Archives for December 2018

How do I Enable / Disable a device from the Admin Portal

December 5, 2018 by

With Office Chat, you as an administrator can easily disable/enable any device that has access to your network. With Office Chat User devices feature, each user that has connected via native Mobile apps to your domain is listed here. Their username, device type, device ID, last activity, and status is shown in this list. Network administrators can disable individual users at the device level and wipe out all of the network content on their device using the “Actions” drop-down menu.

To disable any device from the admin portal:

  1. Login to Admin Portal from the web browser and navigate to ‘Security’ tab on the Left-Hand side Navigation menu
  2. Here Click on the ‘User Devices’ Tab and search for the user whose device has to be disabled.
  3. Once the users’ active devices are listed, please click on the drop-down button and click on ‘Disable Access’

Disable Access

 

To enable any device from the admin portal:

  1. Login to Admin Portal from the web browser and navigate to ‘Security’ tab on the Left-Hand side Navigation menu
  2. Here Click on the ‘User Devices’ Tab and search for the user whose devices has to be enabled.
  3. If in case there are any disabled devices, please click on the drop-down button and click on ‘Enable Access’

Enable Devices

Filed Under: Administration, Advanced

How do I view/delete private chat history?

December 5, 2018 by

Private Chat History

Office Chat allows you the admin to view/ delete private 1 on 1 conversation with the Office Chat network. An Office Chat admin can view and delete private Chat History for the Admin portal. The feature to view and delete Private Chat History is available only for the Enterprise Plan and HIPAA/BAA Plan. Please check the Plans, features and pricing details here: https://officechat.com/office-chat-pricing

Using the Office Chat Admin Portal

1.Login to your Office Chat domain URL in a browser with your login credentials and access the Admin Portal
2. Choose the “Private Chat” tab in the left navigation.
3. Click on the drop-down next to the User conversations you want to view and click “View Chat History”.

OC Private Chat History

4. To delete the private chat history, Click on the ‘More tools’ icon and select ‘Delete Messages’ option. You can proceed to delete all messages or only selected messages from the Private Chat History.
OC Delete Private Chat Messages

Filed Under: Chat History and Files

How to Configure MailChimp with Office Chat

December 5, 2018 by
MailChimp is an online email marketing service for managing contacts, sending emails, and tracking results of your teams email campaigns.

To integrate Office Chat with MailChimp:

Step 1:

In your Group, click on Configure Integrations in the Admin Tools. Please note: You need to be the admin to configure MailChimp for your team.

Mail Chimp Configure Integrations

 

Step 2:

Enable MailChimp in the list of integrations.

Mail Chimp Configure Integrations 2

 

Please note: If you don’t see MailChimp, please contact your domain administrator to enable it from ‘Admin Portal > Integrations > Services’ page.

Mail Chimp Configure Integrations 3

 

Step 3:

In the MailChimp settings dialog, click on Authenticate with MailChimp to login into the MailChimp account and authorize Office Chat on MailChimp.

Mail Chimp Configure Integrations 4

Then Select 1 or more of the MailChimp lists from which the events will be posted into this team. You will be required to select a minimum of 1 MailChimp list from the dropdown. Click the Save Settings button when you are done.

Mail Chimp Configure Integrations 5

 

Setup instructions to follow on MailChimp side

Since Office Chat automatically does the webhook configuration once you have authenticated and connected the Office Chat account to MailChimp, there is no setup required on MailChimp side for this integration to work. It’s that easy!

 

Filed Under: Administration, Advanced

How do I change Office Chat preferences?

December 5, 2018 by

To change the Office Chat preference from your Windows desktop app:

  1. Click on the “Profile” icon right next to the Name and the Status on the top left-hand side of the app window.
  2. Here Select the Preferences Tab to open the Preferences Dialog box.
  3. Once the preferences dialog box opens, the “General” tab has most of the common preference settings, like starting Office Chat client on Windows startup, Show Co-workers Status, etc.

 

  • If you want to change the Notification Settings for the Office Chat Windows App, go to the application preferences and navigate to the ‘Alert & Notifications’ Tab

Office Chat Windows Notification

  • If you want to change your Office Chat Theme and display options, Click on ‘Chat Theme’ Tab to modify your preferences.

