatively there is also an option to be given a text code to enter into your authenticator app.

On the next screen, having added Malcolm! to your authenticator app, you will be asked to type in the current code. Once that code is accepted, as the final step of the process, you will be given some recovery codes which you should store safely and can be used to access your Malcolm! account if you are ever unable to use your authenticator app.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/6pXAu1iddP/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2023.04.14-15_54_29.png (Recovery codes in MyMalcolm two-factor authentication setup)

Please note that if you lose access to your authenticator app and your recovery codes we will be unable to restore access to your account!

Question 4

How do I set up my Hosted Hub?

Accepted Answer

Every instance of Malcolm! comes complete with a Hosted Hub that you can configure and customise.

You can find out more about the Hosted Hub here and if you want to turn if off you can find out how to do that here.

In MyMalcolm if you click "View Live" towards the top the screen you'll see what your Hosted Hub currently looks like.

The two things you are probably most likely to want to change are the URL the Hub is on and the Hub's look, feel and content. Here is how to configure each of those areas.

1. Configure the URL

In MyMalcolm, go to the Settings section, then select "Custom Domains" from the vertical left hand menu. In this area you can change the URL your Hosted Hub will use. It's possible (and no extra charge) to use your own external domain or sub-domain.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/VKQ7z1JBXW/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2019.08.12-17_01_54.png (Customise your domains in MyMalcolm)

2. Change your Hub's look, feel and content

You can extensively customise your Hosted Hub to suit your own requirements. To do this, go to the Brand section of MyMalcolm, clone an existing theme, then choose the edit icon on your cloned theme.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/cO3r3O1RbL/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2019.08.12-17_03_00.png (Theme management in MyMalcolm)

In the edit theme area use the left hand vertical navigation to see all the custom options you have.

Question 5

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 6

Can I remove the Malcolm! branding?

Accepted Answer

It is quick and easy to remove the Malcolm! branding and - if you want - replace it with your own. Here is how:

Hosted Hub

By default your Hosted Hub is Malcolm! branded. To change that:

In MyMalcolm go to the Brand section.
Click "Themes" on the black sub navigation.
The default Malcolm! theme will be selected. Click the "duplicate" icon (two squares overlapping). This will create a copy of the default theme called "Default copy".
Select the Default copy theme by clicking on it. Then click the "edit" icon (a pencil).
This brings up the edit theme interface. There are a huge amount of things you can change here. Use the left hand vertical navigation to browse all the possibilities.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/6ACEG5RrGl/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2019.08.05-10_46_38.png (MyMalcolm Theme Editing Options)

Footer

Be default a "powered by Malcolm!" badge appears at the bottom of content. You can turn this off (and also add other footer content such as copyright notices etc) in the "Footer" section of the edit theme interface referenced above.

Embeds

You can turn off the "powered by Malcolm!" badge in your embeds by turning off the footer. You do this via the style section of your embed configuration.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/m6Pb8R7IbC/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2020.05.26-11_42_48.png (Style controls in an Embed in MyMalcolm)

Emails

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

Email this answer functionality on an FAQ
Sending the resume later Workflow link
Payment confirmation email

To change the branding of these emails see this article.

To change the sender name and email address see this article.

Domain

Finally don't forget you can easily configure Malcolm! to use your own domain or sub-domain. For further details see this article.

Question 7

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 8

Do you support a collapsable section in content?

Accepted Answer

If you'd like to have content that has to be clicked to be viewed you can create collapsable sections of content which are closed by default.

Here is an example

Here is the hidden content!

https://media.giphy.com/media/3pZipqyo1sqHDfJGtz/giphy.gif (hello!)

The Syntax is as follows

This above will render a "> Click to open" link on the page which when clicked, will reveal the rest of the content underneath.

Question 9

How do I add Intro text for Categories, Authors & Tags?

Accepted Answer

You can add introductory text to your Categories, Authors & Tag listings. This is perfect for giving your customers/users added context or information as they browse your content.

In MyMalcolm you'll see the a "Description" field when you add or edit a Category, Author or Tag.

How to add intro text to Categories, Authors or Tags

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/5ut5kRCq4Q/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.11.09-13_11_50.png (Adding intro text in MyMalcolm)

The Description field supports markdown so it's possible to add styling, links and media too. The content you add will appear on your hosted hub as well as our other formats like embeds, overlays and widgets.

Question 10

How do drafts, versions, publishing and approvals of FAQs work?

Accepted Answer

Malcolm! has an inbuilt versioning system and optional scheduled publishing and approval functionality.

Versions can be useful if you change the answer to a question but at a later date want to revert the answer back to a previous version.

They can also be useful for compliance and regulatory reasons, eg in the future you might want to review what your FAQ answer was at a certain point in time.

Versions also enable you to "prep" updated content ahead of it going live. For example if you are revising your product or service you might need to update your FAQ content. But you might not want that new updated content to go live until your the changes to your product or service also go live.

How Versioning Works

When you first create an FAQ you are creating a draft. When you have finished editing you publish that draft into a version. When you make a version live that version is then what your customers see.

You can choose which version of content is live via the publishing section of an FAQ. To get to this browse to FAQ via the Library, then once selected go into the Publishing section.

You can also start a new draft based on a published version.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/VB6EF763Ha/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2019.08.06-19_15_24.png (Versions in MyMalcolm)

How Scheduled Publishing Works

As well as choosing to make a version live immediately you can also choose to make a version live at a certain date and time in the future. You may only want a version to be live for a certain period of time so you may wish to set an end date. You may also want different versions live at different times. You can set this up and manage and edit upcoming schedules in the publishing section of an FAQ.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/6R9cFykdG0/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2019.08.06-19_30_00.png (Scheduled Publishing in MyMalcolm)

How Approvals Work

The Approval functionality adds a stage between turning a draft into a published version - the draft has to be approved. This functionality can be useful if you work in an organisation where a legal or compliance department wants to review any changes to customer facing communications. It can also be useful if one team member, for example a manager or editor, wants to ensure they personally review all content changes submitted by staff members (or perhaps freelancers) before those changes are allowed to go live.

Approvals functionality is off by default. To turn it on go to the Settings section, General settings, Content approval.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/drOJxuIL5V/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2020.06.29-17_43_05.png (Enable Approvals in MyMalcolm)

Although you can technically approve your own content the approval functionality makes most sense when you have several team members on an Instance. So it tends to be used by instances that are on our Team or Enterprise plan. You can choose which users on your instance have the approval privilege via the Team section.

Notes can be added to each draft you put forward for approval.

If you are waiting for your content to be approved, or you are a user with the approval privilege you can access your options in the Publishing section. This can be accessed globally (ie showing activity and options across all FAQs) within the first level of FAQ or via an individual FAQ where just activity and options for that individual FAQ is shown. )