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Maliru Help Center

Composing an update: templates, rich content and publish settings

Every option in the two-step update builder, from polls and shortcuts to reminders, repeats and removal.

The update builder takes an announcement from a blank page to a scheduled, targeted post in two steps. You need the Manage chat permission. Open Communications › Updates › Post update in the office, or Chat › Updates › + on the phone.

Start: scratch or a template

Create an update offers two ways in:

  • Create from scratch: "Compose a new update with a live field-user preview."
  • Start from a template: a searchable list. Maliru's own are Start-of-shift briefing, Safety notice, Weather and site notice and Procedure change. Your workspace's templates are marked "Saved by your team" and each has Delete template.

A template fills in the wording, and the builder notes "Started from {name}".

Step 1 of 2: Compose

Step 1 of the update builder with a poll and a record shortcut, and the field-user preview beside it

  • Update title is required: "Add a title before continuing."
  • The message box ("Write the update workers need to act on…") has Bullet list, Numbered list and Emoji buttons.
  • Appearance sets the card's style: Paper, Night briefing, Blue notice, Field green, Works notice or Safety signal.
  • Rich content ("Show photos, preview links, play video or open a Maliru record."):
    • Images and Files upload attachments.
    • Link takes a Web address and builds a preview. If the page can't be read you get "Basic link preview added. Page details could not be loaded."
    • YouTube takes a YouTube URL and plays the video in the update.
    • Shortcut (Add Maliru shortcut, "Send workers directly to a module or a specific operational record.") points to a Module, such as Jobs & work orders or Forms, or to a Specific record: a job, site, vehicle or client. A shortcut doesn't give anyone access they don't already have.
    • An update holds up to 12 rich items.
  • Live poll: switch it on to ask one Poll question (up to 300 characters) with Answer options, one per line, 2 to 12 of them.

The Field-user preview shows how the update will look on a phone. On a wide screen it sits beside the form, and on a narrower one it sits below. Choose Publish settings to move on.

Step 2 of 2: Publish

Step 2 of the update builder with Confirmation and Unviewed reminder switched on

  • Publish: Publish now, or Schedule and pick a date and time. It starts an hour ahead.
  • Audience › Recipients: Everyone, a Team, an Access profile (Field workers, Supervisors, Office admins, Owners or Custom access), or a Smart Group.
  • Notify recipients: Send in-app and push notification, with an optional Notification message to use instead of the title. Switch it off to post quietly. Updates are never emailed: "Email delivery remains deferred."
  • Publisher: Show in the feed as you or the workspace.
  • Unviewed reminder: Remind people who have not viewed it. It starts a day after publishing, and you can move it. It must fall after the publish time. At that time, everyone in the audience who hasn't opened the update gets "Reminder: {title}", with your notification message as the text if you wrote one.
  • Confirmation: Require each recipient to confirm read. "Unconfirmed recipients enter the existing silence chase." Recipients get Confirm read, and 24 hours after publishing anyone unconfirmed gets one "Please confirm: {title}". At the same time you're told how many haven't confirmed, for example "3 people have not confirmed: {title}". You're never reminded or chased by your own update.
  • Discussion: Allow comments and Allow reactions.
  • Repeat: Does not repeat, Daily, Weekly or Monthly. Set Repeat every (for example 2 for every other week) and an end date, or leave No end date. Each time one goes out, the next is scheduled.
  • Feed lifecycle: Pin to the top, and Remove from the feed automatically. Removal starts a week after publishing and must fall after the publish time.

Finish with Publish update or Schedule update. Back to compose returns to step 1 without losing anything.

Save as template

Save as template, at the foot of either step, asks for a Template name. It keeps the title, wording, appearance, links and video, the poll, and the confirmation, comment, reaction and notification choices. It needs a title first. As the confirmation says, "Recipients, files, record shortcuts and dates are not reused."

Reminder or confirmation?

They do different jobs, and one update can use both:

  • The Unviewed reminder chases people who haven't opened the update, once, at the time you set.
  • Require each recipient to confirm read asks everyone for an explicit acknowledgement, keeps a person-by-person record, and chases the unconfirmed once, 24 hours after publishing.

See Updates and announcements for reading the confirmations and managing the feed.