Citrix has released today Citrix Files Beta 5.
The Citrix Files build can be downloaded by clicking here
Citrix Files is still in Beta mode and subject to change.
Not all ShareFile features are available in this Beta.
Objective
Citrix Files allows you to access your files in ShareFile directly through a mapped drive providing a native Windows Explorer experience. Files are downloaded only when accessed and temporarily stored on your computer. Changes made to the files are automatically saved back to ShareFile cloud. You can also access additional functionality through the Windows right-click context menu and perform operations such as Sharing or Requesting of files.
Note: This application was previously referred to as ShareFile for Windows, but has since been renamed to Citrix Files.
| Important: This app is currently in a limited scope beta and is not yet available to all ShareFile customers. The appearance, requirements, and functionality described below is subject to change. To provide feedback or report an issue on the beta release, please send an email to sfwin.feedback@citrix.com |
Instructions
Install and ConfigurationDownload the Citrix Files executable. Launch the executable and follow the prompts to install the application. Note: Administrative permissions are required to install on your workstation.
| Installation Note: In some environments, mainly Windows 10, a reboot may be required after installation. This is necessary in order to properly load the file system driver to mount the Citrix Files drive. If the user chooses to skip the reboot, you may need to launch the application through the start menu. |
Once installed, log into your ShareFile account. After login, a new drive volume “Citrix Files” will appear on your machine. By default, this drive is S: but may be a different drive letter if S: is already in use. This drive will display all of your files and folders from your ShareFile account.
Basic Operations
| Operation | Description |
|---|---|
| Open and Edit | Open a file in your S: drive, make some edits and save. Your changes will automatically be saved back to your ShareFile account. |
| Upload | Drag a file or folder to the S: drive to upload. You may also perform a copy and paste to upload a file or folder. |
| Download | Drag a file or folder from the S: drive to your desktop or any other folder to download. You may also perform a copy and paste of files and folders to download. |
| Delete | Drag a file or folder to the trash. Although you will be warned that the file will be permanently deleted, items will be available in ShareFile’s Recycle Bin. |
| New Folder | Creates a new folder in your ShareFile account. |
Right Click Context Menu
Citrix Files integrates with the Windows Explorer context menu to give the application access to additional ShareFile options. Right click on a file or folder inside your S:\ to view the context menu options:
| Menu Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Share options | Available when you right click on a file or folder.
|
| Request Files | Available when you right-click on a folder, or within a folder when no files are selected.
|
| Open in Website | Opens up your default browser to the current folder location on the ShareFile website. |
| View Details | View advanced details of a file including file properties, previous versions, and notes. |
| Check Out | Check out a file. If the file is already checked-out, the Check-in option will appear. |
| Upload | Upload files or folders directly from your computer. Use this option if uploading a large file or a large number of files. |
| Download | Download files or folder to a specific location on your computer. Use this option if downloading a large file or a large number of files. |
| Add to Favorites | Add a file or folder to your Favorites folder. If a file or folder is already a Favorite, you will have the option to remove from Favorites. |
| Refresh Content | Manually refreshes the contents of a folder. Note: Folder contents should update automatically as remote changes are made, but you can use this function if you need to refresh manually. |
| Manage Folder Permissions | Allows you to manage access permissions for a folder. You can add/remove users to that folder or limit which operations they are allowed to perform. This context menu option is only available on Folders. |
Icon Overlays
Files and Folders will have an icon overlay representing the status of that item. The following defines what each icon overlay represents:
Accessing the Dashboard
You can access the dashboard by left clicking on the Citrix Files system tray icon. The dashboard will show you recently uploaded files. You can also access your Settings and other options by clicking the (…) in the top right corner of the dashboard.
Settings Menu
Access the Settings menu from the dashboard or by right-clicking on the ShareFile for Windows System Tray icon.
| Menu Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Cache size | ShareFile data is cached to the local disk of the user’s computer. You can specify the size of this cache or choose to clear the cache. |
| Drive Location | Uses S: as the default drive letter, but can be changed to other drive letters which are currently not in use. |
| Launch on Startup | Determines whether the application should launch automatically after logging onto the computer. |
| Log Out | Logs you out of your ShareFile account. Cached files will be deleted. |
| Reset App Settings | Restores the app settings such as share options to their original, default values. |
| Share Options | Configure share options including notifications and security options. |
Group Policy Definitions
Citrix Files includes policy definitions that can be used to push out settings and configuration via Group Policy (GPO). The .admx, .adml files are located at C:\Program Files\citrix\Citrix Files\PolicyDefinitions
To install:
- Copy the .admx file to c:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions and the \en-us\ .adml file to c:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\en-us\
- Open Group Policy Editor and the policy options will be available under:
- Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Citrix Files
- User Configuration → Administrative Templates → Citrix Files
| Setting | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Computer Configuration | |
| Enable Application | If unchecked, Citrix Files will exit before mounting any drives or displaying any UI. |
| Enable On Premise Connectors | If unchecked, Network Share, Sharepoint, and Documentum connectors will not be visible in Citrix Files.
