Question 1

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 2

How can I password-protect my hub with Memberstack?

Accepted Answer

Malcolm supports using Memberstack to password-protect your content.

This guide will help you set up Memberstack.

First go to MyMalcolm > Settings > Instance > Visibility and toggle the option to use a third party service for Hosted Hub password protection. This automatically enables the built-in password protection.

Activating third party Single Sign On (SSO)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/M5riHygBgk/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.10.03-05_58_09.png (Choose Memberstack from the dropdown)

Next, from the Memberstack Dashboard, go to Dev Tools > Add Integration.

Add a new custom SSO Integration

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/9pIEqPe6kK/Screenshot%202022-10-03%20at%2007.00.53.png (Add a new custom SSO Integration)

Copy the Redirect URI from MyMalcolm and paste it into Memberstack.

Redirect URI in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/IHbM8Ppu1v/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.10.03-05_58_32.png (Cut and paste this into Memberstack)

Then, in Memberstack, press Add Integration.

Once created, in Memberstack click the Edit button next to the Integration and copy the Client ID and Secret Key.

Your Custom SSO Integration

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/I1TfM7CL3a/Screenshot%202022-10-03%20at%2007.01.12.png (Obtaining the Client ID and Secret Key from Memberstack)

Paste these values into the boxes in MyMalcolm.

Client Credentials in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/Oq33GMwLTG/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.10.03-05_58_32%202.png (Add your credentials from Memberstack here)

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

Login to Hosted Hub

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/DkMgxR3Mti/Screenshot%202022-10-03%20at%2007.01.36.png (Hosted Hub login using Memberstack SSO)

Attributes from your Memberstack 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 two attributes name or email to pre-populate those values directly into your Workflow.

Question 3

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.

Hosted Hub homepage meta options in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/1YN7mN8DHC/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.09-13_02_55.png (Hosted Hub homepage meta options in MyMalcolm)

Hosted Hub homepage meta options in MyMalcolm

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.

Visibility settings in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/SYnelFDeLl/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.09-13_08_05.png (Visibility settings in MyMalcolm)

Visibility settings in MyMalcolm

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.

Tag configuration in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/9qAnoZ47Lg/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.09-13_04_47.png (Tag configuration in MyMalcolm)

Tag configuration in MyMalcolm

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.

Advanced SEO options in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/SmUzmyq955/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.09-13_03_41.png (Advanced SEO options in MyMalcolm)

Advanced SEO options in MyMalcolm

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.

Question 4

What are promos and how can I use them?

Accepted Answer

Promos are part of your hosted hub theme and are very flexible multi purpose content areas that appear towards the bottom of 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 a YouTube channel and want to draw attention to it use a promo!

On our own Malcolm! Help & Support Hub the "Upgrade your content" and "Hey there!" areas are promos.

Promos on Malcolm!

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/j0yBsWZi2d/screenshot-support.malcolm.support-2022.08.03-06_58_32.png (Promos on Malcolm!)

Promos on Malcolm!

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

Promo management in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/6O1572FsqO/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.03-07_03_19.png (Promo management in MyMalcolm)

Promo management in MyMalcolm

When creating a promo you have various options such as uploading your own background image, plus configuring links

Adding a promo in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/QnCg1Rjnpm/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.03-07_03_59.png (Adding a promo in MyMalcolm)

Adding a promo in MyMalcolm

Also see featured boxes for similar functionality that enables you to create and manage content towards the top of your hosted hub home page.

Question 5

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 on Malcolm!

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/Y5JjW8JNLu/screenshot-support.malcolm.support-2022.08.03-06_26_45.png (Featured boxes on Malcolm!)

Featured boxes on Malcolm!

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

Featured boxes management in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/btIcIfywWZ/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.03-06_29_33.png (Featured boxes management in MyMalcolm)

Featured boxes management in MyMalcolm

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.

Arrange featured boxes by row or column

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/YYqGBI2Bcx/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.03-06_42_25.png (Arrange featured boxes by row or column)

Arrange featured boxes by row or column

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

Adding a featured box in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/aYsKuoqfAg/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.08.03-06_41_53.png (Adding a featured box in MyMalcolm)

Adding a featured box in MyMalcolm

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

Question 6

How is the removal of Company Personal Data handled?

