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Setting up Etherpad (optional)

Etherpad is is an open source collaborative text editor that can be embedded in a Matrix chat room using the Dimension integrations manager or used as standalone web app.

When enabled together with the Jitsi audio/video conferencing system (see our docs on Jitsi), it will be made available as an option during the conferences.

Prerequisites

Etherpad can be installed in 2 modes:

(default) standalone mode (matrix_etherpad_mode: standalone) - Etherpad will be hosted on etherpad.<your-domain> (matrix_server_fqn_etherpad), so the DNS record for this domian must be created. See Configuring your DNS server on how to set up the etherpad DNS record correctly
dimension mode (matrix_etherpad_mode: dimension) - Etherpad will be hosted on dimension.<your-domain>/etherpad (matrix_server_fqn_dimension). This requires that you first configure the Dimension integrations manager as described in the playbook documentation

We recomend that you go with the default (standalone) mode, which makes Etherpad independent and allows it to be used with or without Dimension.

Installing

Etherpad installation is disabled by default. You can enable it in your configuration file (inventory/host_vars/matrix.<your-domain>/vars.yml):

matrix_etherpad_enabled: true

# Uncomment below if you'd like to install Etherpad on the Dimension domain (not recommended)
# matrix_etherpad_mode: dimension

# Uncomment below to enable the admin web UI
# matrix_etherpad_admin_username: admin
# matrix_etherpad_admin_password: some-password

If enabled, the admin web-UI should then be available on https://etherpad.<your-domain>/admin (or https://dimension.<your-domain>/etherpad/admin, if matrix_etherpad_mode: dimension)

Managing / Deleting old pads

If you want to manage and remove old unused pads from Etherpad, you will first need to able Admin access as described above.

Then from the plugin manager page (https://etherpad.<your-domain>/admin/plugins or https://dimension.<your-domain>/etherpad/admin/plugins), install the adminpads2 plugin. Once installed, you should have a "Manage pads" section in the Admin web-UI.

Set Dimension default to the self-hosted Etherpad (optional)

If you decided to install Dimension integration manager alongside Etherpad, the Dimension administrator users can configure the default URL template. The Dimension configuration menu can be accessed with the sprocket icon as you begin to add a widget to a room in Element. There you will find the Etherpad Widget Configuration action beneath the Widgets tab.

Removing the integrated Etherpad chat

If you wish to disable the Etherpad chat button, you can do it by appending ?showChat=false to the end of the pad URL, or the template. Examples:

https://etherpad.<your-domain>/p/$roomId_$padName?showChat=false (for the default - matrix_etherpad_mode: standalone)
https://dimension.<your-domain>/etherpad/p/$roomId_$padName?showChat=false (for matrix_etherpad_mode: dimension)

Known issues

If your Etherpad widget fails to load, this might be due to Dimension generating a Pad name so long, the Etherpad app rejects it. $roomId_$padName can end up being longer than 50 characters. You can avoid having this problem by altering the template so it only contains the three word random identifier $padName.

How to use Etherpad widgets without an Integration Manager (like Dimension)

This is how it works in element, it might work quite similar with other clients:
To integrate a standalone etherpad in a room, create your pad by visiting https://etherpad.DOMAIN with your favorite browser and let the magic do the work. When the pad opens, copy the url and send it to the room: /addwidget <url>.
You will then find your integrated etherpad within the right sidebar in the Widgets section.

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