New Workspace user interface

The new Workspace user interface (UI) reduces visual complexity, provides easy access to essential features, and refines your Workspace app use and functionality as needed – resulting in a better user experience.

This article highlights some of the main features that the subscribers see when they sign in to their workspaces, and summarizes how to access and interact with their workspaces.

Enable the new Workspace experience

You can enable the new Workspace UI for the existing users. When enabled, users experience the modern workspace focused on productivity with apps and desktops.

To enable the new UI, follow these steps:

1. On the Admin console, go to Workspace Configuration > Customize > Features.

2. Turn on the toggle in the Workspace experience focused on apps and desktops section. By default the toggle is off, and the feature is disabled. You also have the option to enable this feature for all users, or selected users.

   

   • To enable the new UI for all end users, select Enable for everyone.

   • To enable the new UI for selected users and user groups, select Enable for selected user and user groups. You can then select the directory to which the users or user groups belong. Once the appropriate directory is selected, you can view relevant users and user groups.

   

3. Click Save.
4. Restart the Workspace app.

Note:

The updated UI can take around five minutes to display. Users might temporarily see an older version of the UI. If opened on a browser, users may need to refresh the page.

Themes, icons, and fonts

The new color themes have improved contrast and a consistent color palette. The font is used for the UI on all supported operating systems. A new icon set has more distinguishable shapes and colors designed for legibility and visual clarity.

First-time user experience for Workspace app

When accessing the new UI, first-time users are prompted with a pop-up where you can favorite multiple apps in one easy single step.

The first-time user experience is activated when you have more than 20 apps, and haven’t added any of them to Favorites. The experience is supported on all browsers and native clients (Mac, Windows, Linux, and ChromeOS), and mobile devices (iOS and Android). You’re able to see it the first time you sign in.

The recommended or mandatory apps appear on the Recommended tab of the first-time user screen, as set by admins on the DaaS console for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, and on the Secure Private access console for Web and SaaS apps. Mandatory apps are selected by default and check disabled. Recommended and auto-favorite apps are selected by default and check enabled for users. You can also select other apps to subscribe to, or add to Favorites from all tabs. All selected apps are automatically added to Favorites, and reflected on the home page.

When you have five or less apps, on the Citrix Workspace app for Windows, the quick access desktop shortcut appears. All the displayed apps are subscribed for users, and corresponding desktop shortcuts are created.

Limitations

• Until the User personalization Service is enhanced to track whether the user is a first-time user or not, the Personalization screen appears once per device and browser, and every time for incognito mode unless users mark a favorite.
• If the admin removes the mandatory or recommended tag from the apps, the apps in Favorites won’t have any impact.

• If the end-user has not added any apps to Favorites, the Personalization screen appears each time the workspace app is opened. To avoid this:

  • End users can add one or more apps to Favorites. This prevents the personalization screen from appearing everytime they start the app.
  • Administrators can add one or more apps to Favorites for end-users by using Description and keyword settings (keyword: Auto) in Citrix DaaS (Manage > Full Configuration > Applications). This prevents the Personalization screen from appearing for all the end-users. For more information, see Customize workspace interactions.

Workspace visual and layout improvements

The new user experience is designed with a focus on intuitive flow and ease of use. Your apps, virtual desktops favorites are organized at the top of the UI for ease of use. Citrix also has a new home page to improve the navigability of your more regularly used apps and desktops.

If you have fewer than 20 apps, then you land on the screen with a simple view that doesn’t have any tabs or categories. All the apps and desktops appear on the same page. On this screen, your favorites show up first, followed by all the other apps in an alphabetical order. All the apps have a star icon that you can use to favorite or unfavorite apps. You experience this simple view of the Workspace app, depending on the number of apps you have, and the apps are not controlled by admins.

If you have more than 20 apps, you land on the home page when you sign in. On this screen all your Favorite Apps appear first, followed by the most recently used apps limiting to five apps. The star icons for the Mandatory apps are locked, and you can’t remove them from Favorites. If the admin hasn’t enabled the home page, then you land on the Apps screen. On this screen, your favorites appear first, followed by all the other apps in an alphabetical order. If the admin has created categories and attached the apps to them, then the various categories appear, and can select the category of the apps that you want to view.

Categorization of apps

End users can view their applications organized into categories and sub-categories on the Workspace user interface. The sub-categories are displayed in a folder structure. The organized multi-level structure makes for a clutter-free, optimized experience that helps enhance the overall user satisfaction. For more information on creating folders and sub-folders, see Create delivery groups.

When the number of primary categories created by the admins exceeds the available space on the user’s screen, the user interface adjusts based on the screen size, and dynamically moves categories under the More dropdown. The navigation breadcrumbs are also displayed to the users.

On mobile platforms, navigate to the Apps tab and click the Categories dropdown to view a list of available categories. Sub-categories are displayed as folders that might contain further sub-folders or applications as per the admin configuration.

Select the relevant category, a list of available sub-categories and applications is displayed based on the configuration made by the admin.

Enhanced Search feature

The enhanced Search feature gives you faster results from the search engines. The Search option appears within the tool bar for ease of use, and allows you to do a quick and intuitive search from within the Workspace app.

It includes the following improvements:

• Default search displays the five most recently used apps or desktops
• Searches are enabled with spell check, and display auto complete results
• Search results include apps within virtual sessions based on recently accessed, and Web and SaaS apps
• Perform search by admin created categories
• Search result lists Favorites at the top