Office Chat Windows Chat Theme

  • If you are connecting to the internet from behind a proxy server or to check your connectivity with the internet, then use the “Connections” tab to enter the proxy server details.

  • If you want to check the Office Chat version and manually update your Office Chat Windows, Click on the ‘About’ Tab.

Office Chat Windows About Us

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Can I Change my Office Chat plan anytime?

December 5, 2018 by

Yes, Office Chat allows you to change/update your Office Chat plans to Enterprise, Business or Startup plan at any point in time.

In order to change your Office Chat Plan, take a look at the following steps:

  1. Use a web browser to log into your Office Chat domain.
  2. Navigate to the admin portal
  3. Click on the “Billing” from the left navigation then ‘Plans’.
  4. Scroll down and  choose the desired plan and then click on ‘ Select Plan’,Change Plan
  5. Select the billing cycle either ‘Monthly’ or ‘Yearly’ for your selected plan.
  6. Enter your Credit card details and Billing address and click on ‘Complete Upgrade’.Change Plan 2
  7. Now once you have completed the upgrade procedure, go to ‘Billing’> Plan’ on the left-hand navigation menu to check the details of your updated plan

 

 

 

Filed Under: Billing

How do I setup integeration with Slack

December 5, 2018 by
In case your organization is already using Slack you can integrate the same inside teams in Office Chat to get real-time notification from Slack to Office Chat and vice-versa.

To integrate Slack with Office Chat:

1)  Ensure Slack is enabled in the Admin Portal. Then proceed with the configurations as shown in the figure below:
Slack 1

 

2. Navigate to ‘Groups’  and select the group that you want to integrate Slack with. Once you have selected the Group, click on the ‘More Tools’ icon (three dots) and select ‘Configure Integrations’

Slack 2

 

3. Click “Enable” besides Slack from the list of available integrations and you will be presented with a pop-up to Configure Slack in Office Chat.
Slack 3

 

4. Here’s a brief on each of the fields to configure the integration:

  • Webhook URL: This is the URL that you will need paste into Slack outgoing webhooks integration, this cannot be modified and is required to be copied and pasted as is in Slack.
  • Customize Name: Choose a username that messages from this integration will be posted as.
  • Authenticate with Slack: Click to authenticate Slack in Office Chat to enable the integration, this is a mandatory step to configure the integration.

 

5. Go to your Slack team Integrations settings. Open it from Slack app menu or via direct URL https://yourdomain.slack.com/services. Select the Slack Channel you wan to integrate and then the gear along the top and Integration from the drop down.

Slack 5

 

6. Then create a new Outgoing webhook integration by searching for “Outgoing Webhooks” in the app directory then adding the same by clicking ‘Add Configuration’.

Slack 6

 

7. Once installed, scroll to “Integration Settings” and paste the Webhook URL from Office Chat into “URL(s)” and Save Settings.
Slack 8

 

8. Once done, please double check whether the Link is correct. Go back to the project and select Authenticate and Authorize from the following popup.

Slack 9

 

9. Once Authorized, confirm the success message and Save the Settings.

Slack 10

Now you should receive messages posted in Slack as feeds in Office Chat Group. Let’s take a look to exactly what that experience will look like.

Slack 11

Filed Under: Administration, Advanced

How to Set Two-factor Authentication (2FA) with Office Chat

December 5, 2018 by

About Two Factor Authentication

Two factor authentication (2FA) provides a more secure login process because when users try to sign in, they’ll have to provide two pieces of information:

  • The account password.
  • A single-use authorization code generated by a mobile app (e.g. Google Authenticator) OR an email message.

This is similar to a cash withdrawal machine at the bank, which requires both a debit card and a personal identification number (PIN). The difference here is that you’ll have to use a different authorization code every time you sign in, because an authorization code expires after it’s used. The network administrators can enable 2FA for all network users.

NOTES:
  • Two factor authentication is applied to all users (Network & guest) when logging into their Office Chat domain using the default authentication of the mechanism of Office Chat (i.e. email & password).
  • When logging in via Google Apps or other SAML providers this setting would not be applicable.
  • This feature is available to users logging in from Web, Desktop and MAC only.

Enabling Two Factor Authentication

To Activate the feature in Office Chat:

  1. Go to the Admin portal > Security > Browser access page
  2. Scroll to the Two factor authentication settings and choose the type of authentication from the drop-down. There are two different ways to retrieve authentication codes to use during login. You can either:
  • Enable 2FA token via email OR
  • Enable 2FA token via Authenticator app
  1. Set the Authentication validity period
  2. Click Save Settings

How Two Factor Authentication works once enabled:

Login via Web:

Step 1: Users log in with Username and Password

Step 2: User gets a secure code via email or an authenticator app on the mobile as configured by the network admin during set up.

Step 3: The user provides the secure code in the browser to access the account.

Steps to Reset Two Factor Authentication for Users (Admin function)

The domain administrator can reset the 2FA for users in case they lose access to the mobile device they used at the time of 2FA activation.

  1. Go to the admin portal > Users
  2. Select the user by clicking on the checkbox.
  3. Click on “User Tools” from the right side then click “Reset QR code.”
  4. The next time the user logs in, the user can set up 2FA from the beginning, providing a code from the authenticator.

Recommended Authenticator apps

You’ll need to download an authenticator app to your mobile device. The app will be able to scan QR codes and retrieve authentication data for you.

Here are some recommended authenticator apps., you can follow the links to download and install them:

The QR code will be shown next time the user logs in.
For example this is a user logging in from the web browser.

Filed Under: Advanced, Security and Privacy

How do I sign to the Office Chat HIPAA/BAA plan ?

December 5, 2018 by

To signup for the Office Chat HIPAA/BAA plan:

Office Chat offers HIPAA/BAA plan that conforms to the HIPAA‘s security requirements and we have a separate specialized server for total HIPAA compliance. Hence, in order to signup for our HIPAA/BAA plan, we request you to signup for it following the below steps:
2) Under the HIPAA/BAA plan, click on ‘Signup for Free’ button
3) You will have to enter your email id and contact details to complete the signup process

4) Upon creating your account, you will immediately receive a confirmation email with your temporary password

To switch from your current existing Enterprise/Business/Startup plan to HIPAA/BAA Plan:

Office Chat offers HIPAA/BAA plan that conforms to the HIPAA‘s security requirements and has a separate specialized server for total HIPAA compliance.  Hence, another domain will have to be created on the HIPAA/BAA servers and we cannot use your current Enterprise/Business/Startup plan domain.

1) To switch your existing plan to HIPAA/BAA plan, write to us on Support@OfficeChat.com with your existing domain name and the preferred domain name for your new HIPAA/BAA  Office Chat domain. Eg: YourCompanyName.OfficeChat.com

2) We will then delete the non-HIPPA compliant Office Chat domain and create a new Office Chat domain on HIPAA/BAA complaint server as per the name requested by you.
3) You can then log in, complete the billing details and reinvite all your users, to this new HIPAA/BAA complaint domain.
4) Once this the change is complete we will send you a BAA document to print, sign, scan and send back, where we will do the same and send you a completed BAA. You will need this document to be HIPAA compliant. There is no additional cost for this processes or the BAA etc.
Kindly Note:
  • All the amount that was paid towards your Enterprise plan will get adjusted and transferred to your HIPAA/BAA plan on a pro-rata basis.
  • Also, note the billing for Office Chat HIPAA/BAA plan is done annually.
If in case you have further queries, feel free to reach out to us on Support@OfficeChat.com
Filed Under: Uncategorized

How to Configure LDAP / Active Directory Authentication in Office Chat?

December 4, 2018 by

As part of your Office Chat Enterprise subscription, your users can be authenticated through LDAP and Active Directory. This article will step you through the process by answering:

Where can I find the LDAP configuration settings in the Admin Portal?

  1. Using the Web Client, Go to Admin Portal, then click on Integration & Under ‘Single Sign-On’ , Enable the checkbox “Active Directory/LDAP Integration”
    Office Chat LDAP AD

What access do you need to integrate your active directory / LDAP server?

  • You will need to allow incoming access from the IP address: 50.16.226.155
  • You will need to allow incoming access to LDAP port 389 and secure LDAP port 636

What do the different configuration fields mean?

