Manage your workspace experience

This article summarizes how subscribers access and interact with their workspaces and describes what subscribers see when they sign in to their workspaces. The article also summarizes options for customizing the workspace experience and offers guidance for common issues.

Workspace access

Subscribers can access Citrix Workspace in two ways:

• Through a browser with the Workspace URL.
• With the Citrix Workspace app, installed on subscriber devices.

Browser access

If using the browser, subscribers can access their workspaces with the Workspace URL and the latest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. For more information, see Workspace Browser Compatibility.

The workspace URL is enabled by default, usually in the format: https://yourcompanyname.cloud.com. For information on how to configure the Workspace URL, see Workspace URL.

Citrix Workspace app access

Citrix recommends using the latest version of Citrix Workspace app to access workspaces.

The Citrix Workspace app is a natively installed app that replaces Citrix Receiver and provides a consistent user experience of the Workspace user interface (UI) across platforms. Citrix Workspace app is available for various operating systems. For details, see the Citrix Workspace app product documentation.

If you’ve been using Citrix Receiver, guide users to upgrade to Citrix Workspace app so they can use all the Workspace UI features. For more information about supported features in the Citrix Workspace app by platform, refer to the Workspace app feature matrix.

For information on how to install Citrix Workspace app, visit Download Citrix Workspace app.

For devices that can’t install Citrix Workspace app software, Citrix Workspace app for HTML5 provides a connection through an HTML5-compatible browser.

Workspace user interface and features

New customers. If you’re new to the workspace experience, subscribers get the latest version of the UI when it’s available.

Existing customers. If you’ve been using an earlier version of Citrix Workspace app, the updated UI can take around five minutes to display. You might temporarily see an older version of the UI.

The Citrix Workspace UI consists of the following features:

Single sign-on (SSO)

Citrix Workspace offers a seamless experience with single sign-on (SSO) to secondary resources that would otherwise require another form of authentication.

Card layout

Apps, Desktops, Files, Actions, and the Activity Feed are presented in a “card” layout. A pop-up window shows more details and actions.

Settings

Subscribers access Settings from a menu that appears when they select their profile icon in the top right corner of the Workspace UI.

Profile icon

Subscribers can upload a picture to their profile. If no profile picture is set, the image defaults to an icon that is based on the subscriber’s Active Directory display name.

Search

The search tool at the top of the UI searches across all resources in the workspace and allows subscribers to open apps directly from the search results. Search requires at least three characters.

Recents and Favorites view

Subscribers can choose between a Recents and Favorites view of their apps, desktops, and files.

You can configure Favorites to make this feature available or unavailable to subscribers in Workspace Configuration. For more information on enabling and disabling the Favorites feature in Citrix Workspace, see Allow Favorites.

Actions and the Activity feed

Citrix Workspace delivers relevant notifications and tasks in the subscriber’s Activity Feed and in the Actions card of their workspaces. Subscribers can act on these targeted notifications without leaving their workspaces.

For more information on the subscriber experience of Actions and the Activity Feed, see Subscriber experience of notifications.

Subscriber experience of notifications

When you configure and enable the notifications feature, subscribers receive targeted, actionable, and searchable alerts and tasks in the Activity Feed and the Actions card of their workspaces.

For information on how to enable notifications in Citrix Workspace, see Customize workspace notifications.

Notifications in Citrix Workspace

When enabled, subscribers see personalized notifications in the Activity Feed in the center of their workspace. A subscriber can act on an item in this feed, such as approving a request, directly in the workspace. The Actions card on the right side of their workspace also provides quick access to common tasks like submitting expenses or creating a calendar event.

In the left navigation of the UI, the Actions tab displays all actions available to subscribers with access to microapps, such as links to other systems or intranet sites. The Feed tab in the left navigation of workspaces displays all alerts, such as company announcements or reminders.

Search notifications

Subscribers can search and filter microapp notifications and integrations, and act on notifications directly from their search results.

Note:

Activity Feed search is available in Workspace on Web and Desktop in US and EU accounts. Activity Feed search is offered as a public preview and isn’t currently HIPAA compliant.

Subscribers can use the search box at the top of the Workspace UI to enter a query.

Selecting Feed in the top menu gives all matching results. Subscribers can also filter results by Status, Source, Action required, and Time period.

Subscribers can select any search result to open their notifications for more information and to complete any available actions.

Two-factor authentication (optional)

Before subscribers can use two-factor authentication with Citrix Workspace, they must register their device. During registration, Workspace presents a QR code for the subscriber to scan with an authentication app. The authentication app must follow the Time-Based One-Time Password (TOTP) standard, such as Citrix SSO.

Note:

For a smooth registration process, Citrix recommends downloading and installing Citrix SSO on the target device beforehand.

To register for two-factor authentication, guide the subscriber to:

1. Open a browser, navigate to the Workspace sign-in page, and select Don’t have a token?
2. Enter their user name in the domain\username format or their company email address and select Next. Citrix Cloud then sends the subscriber an email with a temporary verification code.

3. Enter the verification code and Active Directory account password when prompted and select Next.

   IMPORTANT:

   The verification code is a temporary token with a 24-hour validity period and is only used to register the subscriber’s device. The subscriber mustn’t use this code to sign into their workspace with two-factor authentication.

4. From the authenticator app, scan the QR code or enter the verification code manually.
5. Select Finish and Sign In to complete the registration.

After completing registration, subscribers can return to the Citrix Workspace sign-in page and enter their Active Directory credentials along with the token displayed in their authentication app.

Only verification codes that are generated from an authentication app on an enrolled device are supported tokens for two-factor authentication. Subscribers mustn’t use the temporary email token sent during the registration process.

Customize workspaces

You can customize the subscriber experience of workspaces for different users and to meet specific organizational requirements in Workspace Configuration.

• To configure targeted notifications in the Activity Feed and Actions card of workspaces, visit Customize workspace notifications.
• To customize the appearance of workspaces, including logos and custom themes, visit Customize the appearance of workspaces.
• To choose how subscribers interact with their workspaces, such as allowing subscribers to create Favorites and automatically launching desktops, visit Customize workspace interactions.
• To customize privacy and security policies, including setting a timeout period, creating a sign-in policy, and allowing subscribers to change their passwords from within their workspaces, visit Customize security and privacy policies.

Troubleshooting

Log out and back in after changing authentication method

After you’ve changed the authentication method, subscribers that are logged in might see an error message. To rectify this, subscribers must log out of Citrix Workspace and close the browser or Citrix Workspace app, and wait approximately 5 minutes. When their workspaces are available again, the subscriber can sign in using the new authentication method.

For more information, visit Choose or change authentication methods.

Refresh after changes to your service subscription

If you’ve changed your service subscription, subscribers might need to manually refresh the local Citrix Workspace app. To refresh the Citrix Workspace app for Windows:

1. Right-click the Citrix Workspace icon in the Windows system tray and select Advanced Preferences > Reset Citrix Workspace.
2. Open Citrix Workspace app for Windows and select Accounts > Add.
3. Enter the Workspace URL and then select Add.

You can also refresh the Citrix Workspace app from the browser. If refreshing from the browser:

1. Right-click the Citrix Workspace icon in the Windows system tray and select Advanced Preferences > Reset Citrix Workspace.
2. Enter the Workspace URL into the browser and sign in.
3. Download the configuration file from Settings > Account Settings > Advanced > Download Workspace Configuration.

This downloads a file with a .cr extension that adds the workspace to your local Citrix Workspace app.