Knowledge base

Thank you for choosing Infomaniak and kChat as your discussion solution for yourself, your circle, or your business!

These guides will help you organize your channels, users, discussions, and more!

Getting Started

kChat is Infomaniak's instant messaging platform that allows you to exchange, share, and coordinate your teams securely from your web browser, mobile, tablet, or computer.

Download the kChat app on your devices!

What would you like to do?

• Manage users
• Manage a channel
• Manage a conversation
• React to messages
• Manage kChat notifications

Any questions or feedback?

• Infomaniak support is here for you 7/7
• See all kChat FAQs
• Feel free to share your suggestions

This guide allows you to access the management of external applications in kChat.

Access the Interface

To configure a webhook, find self-hosted or third-party applications and integrations:

1. In the top left of your kChat interface, click on the downward arrow to the right of your kChat organization name:
   
2. Click on Integrations to access the categories:
   

An external kChat user won't have this menu.

Integration Example

• Infomaniak Calendar Event Reminders on kChat

Create a Simple Incoming Webhook

1. Click on the Incoming Webhooks category
2. Click the blue Add Incoming Webhooks button
3. Add a name and description (max 500 char.) for the webhook
4. Select the channel that will receive the messages
5. Save to get the URL (do not disclose publicly) in the format:
   https://your-kchat-server.xyz/hooks/xxx-generatedkey-xxx

Using the Webhook

On the application that needs to post on kChat:

1. Adapt the code below according to the obtained URL:
   POST /hooks/xxx-generatedkey-xxx HTTP/1.1
   Host: your-kchat-server.xyz
   Content-Type: application/json
   Content-Length: 63
   
   {
   "text": "Hello, this is some text\nThis is more text."
   }
   
2. Optionally, use the same request but in curl (to test from a macOS Terminal, for example):
   curl -i -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"text": "Hello, this is some text\nThis is more text."}' https://your-kchat-server.xyz/hooks/xxx-generatedkey-xxx

If no Content-Type header is defined, the request body must be prefixed with payload= like this:

payload={"text": "Hello, this is some text\nThis is more text."}

A successful request will receive the following response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/plain
X-Request-Id: hoan69ws7rp5xj7wu9rmystry
X-Version-Id: 4.7.1.dev.12799dvd77e172e8a2eba0f4041ec1471.false
Date: Sun, 01 Jun 2023 17:00:00 GMT
Content-Length: 2

ok

Parameters

In addition to the text field, here is the complete list of supported parameters:

Code Example with Parameters

Here's how to generate a more complete message with parameters, some of which can override any parameters already established during webhook creation (username, preferred channel, avatar...) as indicated in the table above:

POST /hooks/xxx-generatedkey-xxx HTTP/1.1
Host: your-kchat-server.xyz
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Length: 630

{
"channel": "kchatemp",
"username": "test-automation",
"icon_url": "https://domain.xyz/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/icon.png",
"text": "#### Test results for July 27th, 2023\n@channel please review failed tests.\n\n| Component | Tests Run | Tests Failed |\n|:-----------|:-----------:|:-----------------------------------------------|\n| Server | 948 | 0 |\n| Web Client | 123 | 2 [(see details)](https://linktologs) |\n| iOS Client | 78 | 3 [(see details)](https://linktologs) |"
}

which will result in displaying this message in the kchatemp channel of the organization:

This guide explains how to get event reminders from Infomaniak Calendar on a chat system like kChat or Slack.

This feature will allow you to be notified in the chat thread of your choice when an event is approaching.

What is a webhook?

The webhook system is a method for one application or service to send information to another application or service in real-time in a secure and authenticated manner.

Setting up the webhook in Calendar

To add the webhook from your chat system to Calendar:

1. Log in to Calendar (calendar.infomaniak.com), the calendar/agenda part of Infomaniak Mail, using a web browser like Brave or Firefox
2. Click on the icon at the top right of the interface
3. Click on the Add a webhook button (under Custom notifications)
   
4. Configure:
   
   • (A) A name for easy identification of the webhook when you add reminders
   • (B) The URL of the webhook (obtained from your chat system - examples are provided below in the FAQ)
   • (C) The elements (automatically taken from your event and/or added manually here) and their arrangement in the message that will be sent:
     • Insert %subject% to include the event's subject
     • Insert %date% to include the event's date
     • Insert %description% to include the event's description
     • Insert %location% to include the event's location
5. Click Save

Create an event with chat reminders

Now that Calendar is linked to your chat system account, you can choose to be notified in a chat when you add a reminder to an event:

1. Log in to Calendar (calendar.infomaniak.com) using a web browser like Brave or Firefox
2. Create a new event
3. Click at the bottom right to show the additional fields
   
4. Add a reminder
   
5. In the dropdown menu, select the configured webhook
6. Save the changes

You will now receive a reminder in the chat associated with the webhook.

Examples of obtaining a webhook

kChat

1. Open the kChat application
2. Go to the Integrations section
3. Click on Incoming Webhooks:
   
4. Click on Add at the top right
5. Complete the required information to create the "bot" that will post reminder messages in kChat in the channel of your choice:
   
6. Save to obtain the webhook URL:
   
7. Create the custom notification in Calendar (read above if necessary):
   
8. Select your custom notification when adding a reminder to your event:
   

Slack

1. Open this Slack page and authenticate with your Slack credentials
2. Choose the channel where your reminders will appear (e.g., @slackbot or #general)
   
3. Save to obtain the webhook URL

Create other webhooks to set reminders in other chat threads.

Customize Slack reminder messages

You can freely use Slack's formatting options in your notifications. For example:

Don't forget to `%subject%` for %date%.
Mark the date: %description%.
Event location: %location%

This guide details user management in kChat.

View channel members

To view users with access to the selected channel:

1. click on the character icon below the channel title
2. participants are displayed in a column on the right of kChat

Add a new user

To add a user to kChat:

1. connect to the Manager https://manager.infomaniak.com/
2. in the left side menu, click on User management then Users
3. click on Add a user at the top right

You can also invite an external user to chat with you on kChat.

In the same place you can remove kChat rights from a user:

Invite or remove a member on a private channel

To manage users with access to a private channel:

1. click on the character icon below the channel title
2. current participants are displayed in a column on the right of kChat
3. the blue Add button allows you to invite a kChat user from the organization who does not yet have access to this private channel
   
4. the blue Manage button allows you to remove a member from this channel or to name him Administrator of the channel so that he in turn can manage the members
   

This guide details the use of smileys and other emojis to react and interact with kChat chats.

Add a reaction to a message

To react at any time to any message you have access to in kChat, just hover over the message and select either the emoticon from the selection, or the smiley with the little +:

This will open the panel with hundreds of emoticons available (and even custom emojis - read below).

Express yourself with an emoticon or a GIF

Adding an emoji within the message you are writing is very simple. Just click on the smiley face icon in your message formatting bar:

To set the default tint, click on this symbol in the emojis panel:

If you know the name of the symbol to insert, you can also type: (2 dots) followed by at least the first 2 characters:

Tip: if you add #, ## or ### as the first character of a new line containing an emoticon, you can use a larger emoticon. To try, send a message such as '#:smile:' (beware your personalized settings may "disable" this display feature on your interface) .

You can also insert short animated GIFs instead of an emoticon using the tab at the top of the insert that appears when you click on the smiley face:

Custom emoticons

Specify a name up to 64 characters. It can contain lowercase letters, numbers and the characters "-", "+" and "_".

Specify a .gif, .png, or .jpg file for your emoticon. The file can weigh up to 1 MB. The size is automatically resized to 128 by 128 pixels, while maintaining the aspect ratio.

The emoticon can then be used by all kChat users in your organization thanks to the name you have assigned to it.

This guide details the principle of kChat conversations, organized within private and public chat channels , and direct chats between users.

Start a conversation

To write to a user in your organization, click on the + to the right of Direct messages to select it:

Send your message; you can also attach files up to 100MB.

To solicit one of the members of the organization via a message, you can type the at sign "@" to display the people or channels to mention. Please note, depending on the type of channel concerned, the mention of a user displays a message allowing you to add him to the discussion, otherwise he will not see the mention.

Edit or delete a message

To edit a message (which will then include an edited message mention ), click on the action menu to the right of the message to be edited:

In the same place, you can also delete your message which will then disappear from the discussion among all users.

