A remote appointment often starts with a link pasted into an e-mail, found at the last minute, and with a client who discovers they have to install an app. With video calls with your clients in Kolinea, the room comes from the folder: your client joins in one click, in their browser, and the call leaves its trace in the thread.
How do you hold an appointment on video in Kolinea?
In the appointment proposal, you choose “Visio Kolinea” as the place. There is no link to paste. Your client picks a slot, and the confirmed appointment gets its own room.
The room opens 15 minutes before the time. The “Join the video call” button is on the appointment card, in “Upcoming” and in the calendar invitation. A reminder goes out 15 minutes before: a notification for team members, an e-mail for your clients. The room closes by itself 2 hours after the slot ends. If you prefer your own room, the link you paste still works, as before. For the appointment booking itself, the page Arranging an appointment without three rounds of messages explains how to offer slots.
How do you start a call on the spot?
A question to settle by voice, a document to comment on together: “Start a video call”, from the folder. You tick the people to call among those in the folder. You can start without a camera, for a simple audio call, and turn it on afterwards.
The invitation arrives right away. Team members see it appear with a “Join” button and in their notifications. Your clients receive it by e-mail, and each invited person finds a banner along the lines of “Cédric is waiting for you on video” when they open the folder. “End for everyone” closes the room: nobody can enter it any more. Otherwise it closes by itself 2 hours after the last participant leaves.
Can you bring in someone who has no access to the folder?
Yes, if you are on the team. You enter the person’s name and e-mail address, a notary or a tradesperson for example, for that call only. Their link opens only that call, never the folder, and a one-time code confirms their first device. A team member or a participant with full access starts the call; only the team invites an outside person, adds people during a call and ends it for everyone.
What remains of the call in the folder?
A line in the thread, saying when the call took place and who was there: “Video call from 2:02 pm to 2:37 pm · Cédric, Mr Durand, Ms Martin (invited)”. The content of the conversation is kept nowhere. The thread stays the place where you find what happened, calls included; the page The folder thread, where nothing gets lost describes the rest of what it keeps.
Does your client have to install anything?
No. They join the call from their browser, on their phone as on their computer, through the access they already have to their folder, without creating an account. During the call, everyone can mute their microphone or camera, share their screen to show a document, or write a message. How that access works is detailed in Your client gets in without an account.
Where do calls go, and are they recorded?
The video is hosted in France: it goes through a server that Kolinea’s publisher runs itself at OVHcloud, the host that already houses Kolinea. No additional provider sees your calls.
Kolinea records neither sound nor image, and transcribes nothing. They pass through the server during the call, then nothing remains. Nobody enters a room without Kolinea having invited them: each entry is checked at the moment of the click, and a link forwarded to someone else opens nothing for them.
For the length of the call, the server receives each person’s display name, e-mail address and profile picture, and their device’s connection address. An outside person’s name and e-mail address are erased 30 days after the room closes; the thread line keeps only their name.
What does it cost, and what are the limits?
Visio Kolinea is included in every plan, Free included. It has its limits:
- Kolinea does not record video calls and produces no transcript or minutes;
- a call always starts from a folder or an appointment: there is no permanent room open to anyone;
- a closed folder no longer starts calls, and the trial folder does not either;
- an outside person invited to a call reads nothing of the folder.
To get started
Open a folder, choose “Start a video call” and tick the person to call, or offer your next appointment with “Visio Kolinea” as the place. The page Call your clients or see them on video, from their folder gives the full detail and the frequently asked questions.