Accepted Answer

What is personal data?

Personal data only includes information relating to natural persons who:

can be identified or who are identifiable, directly from the information in question; or
who can be indirectly identified from that information in combination with other information.

What is Company Personal Data?

When you use Malcolm! to collect information from your customers, suppliers, staff or others that information may include personal data. In this context, Malcolm! acts as your data processor and the personal data we may process on your behalf is referred to as Company Personal Data. You can read more about this here.

Removal of Company Personal Data

There are two tiers of data removal. The first is a recoverable delete, known also as a soft delete. The second is a permanent delete or purge. Malcolm! supports both types of data deletion.

Soft deletion

Soft deletion means data is deleted enough to make it no longer visible or discoverable but not quite enough should it need to be recovered.

For example if you delete a Malcolm! Workflow in MyMalcolm then the Workflow and everything related to that Workflow is soft deleted. This means it'll all disappear from MyMalcolm and our APIs but should you realise the deletion was a mistake it could still be fully recovered (on request).

Purging

Purging is a permanent or secure delete. This could be either a physical delete (e.g. uploaded files on disk) or a nullification of stored values in a database. Once data has been purged it is no longer recoverable.

Rest assured, Malcolm! will never purge your data whilst your Instance is active!

What happens after my trial finishes?

After your 14 day trial period comes to an end your Instance will be disabled. From that point you'll have 30 days to subscribe to one of the plans. If no subscription is in place by then your Instance data will be soft deleted and after 120 days all Company Personal Data will be purged in accordance with our Data Processing Addendum.

What happens if my subscription lapses?

Subscriptions could lapse for a number of reasons but the most likely cause is an expired credit card. We'll keep you Instance active for 14 days to give you time to fix the problem.

If the problem is not fixed your Instance will be disabled but you'll still have a further 30 days to subscribe to a new plan should you wish to. If no subscription is in place by then your Instance data will be soft deleted and after 120 days all Company Personal Data will be purged in accordance with our Data Processing Addendum.

What happens after I delete my Instance?

You can request to have your Instance deleted and purged in Settings > Instance > Delete Instance. After 30 minutes of requesting the deletion your Instance data will be soft deleted and after 120 days all Company Personal Data will be purged in accordance with our Data Processing Addendum.

Can I request just a Workflow data delete and purge?

Yes you can! Within MyMalcolm you can create a Workflow data deletion request. The Workflow data will be first be soft deleted and then 30 days later it will be purged.

See How do I delete data submitted to a Workflow? for more information.

For more information...

For more information please read the Data Processing Addendum.

Question 7

How do I add a Gallery, How-to or Step by Step to my FAQ or other content?

Accepted Answer

You can now add clickthrough or swipe through galleries to your content.

Hit the insert images icon in the markdown editor to begin, and then select the images you want to include from your media gallery.

Insert images in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/Gp51whKPhC/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.06.09-13_41_40.png (Insert images in MyMalcolm)

You'll then see a dialogue where you can edit the order of the images plus add descriptive text, titles and caption.

Gallery / How-to dialogue in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/VmGuJfIuRb/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.06.09-13_41_15.png (Gallery / How-to dialogue in MyMalcolm)

You can choose between a traditional image Gallery or a numbered How-to (sometimes called a Step by Step). These are subtly different and will also be marked up differently using Schema which means Google will see them slightly differently.

Choosing a Gallery or How-to in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/yWFMXqJm9Y/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.06.09-13_42_13.png (Choosing a Gallery or How-to in MyMalcolm)

Once you've set things up as you want the markdown will be generated for your Gallery or How-to. If you want to change things just highlight that block of markdown and hit the insert media icon and you'll be taken back into the edit Gallery or How-to dialogue.

A How-to on a hosted hub page

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/bn4yI4KwR7/screenshot-tom-test-15.malcolm.app-2022.06.09-14_05_27.png (A How-to on a hosted hub page)

Remember, as with all content you put into Malcolm! you can surface your Gallery or How-to's in multiple ways - as well as your hosted hub pages they will work in pop up widgets, drawers, overlays and inline page embeds.

See the below video for a walkthrough:

Question 8

How to integrate with Mews using Workflow integrations

Accepted Answer

At Malcolm! HQ we continue to roll-out our built-in Workflow integrations, our most recent being the Mews Property Managamenet System.

