This guide details the use and management of channels in kChat.

Preamble

• A kChat channel is a communication space dedicated to a project, theme or team in which members can exchange documents, write live and organize video conferences.
• Private channels (and public channels, as well as guests) are limited in number according to the offer kSuite acquired; read the comparative table on the sales page for more information.

General Canal

Each organization on kChat automatically has a General channel in which all users are automatically invited.

You can use this channel to share information about your entire organization, such as business outings or good motivational news.

You can of course start a new Conversation thread inside the General Canal.

Additional channel

To add a new discussion channel:

1. Click on the button ‍ located in the left sidebar of the kChat Web app (online service) kchat.infomaniak.com).
2. Click Create a new channel:
   

Information on a channel

When you create a new channel, you can choose:

 

A. his name

It will be editable later.

B. its URL

By default it takes the name of the channel but you can edit it using tiny letters, numbers, dots, dashes and underscores - which can then also be modified.

C. PRIVE or PUBLIC status

It will then be editable (read below).

D. its description

The description specifies how this channel should be used. This text appears in the channel list in the "More..." menu and gives users an indication of whether to join the channel or not.

Once the channel is created, you can still set:

E. a header

Differences between PRIVE or PUBLIC channel

PUBLICS channels increase transparency. All users can see and reach a public channel, making sure that everyone involved in a project, theme or team has access to the same information.

PRIVES channels allow you to restrict sensitive content to users of your choice. Only an existing member can invite another user into a private channel. There are also differences in archiving/deletion management (see below).

Convert a public channel to a private channel

To transform a public channel into a private channel:

1. From the kChat Web app (online service) kchat.infomaniak.com), click on the Public channel in the left side menu.
2. Then click on the chevron ‍ on the title of the channel at the top of the discussion.
3. Choose Convert:
   

The history and membership of the members are kept; publicly shared files remain accessible to anyone with the link; the change is permanent and cannot be cancelled.

And the other way around?

The opposite (change a private channel to a public channel) is also possible, but only an administrator user kChat will be able to do so; the message history and members already having access to the channel will be kept; the channel will become accessible to all users of other public channels of the Organization except those external users who will have to be invited manually.

To perform conversion from managing kChat on the Manager:

1. Click here in order to access the management of your product on the Manager Infomaniak (Need help?).
2. Click on the drop-down menu to view private channels.
3. Click on the action menu to the right of the item.
4. Click Convert to public channel:
   

Exit a channel

Apart from the main channel entitled General you can leave a channel at any time:

1. From the kChat Web app (online service) kchat.infomaniak.com), click on the appropriate Public channel in the left side menu.
2. Then click on the chevron ‍ on the title of the channel at the top of the discussion.
3. Click Exit Channel:
   

If you leave a private channel you will no longer find it in the search but only via its URL if you own it or by being invited by a member of the channel.

If you leave a public channel, you leave it immediately but can join it when you wish simply by finding it with its name (2) in the search (1), including if it has been archived:

 

Archive/Remove Channel

Apart from the main channel entitled General you can archive a channel at any time which prevents any new message and will no longer count it in the quota of your available channels. The operation has been feasible since Manager or directly on the kChat interface:

1. From the kChat Web app (online service) kchat.infomaniak.com), click on the channel in the left side menu.
2. Then click on the chevron ‍ on the title of the channel at the top of the discussion.
3. Click Archive channel:
   

If you create a channel and then you archive it you can join it when you want it simply by finding it with its name (2) in the search (1):

You can then unarchive it:

1. From the kChat Web app (online service) kchat.infomaniak.com), click on the channel in the left side menu.
2. Then click on the chevron ‍ on the title of the channel at the top of the discussion.
3. Click Unarchive Channel:
   

or close it to not see it again on your interface:

You can also delete a channel and in this case all associated data will be permanently deleted:

1. Click here in order to access the management of your product on the Manager Infomaniak (Need help?).
2. Click on the action menu to the right of the item.
3. Click Delete:
   
    

Put as a favourite

To put any channel as a favorite:

1. From the kChat Web app (online service) kchat.infomaniak.com), click on the star icon at the top of a channel.
2. A new Favourites menu will appear in the left sidebar with all the items you put as a favourite (valid for your user only):
   

Putting a channel in a deafened state

You can hide the notifications of a channel:

1. From the kChat Web app (online service) kchat.infomaniak.com), click on the action menu to the right of the channel concerned (in the left sidebar).
2. Choose Sourdine:
   
   
   
    

Organize by categories

By clicking on the + button in the left sidebar of kChat, you can add one or more categories allowing you to place elements (channel, contact, etc.) within them. Then slide the desired channel to the created category (valid for your user only):

User-to-user discussion channel

Personal messages are direct conversations between two or more people that take place outside the channels.

Each user of an Organization may freely create personal messages whose content will be visible only to the persons concerned:

Infomaniak is a Swiss company certified ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 that complies with the RGPD.

Its main goal is to ensure the security and confidentiality of the data entrusted to it.

Many measures are implemented to ensure the protection of your communications with kChat:

• The Infomaniak Manager allows you to check if the users in your Organization have enabled two-factor authentication.
• Data at rest and in transit is encrypted, as are the backups automatically performed by Infomaniak.
• The data is hosted in Switzerland in data centers developed and managed exclusively by Infomaniak.

• … receive messages only from your colleagues or external users that you have approved.
• … you can create private channels to restrict sensitive information to specific people.
• … you constantly monitor the access rights of users who can access kChat.

This guide explains how to invite an external user to your Organization on kChat who will be counted as a kSuite user.

Preliminary

• Refer to this other guide to grant access to one or more kChat channels to an external user who can thus interact with your team without being counted as a kSuite user and without having any special rights in the Organization (of which they will not be a part).
• You can also invite a work team in full from kChat.
• Refer to this other guide if you wish to manage the channels to which new members will automatically belong.

Invite to use kSuite

Prerequisites

• Be an administrator of the Organization where kSuite is located with full rights granted for kChat.

Once invited, the user will be able to confirm their membership and access kChat with the limited permissions that you will have granted them:

1. Click here to access the management of kChat on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click on Add a user:
   
3. Click on Create a kSuite user.
4. Click on Next:
   
5. Enter the user's first and last name, and define their role as a simple user:
   
   • Legal representative
     • Legal responsibility for the organization
     • Can manage all products and users
     • Can manage accounting and orders for new products
   • Administrator
     • Can manage all products and users
     • Can manage accounting and orders for new products
   • User‍
     • Can manage the products you authorize‍
     • Can manage accounting if you authorize it‍
6. Do not create an email address for the user and indicate their existing email address to which to send the invitation:
   • You can force this future user to log in with this email address or allow them to specify another email address (especially useful if they already have a user account with Infomaniak under a different login ID).
   • Add the user to your kSuite with the toggle switch.
7. Click on the Invite button:
   

The invitation is pending until the invited user completes their registration (read more below). The Organization's user dashboard clearly indicates this status:

Accept the invitation

To access the Organization holding kChat:

1. The invited user receives the invitation at their email address and clicks on the Accept the invitation button:
   
2. He specifies his contact details as well as the email address/password he wishes to use and completes the registration:
   
3. Once registration is complete, the newly registered user can log in to their Manager and access kChat to which they have been invited.
4. Existing users are automatically notified of the new participant's arrival and can now converse with them; as soon as they are added, the new user receives a welcome message from kChat.bot:
   

Access to kSuite, not access to managing kSuite!

It is important to differentiate the use of the kChat app (within kSuite) and the management of kSuite itself.

In the invitation example above, the new user has been invited to join kChat. They are counted as a kSuite user when an administrator accesses the management of their kSuite users:

However, this new user will not be able to directly manage the kSuite to which he was invited since his role (defined in the first point 5 above) does not authorize him to do so.

This is why this user will not see any active links in the Collaborative Tools → kSuite section of their Infomaniak Manager. They will need to switch to the Infomaniak applications using the menu ‍ at the top right:

Note that if necessary, this user can order their own kSuite with no connection to the kSuite to which they were invited.

