Question 1

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 2

My verification email has not arrived?

Accepted Answer

Your verification email (to verify your email address) should usually arrive within a few minutes. If it hasn't turned up check your spam folder.

If the email still hasn't arrived after a few minutes there are a few possible reasons:

Occasionally users may accidentally misspel their email address
There could be a temporary issue at our email sending provider (Mailgun) that is delaying emails
There could be a temporary issue at your email provider that is delaying emails
You may have very strict email filtering enabled and don't accept email from new senders (in this case you should update your rules to allow email from support@malcolm.app)
Your email provider may be rejecting email sent by our email sending provider (Mailgun)

The quickest resolution in many cases is simply to register again using a different email address.

Question 3

Why is my embed not showing?

Accepted Answer

If you've set up an embed but can't see it check these things:

Have you implemented the tags correctly? Double check the tag install instructions
Is the embed published? If it’s not published it won’t show
If you are using them check your URL rules - the rule type could be too strict (e.g. URL is exactly xxx rather than URL starts with xxx) - if you are testing on a dev or test URL you can add this within the URL rule section
Check the scheduling - if there’s a schedule to only show the embed on certain days and/or between certain times that may be having an effect
If you are testing on mobile check you've not disallowed the emded showing on mobile

If you are still having problems please open a support ticket and we'll help!

Question 4

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.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/IWqLLH7kgn/Screenshot%202021-01-26%20at%2016.17.46.png (Screenshot 2021-01-26 at 16.17.46.png)

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 -

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.

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

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.

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.

Payload

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

Workflows are defined as -

Workflow Values are defined as -

Workflow Fields are defined as -

Example

Question 5

How are Related FAQs determined and can I change this?

Accepted Answer

Related FAQs are auto-generated and by default are FAQs either in the same category or similarly tagged (we combine this pool of FAQs). We take the top 4 results from that pool, based on the sort order defined in the instance. For info on how to change the default sort order see this FAQ.

You can choose to force the Related FAQs to use tags or just the category by updating the setting in MyMalcolm / Settings / FAQs:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/mNimQ1t2R3/Screenshot%202020-03-30%2021.19.11.png (Settings in MyMalcolm)

In this scenario we will then take the top 4 results from just the category or tag pool using the defined sort order.

Question 6

Can I receive an email every time a new FAQ or Workflow is published?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes it can be useful to receive an email when a new FAQ or Workflow is published on your instance. This feature is turned off by default - to turn it on follow these steps.

From the MyMalcolm control panel area, click your name at the top of the screen where it says "Logged in as"

You'll then be taken to your personal preferences. If you select the "Notifications" tab on the left you'll be able to edit the notifications you receive. Remember to hit "Save" once you are done!

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/FVf5EupLg4/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2020.03.03-17_26_08.png (Your notification settings in MyMalcolm)

Note that your notificatons are based on an instance. If you are a user on more than one instance you should first switch to the instance you wish to adjust notifications for. You can do this using the drop down selector at the top right of the screen. You can therefore have different notification preferences for different instances. The notificiation preferences you choose are personal to you and will not affect the notifications of other team members on an instance.

Question 7

Can I change the "email this answer" description in FAQs?

Accepted Answer

You can change the text label next to the email an FAQ feature on an indiviual FAQ. This can be useful if you are using the FAQ part of Malcolm! to publish articles or other types of content rather than just answers to questions and the "email this answer" language no longer makes sense.

To update the text go to the Brand section in MyMalcolm, then Themes, then click the edit icon in the relevant theme then select "FAQs" in the left hand nav.

Question 8

Can I change the "related questions" heading in FAQs?

Accepted Answer

You can change the "Related question" heading via your theme. This can useful if you are using the FAQ part of Malcolm! to publish articles or other types of content rather than just answers to questions.

To update the label go to the Brand section in MyMalcolm, then Themes, then click the edit icon in the relevant theme then select "FAQs" in the left hand nav.

Question 9

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.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/N17DhjfW2Z/Screenshot%202021-12-30%20at%2013.57.57.png (Choose your embed type in MyMalcolm)

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!).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/jbX8ylorUd/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2019.11.05-13_16_07.png (Choose your embed content in MyMalcolm)

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 10

Can I turn off automatic email alerts?

Accepted Answer

Malcolm! will automatically send you email alerts when certain activity happens on your instance, such as a user leaving feedback or a Workflow being completed. Wherever possible we aggregate these alerts so you receive fewer emails but if you'd rather not receive them you can easily turn them off.

To do this, from the MyMalcolm control panel area, 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/LgmiVqgthh/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2020.01.16-10_57_39.png (Logged in Navigation in MyMalcolm)

You'll then be taken to your personal preferences. If you select the "Notifications" tab on the left you'll be able to edit the notifications you receive. Remember to hit "Save" once you are done!

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/aez6lFczno/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2020.01.16-11_03_51.png (Manage your notifications in MyMalcolm)

Note that your notificatons are based on an instance. If you are a user on more than one instance you should first switch to the instance you wish to adjust notifications for. You can do this using the drop down selector at the top right of the screen. You can therefore have different notification preferences for different instances. The notificiation preferences you choose are personal to you and will not affect the notifications of other team members on an instance.

If you are the owner of an instance, you can edit the notifications members of your team receive. To do this go to the Team section, click on the name of the team member in question then select notifications. Remember to hit save when done. Also note than you can assign the permission for a team member to be able to edit other team members notifications via the permissions tab.