Use a Malcolm! Workflow to capture information or record choices from your guest then have that data added to the guest notes in Mews. All you need from your guest is their Surname and Confirmation Number or a Reservation ID.

Connect to Mews

Get started in MyMalcolm by connecting to your Mews account via Settings > Workflows > Integrations using your Mews Client token and Access token.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/nV6HefCjKn/Screenshot%202022-03-28%20at%2009.59.27.png (Screenshot 2022-03-28 at 09.59.27.png)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/31zLOc5PSh/Screenshot%202022-03-28%20at%2009.59.46.png (Screenshot 2022-03-28 at 09.59.46.png)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/W5MGLxYUvx/Screenshot%202022-03-28%20at%2010.00.51.png (Screenshot 2022-03-28 at 10.00.51.png)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/igxpR5jiUq/Screenshot%202022-03-28%20at%2010.01.04.png (Screenshot 2022-03-28 at 10.01.04.png)

Build the Workflow

Start a new Malcolm! Workflow and capture the guest Surname and Confirmation Number.

If you prefer a hidden Reservation ID could be passed in via the URL, for example using a link in a direct email to the guest. URL values can also be tokenised to hide their true value. Read more on Setting Workflow values in a URL and Securing Workflow values.

Finish by adding the fields you'd like to capture in guest profile notes.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/EzbeRogC4Y/Screenshot%202022-03-28%20at%2010.05.53.png (Screenshot 2022-03-28 at 10.05.53.png)

Configure the integration

From the builder head to Configure > Integrations and choose the Mews integration.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/itYnbSd00O/Screenshot%202022-03-28%20at%2010.06.31.png (Screenshot 2022-03-28 at 10.06.31.png)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/l8M5UTXKsH/Screenshot%202022-03-28%20at%2010.06.45.png (Screenshot 2022-03-28 at 10.06.45.png)

Choose the "Add notes to a guest profile" action and your Mews booking service.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/fy8HASkjMf/Screenshot%202022-03-28%20at%2010.07.03.png (Screenshot 2022-03-28 at 10.07.03.png)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/QD16dElxZr/Screenshot%202022-03-28%20at%2010.07.09.png (Screenshot 2022-03-28 at 10.07.09.png)

Connect up your Malcolm! Workflow fields.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/QPrIZSUn6F/Screenshot%202022-03-28%20at%2010.07.39.png (Screenshot 2022-03-28 at 10.07.39.png)

Finish by enabling the integration and saving.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/zfnYbaPohW/Screenshot%202022-03-28%20at%2010.56.56.png (Screenshot 2022-03-28 at 10.56.56.png)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/vISxJiGvRj/Screenshot%202022-03-28%20at%2010.07.53.png (Screenshot 2022-03-28 at 10.07.53.png)

We hope you enjoy using this new integration. If you have any feedback or questions please get in touch below or via support@malcolm.app.

Question 9

Do you mark content up in Schema?

Accepted Answer

By default we mark up your FAQ hosted hub content using the FAQPage schema. This is useful for search engine results. If your content is more general in nature you may prefer to change the schema used to WebPage. You can also do this from Settings --> FAQs.

Question 10

Can I change the path or base URL of my hosted hub pages?

Accepted Answer

As you are probably aware you can configure the Malcolm! hosted hub to use your own custom domain - see here for further details - but sometimes you may wish to change the part of the URL that comes after your domain.

By default your FAQs live at /faqs and your Workflows at /workflows

You can now choose from some alternative "base URLs" in the Settings area of MyMalcolm. Visit the FAQs or Workflows sub section respectively to choose an alternate URL for each content type. This feature may be particularly useful if you are using Malcolm! for more general content (eg how to's) rather than questions & answers.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/2HZEwPaFKU/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.02.14-09_32_41.png (Changing base URL in MyMalcolm)

By default we mark up your FAQ hosted hub content using the FAQPage schema. This is useful for search engine results. If your content is more general in nature you may prefer to change the schema used to WebPage. You can also do this from Settings --> FAQs.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/oBmGTh9Taw/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.02.14-09_33_40.png (Changing Schema type in MyMalcolm)

See below for a video walkthrough of changing your base URL: