Question 1

How can I change my Hosted Hub URL?

Accepted Answer

You can change the URL of your Hosted Hub via the Settings Section of MyMalcolm. Go to Custom Domains and you choose a new URL on malcolm.support or malcolm.app here. The URL must be available ie not being used by another customer.

You can also configure your own external domain or sub domain in this area as well.

If you want to change the part of the URL after your domain please see this article.

Question 2

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!

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/x1cCpQ17Io/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2019.07.30-19_35_49.png (Domain Settings)

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 3

How do I change my Plan?

Accepted Answer

You can move between different types of plan in the Billing section of MyMalcolm. Bear in mind that different plans have different quotas so if you are downgrading to a less expensive plan you may need to reduce the number of FAQs you have (for example) if you are moving from a Team to a Micro plan.

Question 4

How do I cancel Malcolm?

Accepted Answer

You can delete your instance or change the plan it is on anytime via MyMalcolm.

To delete an instance visit the Settings section of MyMalcolm. You can also move between different types of plan in the Billing section of MyMalcolm. Remember that different plans have different quotas so you might need to reduce the number of FAQs you have (for example) if you are moving from a Team to a Micro plan.

You can cancel an Instance anytime although bear in mind that Micro and Team plans are billed monthly in advance and you won't get a refund for any unused portion of the month you have paid for when you cancel.

If you are on an Enterprise plan talk to your Account Manager for any changes or cancellation requests.

Question 5

Do I have to pay extra to brand or customise the look and feel of Malcolm?

Accepted Answer

No - all plans include extensive branding options. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to integrate Malcolm! and reflect the existing look and feel of your business.

Some of the branding options include:

Upload your logo
Change fonts
Change colours
Change favicon
Configure header and background images
Choose from a range of icons or upload your own
Show / hide / configure page elements
Configure excerpts
Configure suggested search
Change button labels
Configure number of search results returned per page
Configure filters
Featured Box and Promo management
Footer management
Configure 404 page
Choose different Workflow layouts
Configure SEO options
....and lots more!

If you need a hand creating logos, headers or other graphical assets we do offer a service that can help - see here for more information.

Question 6

What does Malcolm! cost?

Accepted Answer

We offer four types of plan and pricing - they can be viewed here.

We bill on a per instance basis - you can read more about instances here.

Question 7

How do I pay for Malcolm?

Accepted Answer

Malcolm! billing is based on Instances. You can read more about Instances here.

You can see our pricing here.

You can read more about VAT and how we apply it here.

We currently bill in UK Pound Sterling and US Dollars.

At the time of writing we accept Visa and Mastercard. We also accept Paypal through which you can use American Express. We don't currently accept Bitcoin :-)

Plans are paid monthly in advance. When you trial ends (or if you end your trial early and remove the restrictions) we'll ask for your card details and every month we will automatically take payment unless you cancel. If your card expires or the payment fails we will send you a number of automated emails to ask you to update your details. If no action is taken after a grace period we will stop serving your content (ie your FAQ's and Workflows) and after a further grace period we will delete your Instance.

Enterprise plans are more bespoke in nature and are negotiated on a per client basis. These can also be paid by credit or debit card but it's more typical for clients to pay quarterly or annually via invoice and bank transfers.

Question 8

Do I need to pay VAT?

Accepted Answer

Value Added Tax (VAT) is the sales tax in the United Kingdom where Malcolm! trades from. The current UK VAT rate is 20%. Our pricing is quoted excluding VAT.

The UK is no longer a member of the European Union (EU) however the VAT rules around UK companies trading with EU based businesses and EU based individuals continue to apply.

Whether VAT is applicable to your purchase of Malcolm! and how we apply it can be summarised as follows:

If you are a UK customer (individual or business): we charge VAT at 20%
If you are an EU Business and supply a valid VAT number (we check it): we will not charge you any VAT
If you are an individual in the EU: we will charge you VAT at your local country VAT - details here (PDF)
If you are a company or an individual not in the UK or in the EU (eg you are in the USA or Australia): we will not charge you any VAT

Question 9

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. )

Question 10

How do I hide an FAQ?

Accepted Answer

You can change the visibility of an individual FAQ within that FAQ's Configure section

Browse to the FAQ in question via the Library, select it and then go to the Configure section, then Visibility.

Here you have the following options:

Set as visible on your site and search engines (default)
Set as visible on your site but hidden from search engines
Set as hidden from your site and search engines