This guide explains how to enable or disable dark mode on your operating system (macOS / Windows) since the theme setting "automatic" of Infomaniak tools (animation below) is based on the Dark mode or Light mode setting of the OS:

Managing dark or light mode…

… on macOS

1. Click on System Preferences…
   
2. Click on Appearance and choose the dark mode on the right:
   

… on Windows

1. Open the start menu
2. Click on Settings:
   
3. Click on Personalize then Colors:
   
4. Click on Dark:
   

And on mobile?

The dark theme is enabled on mobile devices for Infomaniak login and account creation pages; it automatically adapts to the mobile system's preferences, thus providing a consistent visual experience between mobile apps and login and account creation pages.

This guide explains how to insert formatted text and images into your messages on kChat.

Formatting Message Text

Here are the symbols to add before and after your text to format it in the desired style:

code line

You can also insert this:

Inserting an Image into the Message

from a URL

Insert the following code into your message replacing the alt text and the image address (URL) with the image link (it must be accessible and visible on the web):

![alt-text](https://www.domain.xyz/xyz/image.png)<br>

Example

Message with image insertion syntax:

 

Preview before sending:

 

Click on the image after sending:



 

from the hard drive or kDrive

Click on the paperclip icon to insert an existing image from your hard drive or kDrive:

 

The image will be inserted into the message which you can then send directly in the conversation without necessarily adding additional text.
 

This guide explains how to start an audio or video conversation between one or more users kChat, with Infomaniak's free ethical videoconferencing solution, kMeet.

Introduction

• The call function in kChat is available on all Web (browser), mobile (iOS/Android) and computer (macOS/Windows) versions.

Start a meeting between kChat users

To be able to discuss within a virtual room with the microphone and webcam of your device, simply press the Call button visible on any kChat conversation, private or public channel, via the application or directly on the browser:

• Call a user directly if you are in a direct discussion with them, or initiate a call to all members of a channel if you start the meeting from the channel.
• Calling a user who is set to "Do Not Disturb" will not trigger a ringtone or call modal for them, but they will see the message in the conversation.
• The microphone is enabled by default when the call is accepted, but not the camera.
• View the users of the meeting (who accepted, declined, or missed it) using the avatars in the kChat message.
• Once the call has started, an emoji appears in your kChat status to indicate that you are busy with the conversation.
• A message sent from the video (kMeet) will also be visible in the kChat conversation (and vice versa).
• Indications regarding the start and end of the meeting automatically appear in the relevant kChat conversation thread.

Specifics for calls in channels

• The call will not ring for the recipients, but they will see a message in kChat as well as a notification.
• A warning message will appear if you want to start a call in a channel with more than 7 users.

Refer to this other guide if you are looking for information about kMeet.

This guide addresses issues that may arise when using Infomaniak applications (such as kChat, kDrive, kAuth, etc.) or tools (such as config.infomaniak.com, the Manager Infomaniak, etc.) with outdated or obsolete hardware (OS, browser, devices, etc.). For example, it will not be possible to comfortably access Infomaniak services with an iPhone 5s or 6 on iOS 12.

Technologies used by Infomaniak

Many web tools developed by Infomaniak use Angular. The need for up-to-date or recent hardware to run applications is not specific to Angular itself but rather a general requirement for running any modern web application. Here are a few reasons why up-to-date hardware is often necessary:

1. Angular uses advanced features of modern browsers to provide an optimal user experience; older browsers may not support these features or may not support them optimally, which can lead to compatibility and performance issues.
2. Newer browsers are generally optimized to run JavaScript code faster and to handle complex graphical renderings more efficiently; Angular applications can be quite complex and leverage these optimizations to provide a better user experience.
3. Older browsers may have known security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers to compromise the security of the web application; newer browser versions tend to fix these vulnerabilities and offer a higher level of security.
4. The latest browser versions are generally compliant with the most recent web standards, which means they are more compatible with new technologies and the latest HTML, CSS, and JavaScript specifications used by frameworks like Angular; using an outdated browser can result in rendering issues or missing features.
5. Newer browsers support modern APIs that allow developers to access advanced features such as geolocation, camera, push notifications, etc.; Angular applications can integrate these features to offer richer and more interactive user experiences, but these features depend on browser support.