|
| Enable Personal Cloud Connectors | If unchecked, Personal Cloud and Office 365 Connectors will not be visible in Citrix Files.
|
| Mount Point 1 – 10 | Mount a specific ShareFile folder as a network drive. See Mount Point section below for more info. |
| Enable Auto-update | If Enable Auto-Update is unchecked, Citrix Files will not automatically update to the latest version. |
| Delete Cache on Exit | If Delete Cache on Exit is checked, downloaded file contents will be removed when the application exits. |
| Cache Size | This policy controls how much disk space (in megabytes) to use for cached files. The minimum cache size is 0 MB and the maximum is 9999 MB. |
| Cache Location | This policy configures the location of the file content cache. By default, AppData\Local\Citrix\Citrix Files\PartCache. If a custom path is set, that folder must already exist. |
| User Configuration | |
| Account | This policy configures the account to use for Citrix Files. |
| Enable Application | If unchecked, Citrix Files will exit before mounting any drives or displaying any UI. |
| Excluded from Upload | File extensions that will not be saved back to ShareFile. These files can still be read and edited locally. |
Mount Points
Mount points allow you to specify a ShareFile folder to mount as a network drive. You can specify up to 10 mount points.
Mount points can be configured through group policy editor. See the Group Policy Definitions section for instructions on how to import the Citrix Files policy definitions.
To create a mount point, specify the ShareFile folder by the path to that folder, separated by the ‘\’ character. Example syntax of creating a mount point is below:
| Folder type | Example |
|---|---|
| Personal Folders | Personal Folders\<FolderName> |
| Shared Folders | Shared Folders\<FolderName>\<FolderName2> |
| Favorites | Favorites |
| Network Shares connector | Network Shares\<connector name> |
| SharePoint connector | SharePoint\<connector name> |
| Box connector | Personal Cloud\Box |
| Dropbox connector | Personal Cloud\Dropbox |
| Google Drive | Personal Cloud\Google Drive |
| One Drive | Personal Cloud\OneDrive |
| Office365 connectors | Office 365\<connector name> |
Known Issues
| Install | Uninstalling the Citrix Files App will remove the current logged in user’s local AppData, but will not remove any other user’s Citrix Files AppData on that machine. | Remove the C:\Users\lenny\AppData\Local\Citrix\ShareFile\SFWindows directory for each user. |
| Login | User may see ‘Failed to execute action’ on login dialog. | Attempt to clear the folder below and restart the app C:\Users\lenny\AppData\Local\Citrix\ShareFile\SFWindows |
| Explorer Integration | If creating or renaming a folder and the operation fails, it is possible that a duplicate folder name exists inside that folder but has not been granted access to your user to see. | Try to create or rename the folder to a different name. |
| Explorer Integration | Windows explorer performance may be degradated if browsing a folder containing a larger-sized .exe file. You can wait momentairly while Explorer will eventually respond. | n/a |
| Explorer Integration | Files are not displayed when browsing a long folder path exceeding 260 chars. | n/a |
| Explorer Integration | If changing drive letters for Citrix Files, the left navigation pane may not refresh to the new drive letter immediately. | If you navigate into “PC” folder and then navigate into your new Drive letter, the pane should update correctly. |
| File Operations | File or folder names starting with the ~ symbol cannot be uploaded. (#566) | n/a |
| File Operations | If copying a file to another folder, versions will not be copied over. This only applies to ‘copy’ operations, and not move. | n/a |
| Favorites | Favorite files are marked as read-only. | If needing to edit a file, open/edit it from the source location, rather than in the Favorites folder. |
| Open/ Edit | Editing a checked-out file may result in errors if the user does not have delete permission. | Give the user delete permissions for that particular folder, or do not check out the file and edit. |
| Connectors | Cannot favorite a folder inside a connector | n/a |
| Connectors | Mount point configured for OneDrive for Business sub-folder intermittently doesn’t load (#763) | Create the mount point to point to the root of the connector. Ex: Office 365\<connector name> |
| Icon Overlays | If Citrix Files is installed on same machine as ShareFile Sync, the overlay for Check-in/Check-out may not appear. | n/a |
For information click here