  • Server Type & Account/UPN Suffix:  You have a choice between “Active Directory” and “OpenLDAP” servers. Choosing “Active Directory” enables the additional “User Setting” section where you define the account suffix (UPN Suffix) that is configured for your AD.
  • Host Name & Port:  The LDAP server and port you are connecting to.
  • Base DN:  The base distinguished name of your LDAP used for the base search.
  • Administrator DN & Password:  User authentication for a user that has search capability and is able to perform all read-only directory operations.

ldap-1

What do all the fields mean in Connection Settings of the LDAP/AD configuration Page?

Office Chat LDAP AD Connection
To go through each choice and setting one-by-one:

  • Server Type & Account Suffix:  You have a choice between “Active Directory” and “OpenLDAP” servers. Choosing “Active Directory” enables the additional “User Setting” section where you define the account suffix (UPN Suffix) that is configured for your AD.
  • Host Name & Port:  Enter the name of the server where your AD/LDAP is hosted, example: ldap.example.com. Also,  enter the port on which your directory server is listening, examples: 389 (non-SSL LDAP), 636 (SSL LDAP).
  • Base DN:  The root distinguished name (DN) to use when running queries against the directory server. Example: ou=people, dc=example, dc=com
  • Groups Base DN: is the base distinguished name of your AD used for the base search.
  • UPN Suffix: Account suffix or UPN suffix will be appended to all usernames in the Active Directory authentication process. (e.g @company.local). Don’t forget to put the @
  • Administrator DN & Password:  User authentication for a user that has search capability and is able to perform all read-only directory operations. Enter a distinguished username & password of a user that will allow Office Chat to connect to the directory server. Connecting to the directory server requires that Office Chat log in to the server with the username and password configured here.

For Step 2 of Configuration, what do I put in each of the fields?

Office Chat LDAP AD Mapping

Note: All user profile fields will be synced when the user logs in or a manual sync are performed.

  • Username:  The field name on which username lookups will be performed on. If this value is not set the default value is uid. Active directory users should try the default value of sAMAccountName.
  • Full Name:  Users’ full names.
  • Email:  Users’ emails.
  • Title:  Users’ position titles.
  • Work Landline:  The mapping for users’ work landline telephone number.
  • Desk Extension: The mapping for users’ work desk extension numbers.
  • Work Mobile:  The mapping for users’ work mobile phone numbers.
  • Home Landline:  The mapping for users’ home landline telephone numbers.
  • Fax Number:  The mapping for fax information.
  • User Object Filter:  Is used to restrict the numbers of users that are permitted to access Office Chat. In essence, the filter limits what part of the LDAP tree Office Chat syncs from. The most common usage of a search filter is to limit the entries that are users based on objectClass. For example, a reasonable search filter for a default Active Directory installation is:

(objectClass=organizationalPerson)

When combined with the default filter, the actual search executed would be:

(&(sAMAccountName={0})(objectClass=organizationalPerson))

A filter should be written for user membership. This ensures that you are not flooding your Office Chat domain with users that do not need access to your content. When constructing a filter it is best to pick a common attribute of the set of users you want to allow access to Office Chat. For example, if my users are distinguished by having two objectClass attributes (one equal to ‘person’ and another to ‘user’), this is how I would match for it:

(&(objectClass=person)(objectClass=user))

Notice the ampersand symbol ‘&’ symbol at the start. Translated this means: search for objectClass=person AND object=user

Alternatively, (|(objectClass=person)(objectClass=user))

Translated this means: search for objectClass=person OR object=user.

The pipe symbol ‘|’ denotes ‘OR’. As this is not a special XML character, it should not need escaping.

If you know that only some of the users in your LDAP database should be known to the application, one way to get that subset is to create an LDAP department (such as ‘managementteam’), then filter off that department attribute for users. Here’s an example:

(&(objectClass=uidObject)(department=managementteam))

This way you don’t have to create any new OUs or move records around. You can simply modify department membership attributes on the user, something the LDAP administrator can do.

Where can I find references on LDAP filter syntax?

Although there are innumerable sites on the internet that cover some aspect of LDAP filter syntax, two examples are:

Customer user filters range from very simple to very complex. Here are two examples. Notice that one customer differentiates by “postalCode” and another uses various “useraccountcontrol” values.