This guide explains how to interact in kChat with a conversational agent or bot powered by artificial intelligence. Familiarize yourself with this other guide about the possibilities offered by AI in kChat.

Introduction

• The bot can help you perform all sorts of calculations, translations, provide information on various topics and answer your questions.
• Familiarize yourself with this other guide regarding the model used and the responsibilities of each party.
• As soon as a new user is added, they receive a welcome message from kChat.bot.

Add the bot to kChat contacts

The bots currently available on kChat are already part of your contacts.

If you do not see them yet, click in the left sidebar of kChat…

1. … on the channel search (the bots also appear as a channel)
2. … or on the + icon next to Direct Messages to search for the bot
   ‍
3. Add the bots indicated as such with the label [bot] or search for the term bot or chat.
   ‍

Do not create a group conversation between the bots and yourself as it will not work. You must create a private discussion channel between each bot individually and yourself.

It is then sufficient to write to it as if you were chatting with an acquaintance:

This guide details the important elements to ensure you don't miss any discussions in kChat that concern you.

Manage desktop app icon notifications

You can, for example, decide to animate the desktop app icon when there is a new message:

1. Open the desktop app kChat (desktop application for macOS / Windows / Linux).
2. Left-click on the desktop app icon in your computer's notification area (top right on macOS, bottom right on Windows, and a double left-click in the taskbar on Linux).
3. Click on Preferences...
4. Under Application Options, set the operating system notification preferences:
   

Manage kChat notifications

To manage kChat notifications, and thus be notified, for example, when a new message is directly addressed to you or when you follow a specific message, including based on certain keywords:

1. Click here‍ to access the kChat Web app (online service kchat.infomaniak.com) or open the kChat mobile app (application for iOS/Android smartphone or tablet) or the kChat desktop app (desktop application for macOS / Windows / Linux).
2. Click on the Settings icon ‍ in the top right corner of the interface.
3. Click on Notifications:
   
4. Set how you want to be notified (computer/mobile, present/absent, etc.) and in which cases (all messages or only messages with a mention, followed messages, etc.).
5. Choose to receive regular email notifications:
   • This email is sent either every day or once a week, between 6 and 8 in the morning and indicates to the user the messages they would not have read.
   • The user receives an email for each kChat product they have access to.
6. Set a keyword to be notified about when a new message is published:
   

To be notified of the progress of a discussion

To be notified of a new message in any discussion even if you are not directly participating, you need to activate Follow:

• … or 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 concerns messages that start with / on kChat interpreted as slash commands.

Run a slash command on kChat

To access slash commands on kChat:

1. Click in the composition field within a channel.
2. Enter a / (slash or forward slash) and the attached command.
3. Click to send the command.

If you type only the / sign, a modal appears with the commands that can be executed, such as going offline for example.

Here is a table of the main commands:

Create a custom slash command

Prerequisites

• Not to be an external user (he will not see the menu Integrations).

To create a custom slash command:

1. Click here‍ to access the Web kChat app (online service kchat.infomaniak.com) or open the desktop kChat app (desktop application on macOS / Windows / Linux).
2. Click on the New icon ‍ next to the name of your kChat organization.
3. Click on Integrations:
   
4. Click on Slash command:
   
5. Click the blue button to Add a command:
   
6. Configure the slash command (name, trigger (without the /), expected content type, action to perform*, etc., including whether the command should appear in the help modal mentioned in the chapter above).
   • * This can include calling an external API, running a script, displaying a specific response, etc. For this, you will generally need a script or an external application that will respond to the commands. You can also set additional parameters for the command, such as dropdown options, checkboxes, etc., depending on your needs.
7. Save the command.
8. Make sure to test the command to ensure it works as expected.