Modern experience
This section describes how users can access and interact with their stores using the modern experience.
Citrix Workspace app required screen
It is possible to configure the website so that users are unable to proceed in their web browser and must use a locally installed Citrix Workspace app.
When this feature is enabled, end users see the following webpage when they open the website URL in their browser:
After users click Open Citrix Workspace, the store is automatically added to Citrix Workspace app.
If a user doesn’t see the prompt or doesn’t click Open Citrix Workspace app on the prompt within 5 seconds, the webpage provides the following extra options to continue:
- The store URL to copy and add manually in the native Citrix Workspace app.
- A download link to install Citrix Workspace app. The behavior of this link depends on how administrators have configured it. For more information, see Configuration.
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The link to the end-user guide, which provides step-by-step instructions for installing and opening Citrix Workspace app.
For more information on how to add an account/store for a particular operating system, see Add account in Citrix Workspace app.
After submitting a valid store URL, Citrix Workspace app displays the authentication page for the user to sign in. After the successful authentication, the user can see the home page of the native Citrix Workspace app.
Citrix Workspace app detection and launch preferences
Note:
This step only applies when accessing the store through a web browser, not through locally installed Citrix Workspace app. This step may occur before or after log in depending configuration.
Depending on configuration, when accessing the store through a web browser for the first time or after clearing their cookies, users may see the Welcome to Citrix Workspace app screen.
They can either:
- Click Detect Citrix Workspace app if they wish to launch resources in the locally installed Citrix Workspace app. This is recommended for the best experience.
- Click Use web browser (if available) to always launch resources within the browser.
To configure which options are available, see Deployment option.
When the user selects Detect Citrix Workspace app, the website tries to detect a locally installed Citrix Workspace app. First it tries using the Citrix Workspace web extensions. If this is not installed or fails to detect locally installed Citrix Workspace app then it attempts to open Citrix Workspace Launcher which is a component of Citrix Workspace app. If Citrix Workspace app is installed then your browser pops up a window asking to run the Citrix Workspace Launcher. Click Open Citrix Workspace Launcher or Open link (depending on the browser). It is recommend that they also tick Always allow domain to open links of this type in the associated app to avoid this window appearing every time you launch a resource.
If a locally installed Citrix Workspace app is detected then after a few seconds it continues to the next screen. When the user subsequently launches a resource it either uses Citrix Workspace web extensions or Citrix Workspace Launcher, depending on which was detected, to open resources in the locally installed Citrix Workspace app.
If Citrix Workspace app is not installed, or they cancel the launcher then depending on launch preferences they have the following options:
- Download - Downloads Citrix Workspace app from the Citrix website or from the StoreFront server.
- Detect again - Attempts to detect the locally installed Citrix Workspace app again.
- Use web browser - Skips Workspace app detection and always opens resources in the web browser.
- Skip detection - users can use this option if they have a legacy version of Citrix Receiver installed that does not support the Citrix Workspace Launcher or Citrix Workspace web extensions. If they select this option, when they launch a virtual app or desktop then their browser downloads a file launch.ica that they can open with Citrix Receiver. This option results in reduced functionality and security so is recommended that administrators disable this option.
Log In
Depending on the authentication methods configured and whether single sign-on is enabled, users might be required to log in.
If multiple authentication methods are available then the user can choose to switch to a different authentication method.
After logging in, if configured users may see a message they must accept to proceed.
For more information on how to configure this, see Dialog after login.
First-time user experience for Workspace app
When accessing the UI, for the first time, users are prompted with a pop-up where they can favorite multiple apps in one easy single step.
The first-time user experience is activated when users 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. End users 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.
Limitations
- 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.
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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 every time they start the app.
- Administrators can add one or more apps to Favorites. For more information, see Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops configuration.
Navigation tabs
Simple view
If users have fewer than 20 resources, by default, they land on the screen with Simple View that doesn’t have any tabs or categories. All the apps and desktops appear on the same page. On this screen, their favorites show up first, followed by all the other apps in an alphabetical order.
You can configure the store to Always display navigation tabs, which disables simple view.
Full view
If users have more than 20 resources, or the store website is configured to Always display navigation tabs, then up to three tabs are displayed - Home, Apps and Desktops. By default when a user logs in they land on the Home tab if it exists, otherwise the Apps tab. You can configure whether the home tab appears and the default tab.
Home tab
On the home tab, mandatory and favorite apps appear first, followed by the five most recently used apps. The star icons for the Mandatory apps are locked, and users can’t remove them from Favorites.
Apps tab
On the Apps tab, 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 users can select the category of the apps that they want to view.
For each application you can define a category. The category represents the folder structure that appears on the screen for end users. For example, consider an app for which the folder is defined as Optimisation tools/Cleaning. Now, to access this app, end users must go to Optimisation tools > Cleaning, where Optimisation tools is a category and Cleaning is it’s sub-category. For more information about configuring categories, see Applications.
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.
Desktops tab
The Desktops tab displays all available virtual desktops.
Favorite and mandatory apps
By default, users can create and remove favorites by selecting the star icon on the tile.
Administrators can also configure the following using keywords keywords:
- auto - apps are automatically created as favorites but they can be removed by the user.
- mandatory - apps are always favorites and cannot be removed by the user.
To disable favorites see Enable or disable favorites. If favorites are disabled, all apps appear on the Home tab.
Search for apps and desktops
Users can enter search terms to search for apps and desktops by name and category. Favorites appear at the top of the list.
Activity Manager
Users can manage their sessions using Activity manager.
Account Settings
Users access Account Settings from a menu that appears when they select their profile icon in the upper-right corner of the UI.
Change Password
If users logged in using username and password authentication and StoreFront is configured to allow users to change their password at any time then users see an option to Change Password. If the user selects this screen a window appears where they can enter their old and new password:
Apps and Desktops Launch Preference
This displays whether apps launch in the web browser, or in Citrix Workspace app, or by downloading and ICA file that the user can open in Citrix Workspace app.
The user can select Verify connection to open the Citrix Workspace app detection screen.
Download Workspace Configuration
Users can download a file that configures Citrix Workspace app to connect to the store.