Contents
Channels catalogue - Plugixa Chat
The plugin has 44 channels in six groups, and Pro adds one more, Order status. This page lists each one and what to type in its Destination field.
A channel is either a link, which opens an app or a page, or a panel, which opens inside the widget. Two channels in the free edition are panels: Contact form and WeChat.
Messaging apps
| Channel | Destination | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Your number in international format, including the country code | Accepts a pre-filled message. Can show a QR code on computers | |
| Facebook Messenger | Your page username, or paste your Facebook page URL | |
| Telegram | Your username, without the @ | |
| Viber | Your number in international format | |
| Viber Business | Your public account URI | |
| Signal | Your number in international format | |
| LINE | Your LINE ID, without the @ | Can show a QR code on computers |
| Your WeChat ID, and a QR code image | A panel. See QR codes | |
| Skype | Your Skype name or live: ID | |
| Zalo | Your Zalo number or official account ID | |
| KakaoTalk | The code from your KakaoTalk open chat link | |
| Instagram DM | Your username, without the @ | |
| Discord | Your server invite code, the part after discord.gg/ | |
| Slack | Your workspace or shared-channel invite URL | |
| Microsoft Teams | The email address of the person or team to chat with | |
| Matrix | Your Matrix user or room ID | |
| SMS | The number visitors will text | Accepts a pre-filled message |
Contact
| Channel | Destination | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Phone call | The number visitors will call | |
| Where visitor emails should go | The pre-filled message becomes the subject line | |
| Contact form | None | A panel. See Contact form |
| Order status PRO | None | A panel, available when WooCommerce is active. See Order status |
Location
| Channel | Destination |
|---|---|
| Google Maps | Your share link from Google Maps |
| Waze | Your Waze share link |
| Google Business Profile | Your Google Business Profile short link |
Booking
| Channel | Destination |
|---|---|
| Calendly | Your Calendly scheduling link |
| Cal.com | Your Cal.com booking link |
| TidyCal | Your TidyCal booking link |
Social profiles
| Channel | Destination |
|---|---|
| Facebook page | Your username, without the @ |
| Your username, without the @ | |
| X | Your username, without the @ |
| Your company or profile URL | |
| YouTube | Your channel or video URL |
| TikTok | Your username, without the @ |
| Snapchat | Your username, without the @ |
| Your username, without the @ | |
| Your subreddit or profile URL | |
| Threads | Your username, without the @ |
| Bluesky | Your handle, for example acme.bsky.social |
| Mastodon | Your full profile URL, including your instance |
| Twitch | Your username, without the @ |
| VK | Your username, without the @ |
| Your Weibo profile URL | |
| Your XING profile or company URL | |
| GitHub | Your username, without the @ |
Custom
| Channel | Destination |
|---|---|
| Custom link | Any URL. Add as many custom links as you need |
A custom link is how you add a help centre, a booking page on your own site, or a service the catalogue does not list. Give it a label, a colour and an icon on its card.
How destinations are tidied
You can type a destination the way you would write it down. The plugin tidies it when it builds the link.
| Kind of destination | What is tidied |
|---|---|
| Phone numbers | Spaces, brackets, dots and dashes are removed |
| Usernames | A leading @ is removed |
| Facebook Messenger | A pasted page URL is reduced to the page name |
| Links | Only web addresses and app links are kept. A destination starting with javascript:, data: or vbscript: is refused |
For phone numbers the card offers a Country picker beside the number, so the country code is always part of what is saved. Search the picker by country name, dialling code or two-letter code.
Pre-filled messages
Three channels accept a Pre-filled message:
| Channel | Where the message goes |
|---|---|
| The text box of the chat, ready to send | |
| SMS | The body of the text message |
| The subject line of the email |
The visitor can change the text before sending.
Merge tags
A pre-filled message, and the greeting message on the Design step, can contain merge tags. Each is replaced with a value from the page the visitor is on.
| Tag | Replaced with |
|---|---|
{title} |
The title of the page or post. On other screens, such as archives, the site’s name |
{url} |
The address of the page |
{site} |
The site’s name |
{product} |
The product’s name, on a WooCommerce product page |
{sku} |
The product’s SKU |
{price} |
The product’s price, as WooCommerce displays it |
{regular} |
The product’s regular price |
{sale} |
The product’s sale price |
{stock} |
The product’s stock status |
{cart_qty} |
The number of items in the visitor’s cart |
Example for WhatsApp:
Hi! I have a question about {product}: {url}
Things to know:
- The product tags are empty anywhere but a WooCommerce product page, and all WooCommerce tags are empty when WooCommerce is not active.
- Tags are filled in when the page is built. On a site with a full-page
cache, a value that differs per visitor, such as
{cart_qty}, is whatever it was when the page was cached. - A tag the plugin does not know is left as you typed it.
- Developers can add tags with the
plugixa_chat_merge_tagsfilter. See Hooks reference.
Adding your own channel
A developer can add a channel to the catalogue, or change a built-in one,
with the plugixa_chat_channels filter. A channel added that way appears in
the picker, the builder and the widget like any other. See
Hooks reference.
What to do next
- Add channels to a widget in Builder: Channels.
- Offer a scan-to-chat code in QR codes.
- Collect messages on your own site with the Contact form.