  • (&(&(|(useraccountcontrol=512)(useraccountcontrol=544)(useraccountcontrol=66048))(mail=*.*)(postalCode=FS)))
  • (&(|(useraccountcontrol=512)(useraccountcontrol=544)(useraccountcontrol=66048)(useraccountcontrol=4194816)(useraccountcontrol=4260352))(mail=*.*))

What tools can I use to troubleshoot the LDAP filter for too few or too many users?

We use the command-line tool LDAP search. There are other command line and graphical utilities out there. Please let us know if you have a specific question about setting up your LDAP filter.

How often should I manually synchronize my LDAP configuration?

Since the changes to your LDAP users are applied every day, there’s no need to manually synchronize unless you’ve made changes to your users that you want to see in Office Chat right away.

Can I “Suspend” or “Change Users’ Passwords” in Office Chat when Authenticating through LDAP?

When LDAP is enabled, it controls all users in your domain. Suspending or changing users’ passwords will not affect LDAP users, only those guest users or network users that are not part of your LDAP.

Do LDAP settings overwrite mapped values that user may have changed in Office Chat on Sync?

LDAP, for the most part, is treated as the master record of user data when synchronizing with Office Chat. Mapped user data that users may have changed in Office Chat will be overwritten with their LDAP mapped field when an LDAP sync occurs. So fields like “User Name”, “Email”, “Title” and “Work Landline” that are Office Chat fields will be overwritten by their LDAP mappings.

How do I log in once LDAP is configured?

Users log in to Office Chat using their unique identifier (UID) and LDAP password once LDAP is configured in Office Chat. Passwords are controlled through LDAP so users and admins cannot change passwords from Office Chat but rather passwords must be changed in LDAP.

When and how frequently is AD synchronized with Office Chat?

Office Chat can be set to sync automatically with AD up to once per day or every hour. The sync happens at approximately 1:00 AM Pacific Time. To set autosync for AD:

  1. Go to the “Admin Portal” -> “Single Sign-On” -> “LDAP / AD” page.
  2. If your configuration has already been saved, at the very bottom of the page, place a check in “Auto-sync Office Chat with enterprise AD/LDAP” choose between once every or every hour and click “Save”.

 

Please take note that the hourly sync will include the following
1. User gets activated/deactivated(if setting enabled).
2. New users get created
3. New groups get created
4. Email change/samaccount change also happens

Once every 24 hours, a full sync will be performed that will include everything.

Filed Under: Administration, Integration Services

Can I restrict login based on IP addresses?

December 4, 2018 by

Yes, with Office Chat Enterprise plan you can set an IP range for your network to only allow employees to access Office Chat from your office network or from behind a VPN.

To help protect your organization’s data from unauthorized access, you can specify a list of IP addresses from which users can log in. Users outside of the specified login IP ranges cannot access your domain.

To restrict access on a single or on multiple IP ranges refer to the diagrams and steps below:

  1.  Go to the admin portal
  2.  Click on ‘Security’ from the left-hand navigation
  3.  Click on ‘Browser Access’ and navigate to IP range configuration.
  4. Define one or more IP ranges &  click on the “Save Settings” button to register your settings.

IP based Access Browser

 

While designating IP ranges by following above steps will work on the web, there are a few additional settings you will have to enable to configure the same IP based restriction on Office Chat Desktop Application and Office Chat Mobile applications :

  • To enable IP based access configured in the ‘Browser Access’ section of your admin portal to native desktop and Mac clients as well:
    1) Kindly go to the ‘Admin Portal’ > Click on ‘Security’ from the left-hand navigation
    2) Click on ‘Desktop Access’ and tick on ‘Enable IP based settings’ and click on the ‘Save’ Button.

IP based Access Desktop

 

  • To enable IP based access configured in the ‘Browser Access’ section of your admin portal to Mobile clients as well:
    1) Kindly go to the ‘Admin Portal’ > Click on ‘Security’ from the left-hand navigation
    2) Click on ‘Mobile Access’ and tick on ‘Enable IP based settings’ and click on the ‘Save’ Button.

IP based Access Mobile

Note: IP ranges between 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255 are not accepted as these are private IP ranges and cannot be used on the internet.

Filed Under: Administration, Security and Privacy