Knowledge base
The paid edition: what a licence unlocks, how to install it over the free plugin, how the three sites work, and what happens when it lapses.
Zinn® Chat Pro is the same plugin as Zinn® Chat with the free edition's limits taken off. It is one download, one licence key, and three of your websites — wherever you host them.
If you host a site with Zinn Digital®, you already have it. Pro is included with our hosting, and your licence key is waiting on the Licences page of your dashboard. You do not need to buy anything.
| | Free | Pro | |---|---|---| | People answering at once | 1 | as many as you like | | Conversations kept | 30 days | for ever | | Assistant replies a month | 100 | 5,000 | | "Powered by Zinn® Chat" | shown | removed | | Saved replies, transfers, opening hours | — | yes | | Choosing which pages the chat appears on | a line of PHP | a settings screen | | Websites on one licence | — | 3 (or 10) |
The first five of those are decided by us, for your chat, so they apply to every site running it the moment the licence is live. The sixth is decided by WordPress and lives in the plugin.
Chat Pro**. Copy the licence key from the same row.
press Install Now, then Activate.
both editions read the same ones — so you will not have to paste your chat key again.
press Save licence.
The screen then tells you the licence is active, when it renews, and how many of your sites are using it.
A licence covers three websites. A site takes one of them when you save the key on it, and gives it back when you remove it.
Staging, local and preview copies do not count. Anything on .local, .test, .localhost, one of our zinnpreview.com addresses, or a well-known host's scratch domain is free. So is localhost. You are never charged a seat for a copy of a site you are already paying for.
www. does not count twice. https://www.example.com and https://example.com are one site, whichever one WordPress happens to report.
If you run out, the screen names the sites holding the seats so you can decide which to free. You can release one from that site's own settings, or — for a site you can no longer reach, because it is gone, sold, or switched off — from the Licences page of your dashboard. Ten-site licences are available if three is not enough.
This is the one thing Pro adds to WordPress itself, because it is the one thing only WordPress can answer. Under Where the chat appears you can:
The usual reasons are a checkout that should not be interrupted, and a members' area that does not need chat. Page and post IDs go in as a comma-separated list; the ID is in the address bar while you edit a page.
If your licence lapses, these rules stop applying and the chat goes back to appearing everywhere. It does not vanish from your site: withdrawing a paid feature means going back to the free behaviour, never leaving your site half-configured.
Pro updates appear in Dashboard → Updates like any other plugin, for as long as the licence is live. The plugin checks once a day; it sends your licence key, this site's address and the version it is running, and nothing about your visitors or your content.
Nothing happens suddenly.
offered new versions.
that expires on a Friday does not put our branding back on your chat on Saturday morning.
history, our line back on the window. Nothing is deleted and nothing breaks.
Renew from the Licences page and everything comes back at the next check — you do not need to paste the key again.
If your licence came with hosting and the hosting ends, the same thing happens, and the screen says so rather than telling you your key is invalid.
"We do not recognise that licence key." Copy it again from the Licences page. Case, spaces and the hyphens do not matter, and the letters people mistype — I, L, O and U — are understood as 1, 1, 0 and V, so a hand-copied key usually still works.
"That key is for a different Zinn® plugin." You have pasted another product's key. The right one is on the Licences page, in the row headed Zinn® Chat Pro.
"Every site on this licence is in use." Three sites already have it. The message names them; release one and try again.
"There is a billing problem on your Zinn Digital® account." The licence is fine — a payment needs settling. It works again as soon as that is done, with nothing to re-enter.
"We could not confirm your licence just now." We could not be reached. Nothing on your site has changed and nothing has been switched off; the plugin keeps the last answer it had and tries again. If it persists for more than a day, tell us.
Both plugins are active at once. Deactivate the free one. Pro is a complete replacement and reads the same settings.
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