OD Help

Documentation 5 minutes read

Fully self-hosted support and knowledge management for Joomla 6 – with structured entries, visibility control, and an integrated frontend portal.

OD Help is a self-hosted support and knowledge management system for Joomla. It helps teams manage support requests, document solutions, and build a searchable knowledge base without relying on external services.

All data remains on your own server, making OD Help a GDPR/DSGVO-compliant alternative to third-party support platforms.

What's Included

Component: Main support and knowledge management interface
Commons Plugin: Shared system plugin used by OD products for licensing and common functionality
Modules: Frontend widgets for user entries and support overview

Installation

Step 1: Download the Package
Download the latest installation package from your octi Suite account or purchase confirmation.

Step 2: Install via Joomla
Navigate to System → Extensions → Install in your Joomla backend and upload the package file.

Step 3: Access the Component
After successful installation, open Components → OD Help to access the backend dashboard.

Requirements

Software	Version	Notes
Joomla	6	Latest stable version recommended
PHP	8.3+	As required by Joomla 6
MySQL	8.0+	Or MariaDB 10.6+

Quick Start Guide

Step 1: Create Products
Go to Components → OD Help → Products and create at least one product. OD Help ships without predefined products, categories, or entries. Create at least one product before allowing users to submit requests.

Step 2: Configure Settings
Open Options and configure your default visibility, entries per page, and optional notification settings.

Step 3: Add a Menu Link
Create a frontend menu item pointing to the OD Help entry list so users can submit, browse, and manage support requests.

Entries are the core of OD Help. Every support request, question, issue, or documented solution is stored as an entry.

Entry Types

question: general inquiries or how-to questions
issue: bug reports or technical problems
solution: documented answers

Note: Users can submit questions and issues. Solutions can only be created by staff members.

Status Workflow

open: new entry, no staff reply yet
answered: at least one public staff reply posted
solved: an accepted solution reply has been marked
closed: entry closed by staff - no further replies expected

Status transitions happen automatically where possible:

First public staff reply → open becomes answered
Staff marks a reply as solution → status becomes solved
Staff manually closes an entry → status becomes closed

Visibility

public: everyone (including guests if guest view is enabled)
restricted: logged-in user only
private: staff only

Visibility can be configured per entry and may be adjusted by staff members depending on permissions.

Replies are displayed beneath each entry and provide the primary communication channel between customers and staff.

Users can create public replies, while staff members can create both public and internal replies.

Reply Visibility

public: Visible to everyone who has access to the entry
internal: Internal replies are never displayed in the frontend for regular users.

Marking a Solution

Staff can mark any reply as the accepted solution.

This action:

Sets the entry status to solved
Highlights the selected reply
Creates a direct reference between the entry and the accepted solution

Delete Handling

If a solution reply is removed, OD Help automatically recalculates the entry status based on the remaining replies.

The following workflow represents a typical support process in OD Help:

Step 1: User Creates an Entry

A user submits a new question or issue through the frontend portal.

Status: open

Step 2: Staff Reviews the Entry

A staff member reviews the request and posts a public reply.

Status changes automatically from: open → answered

Step 3: Solution is Identified

Once the issue is resolved, a staff member can mark the most helpful reply as the accepted solution.

Step 4: Entry is Closed

If no further action is required, the entry can be closed by a staff member.

Status: closed

Internal Replies

Staff members may create internal replies that are visible only to other staff members. Internal replies do not affect the public discussion and are never visible to users.

Products and categories help organize support requests and improve navigation throughout the support system.

Products

Required: Every entry must be assigned to a product
Slug: Auto-generated from the product name and manually editable
Unpublishing a product prevents new submissions while preserving existing entries
Unpublished products remain available for existing entries but cannot receive new submissions.

mod_odhelp_myentries

Displays the currently logged-in user's support entries in a sidebar or widget position.

Parameters:

count: Number of entries to display (1–20, default 5)
filter_status: Filter by status (All, open, answered, solved, closed)
show_date: Show creation date (Yes/No)

Use Case:

Place the module on support-related pages to help users quickly return to their own requests.

mod_odhelp_overview

Displays support statistics and provides quick access to support functions.

Suitable for customer portals, support landing pages, and user dashboards.

Legal

Contact Us

Email: suite@octi-design.at

Support: support@octi-design.at

Address: Sonnhalb 35, 5511 Hüttau, Salzburg, Austria