As a registered Kalivo user, you are provided with a document repository system for document storage and a convenient way to 'point' to those documents via the web. What does that mean, exactly?

The immediate answer to that is in regard to conversations. When starting a new conversation, or replying to an existing one, you are provided the ability to embed images or links to documents that exist in your Kalivo User Document Repository. There are two ways to add documents to your repository: at conversation-action time, or through your 'profile' page. If you choose to add a new document to a conversation in real-time, that document will be added to your repository for future use. Any item in your repository can be embedded into a conversation. However, only 'image' documents (.bmp, .gif, .png, .jpg) will display inline with your conversation, other document types will show up as a link to the document. The great news is that Kalivo will host the document for you, so it is available for as long as you'd like. The bad news is kalivo caps document size at 5 megabytes. You can delete the document at any time through your profile page.

So how does it work?

Say, for example, an ongoing conversation revolves around the usability of a particular website. As a developer of said website, you would like to provide an easy-to-follow tutorial detailing the use of a particularly fancy piece of functionality. You will definitely want to embed images of this functionality in use. So how do you go about doing that?

You'll notice that at the bottom of the conversation screen, there is text that reads 'Attach Documents or Images' with a couple of down arrows adjacent, signifying a hidden expandable section. Click the arrows, and you should see something like this:

 Click the 'Browse' button to select a document from your hard drive to add to your repository, or, click the 'Show Existing Documents' to unhide the list of documents you may already have in your repository. If you choose to upload a new document, it will automatically be added to your repository. If the document you select (either new or from your repository) is an image type that is supported by Kalivo, it will show up at the cursor location in the 'Body' textarea of the conversation. Like so:

Cool, no?

So what happens if the document you want to add to your conversation is not an image, but instead is, say, a powerpoint presentation, an excel document, or a pdf? Any document type other than the supported image types will be embedded into your conversation as an html link. The browser that follows this link will react in a standard way - if the document type is supported, the browser will open that document (perhaps asking what program to use to open it), otherwise, the end user will be prompted to download the document. 

 Take a look at what I mean.

Note: The text for the link above was manually entered. By default, the link text is the name of the selected document. To change it in the conversation body, click the 'HTML' button at the bottom right of the textarea, and change the text you see inbetween the <a href="blah"> and </a> tags. 

Managing Your Document Repository

You can manage your documents outside of the conversation context by visiting your prefences page. From there you can add new documents and remove old ones. Be advised, however, that if you delete a document, you are responsible for editing any conversation that has a link to that document. Any link to a deleted document will display the text 'Repository Item Not Found'.