Communication details

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Written by Julien Villemonteix | Updated

To function optimally, UpSlide needs to communicate with the user database on our server. This article describes the nature of the exchanges and how to configure them.

Communication

UpSlide communication to our server is done through HTTPS (TLS 1.2) and encrypted with AES256.

Activation and renewal

With this feature, UpSlide is activated after users enter their email addresses during their first use. The license is automatically updated when the UpSlide contract is renewed each year.

Team settings

Our team configures team settings before UpSlide deployment. If one of those settings is changed after deployment, its new value can be pushed automatically to all users. 

Examples of available settings:

  • Shared folder location for the libraries and the templates updates
  • Link options
  • Default support mail address

UpSlide updates

When a new version of UpSlide is available, it will be installed automatically. We highly recommend enabling auto-update to ensure UpSlide is compatible with the latest version of Office and to receive new features and bug fixes.

Please look at our auto-update process and security article for more information.

Certificate renewal

Like all certificates, UpSlide certificates expire regularly, and we have implemented a system to renew them automatically. These communications are necessary to ensure that UpSlide updates are still available after our certificate has been renewed.

Usage statistics

Every user machine sends usage information (number of clicks on features) to a centralised server. The push is made once per day at a single Office application startup. This information can later be retrieved in the form of dashboards detailing the most valuable features for your company and the percentage of users who are, in effect, using UpSlide.

This feature can be turned off for all users. The user will not be affected if communication is blocked, and the statistics will not be collected.

How it works

The UpSlide add-in makes web requests (HTTPS: GET) through the host application (Excel, Word or PowerPoint) on port 443. To make it work:

  1. Authorise HTTPS requests to the domains and all subdomains of upslide.net

  2. The Windows firewall must not block Excel, PowerPoint, and Word

Detailed subdomain explanation

We've included the details of the data exchanged between UpSlide and the server. All data is encrypted using an AES 256 algorithm.

  • License Request and Renewal - https://license.upslide.net
    • Data sent: User Information*
    • Data retrieved: license code.
  • Usage statistics - https://stats.upslide.net
    • Data sent: User Information* & UpSlide usage statistics.
    • Data retrieved: list of processed stats.
  • Team settings - https://autoupdate.upslide.net
    • Data sent: contract ID, user email.
    • Data retrieved: account settings (library paths, default Linking options, etc...)
  • UpSlide upgrade - https://autoupdate.upslide.net
    • Sent data: contract ID, user email, installed UpSlide certificate, installed UpSlide Service, UpSlide auto-update channel, User Information*
    • Data retrieved: URL of the latest update compressed as a .zip file, later downloaded using BITS protocol.
  • Certificate Renewal - https://portalapi.upslide.net
    • Sent data: contract ID, user email.
    • Data retrieved: information about the latest version of the certificate, the certificate installer and UpSlide Plus.
  • Request license activation - https://portalapi.upslide.net
    • Sent data: user email, contract ID.
    • Data retrieved: none.
  • Request library access - https://portalapi.upslide.net
    • Sent data: user email, contract ID, computer ID, library paths.
    • Data retrieved: none.
  • Autoupdate & Certificate Renewal Storage - https://upslideautoupdate.blob.core.windows.net
    • Sent data: none
    • Data retrieved: latest versions of UpSlide, certificates, certificate installer or UpSlide Plus, depending on what was requested.

* User Information: user email, contract ID, computer ID, computer name, domain name, user name, OS version, Office version, UpSlide version, and last usage dates.

What happens if communication is blocked?

Activation

At first start, UpSlide retrieves the user email and sends it to our server. If the user is referenced in our database, UpSlide will be activated automatically.

If communication is blocked, the user won't be able to activate and use UpSlide.

Settings

UpSlide can deploy default settings with the setup. If you have different teams with different settings or if any change is needed (like the library path, for example), you will have to deploy configuration files to every machine, or each user will need to change them manually.

Auto-update

Without auto-update, you must redeploy a new setup to all users to benefit from the new features and bug fixes. 

Please note that users must use the latest version contractually to get Support.

Certificate Renewal

Without this communication, the auto-update will stop working when we renew our certificate (every three years).

Usage statistics

With these statistics, we conduct periodic business reviews to review the actual usage of UpSlide. Without this system, you'll have a more challenging time estimating the return on investment of UpSlide.