Organize conversations in kChat

The sorting type for the items you manage on the left of the screen is very important.

Imagine opening kChat after several days of absence, the unread conversations will be displayed one under the other. After reading these, you may want to find information read from one of them, so sorting by recent activity , for example, allows you to find the last conversations that concerned you:

This choice of sorting type is available for all items: chat channels, categories, direct messages, etc.

Search for a conversation

The search for items (word, participant, file) is on the top of the window:

Once results are found, they appear on the right of the window.

Thread

Regardless of the channel or private chat with another user, you can start a thread from another simply by choosing Reply on the desired message:

A discussion thread will open on your right allowing each user of the channel to contribute their words in this specific thread without disturbing the possible new subjects of the current channel:

These threads are then centralized for reading and re-reading in the Threads section of the left sidebar:

This guide pertains to kChat, Infomaniak's instant messaging platform that allows you to exchange, share, and coordinate with your teams securely from your web browser, mobile device, tablet, or computer.

Getting kChat

kChat is available with kSuite.

Once you have set up kSuite:

• Download the kChat application for Windows / macOS and Android / iOS

or

• Use kChat online in a recent browser by logging into your user account on kchat.infomaniak.com or https://your-organization.kchat.infomaniak.com/

Read the Getting Started Guide (click here).

Infomaniak is a Swiss company certified ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 which complies with the GDPR. Our main objective is to guarantee the security and confidentiality of the data entrusted to us. Many measures are in place to ensure the protection of your communications with kChat:

• the Infomaniak Manager allows you to check whether your organization's users have activated two-factor authentication
• data on hold and in transit are encrypted, as are the backups automatically performed by Infomaniak
• the data is hosted in Switzerland in data centers developed and managed exclusively by Infomaniak

• you only receive messages from your collaborators or external users that you have approved
• you can create private channels to restrict sensitive information to specific people
• you permanently control the access rights of users who can access kChat

This guide details the important elements so that you don't miss any of the kChat discussions that concern you.

Manage kChat app notifications

You can for example decide to animate the icon of the application during a new message.

To manage notifications by downloaded app:

1. open the kChat application on your computer
2. click on the kChat icon at the bottom of the taskbar (Windows) or at the top of the menu bar (macOS)
3. choose Preferences...
4. under Application Options , set notification preferences in the operating system

To manage kChat notifications through the browser:

1. open https:// your-organization .kchat.infomaniak.com
2. at the top right of the interface, click on the cogwheel
3. on the Notifications tab , define the way to be notified (desktop/mobile, present/absent, etc.) and in which case (any message or only message with mention, followed message, etc.)

Be notified of the progress of a discussion

To be notified of a new message in any discussion even if you are not a direct participant, you must activate Follow-up , either by hovering over the action menu to the right of a user in a discussion, or by clicking on Follow at the top of the discussion:

This guide explains how to add an external user to your kSuite. Once invited, the user can confirm their membership and access kChat with the limited permissions you have granted.

Inviting to Use kSuite

If you are the administrator of the organization where the relevant kSuite (and thus kChat) is located, you can invite an external user to your organization, who will be counted as a "Guest" user. They will be invited to create an Infomaniak account if they do not already have one:

1. Open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. In the left sidebar menu, click on User Management (1) then Users (2) and then Add a User (3)
   
   
3. Enter the required information and click Continue
   
4. Set the role of the future user to External
   
5. Grant access to kSuite (and thus kChat)
   
6. Do not add the user to a work team
   
7. Specify limited rights
   
8. Do not create an email address for the user
   
9. Specify the email address of the user to invite
   
10. Require them to log in with the previously mentioned address and send the invitation
    
    

The invitation is pending until the invited user completes their registration.

Accepting the Invitation

In order to access the organization with the relevant kSuite, the invited user follows the link they received in their browser:

1. A first screen informs them about the inviting organization and the email address they will be required to use during user account creation and future logins
   
2. The previously provided information is displayed during the user registration process, and they need to complete this information
   
3. Similarly, for the login information screen
   
4. Once registration is complete, the newly registered user can log in to the Manager and access the kChat they were invited to:
   
5. Existing users are automatically notified of the new participant's arrival and can now communicate with them: