Citrix Files for Windows v4.3

Event

Citrix has release yesterday October 29th a new version of Citrix Files for Windows: 4.3.

Here after some information

How to enable Desktop App Betas for Citrix Files for Windows (Mac coming soon):

Administrators with the permission, “Access company account permissions” will have the ability to toggle Enable Desktop Apps Betas on / off. To do so the user needs to log into the ShareFile WebApp or Content Collaboration tile within Citrix Cloud, navigate to Admin Settings (or Manage if in Citrix Cloud) – Advanced Preferences – Enable ShareFile Tools. On that page they will see the ability to toggle beta features on / off. Note, this is account wide and is not a per user setting. Also note, Betas are toggled off by default for all Enterprise / Premium accounts and on by default for all other accounts.

User-added image

 

If an administrator enables Desktop Apps Betas, then the end users on that account will have the ability to enable betas for Citrix Files for Windows and Citrix Files for Mac. To take advantage of Offline Access, the end user needs to enable betas on their device. To do so, they would navigate to the Citrix Files Dashboard – select the ellipsis – select Preferences (if on Mac) / Settings (if on Windows). This will open a new window and the end user will need to toggle “Enable beta features” option under the “Account” heading. Note: once Enable beta features is turned on, the app needs to be restarted.

Citrix Files for Windows (requires build 4.3+):

User-added image

 

Citrix Files for Mac (requires build 4.3+):

Coming soon!

 

Current beta features:

Currently, Offline Access, i.e. sync, is in beta for Citrix Files for Windows and Citrix Files for Mac.

Offline access allows the end user to access folders and files that they designate as *Offline* when they are not connected to the internet. Users can make changes locally and when they re-connect to the internet, the changes are reflected in the Citrix Content Collaboration/ShareFile account. If a different user uploads new content to a folder that the original user has designated for *Offline* on their device, then the content is automatically taken offline on the original user’s device.

Offline access is configured at the file or folder level by each user and for each device. If a user configures a file or folder as offline on one device, the same file or folder is not offline on another device even when the same user is logged on.

How to use Offline Access

Citrix Files for Windows:

Once the Offline Access beta is enabled, end users will be able to right-click on a Folder / File and select Make available offline.

 

User-added image
User-added image

Once a file or folder is select for ‘Make Available Offline,’ upon a future right-click, you will have the option to select ‘Make Online’ which will bring the file or folder back to an online only experience.

User-added image

If a sync, downloading files to make them available offline, is in process, the end user will see the status of the process from the dashboard.

User-added image

Users may also pause / resume the sync process.

User-added image

 

Moving forward, end users are not able to set their ‘cache limit’ in the application UI. Instead, the application will default to 5 GB of cache space, however, admins can set a predefined cache limit through a Group Policy.

In the Citrix Files for Windows Settings UI, end users have the ability to Free Up Space. When clicked, Citrix Files for Windows will move any cached files  User-added image to an online only User-added imageexperience.
Note:
It will not move any files or folders you brought offline to an online only experience

User-added image

Citrix Files for Mac (Coming Soon)

Icons in File Explorer / Finder:

 

User-added image

 

 

Online-only files / folders don’t take up space on your computer. You see a cloud icon for each online-only file / folder in File Explorer, but the file / folder doesn’t download to your device until you access it. You can’t open online-only files / folders when your device isn’t connected to the Internet.

 

User-added image

 

 

 

 

Mixed state Folder occurs when you have some items within it are mixed across online-only, always offline and/or cached.

 

When you open an online-only file, it is download to your device and becomes a cached file. You can open cached files anytime, even without internet access. If you need to free up space, you can change the file back to online only. To do so just right-click the file and select ‘to be set’ or go to the Citrix Files dashboard – settings – free up space

 

User-added image

 

 

Only files or folders that you mark as “Make available offline” will have a green circle with the white check mark. These files or folders are downloaded to your device and are available offline. The bring these files or folders back to online-only, you need to right-click on the file or folder and select “Make available online”

 

User-added image

 

Sync (upload / download) is in progress

User-added image

 

The file is currently checked out

Unsupported scenarios:

  • When offline, Folder actions are not support, such as but not limited to, creating a new folder, moving a folder or renaming a folder.
  • If creating a new Folder and quickly going offline, moving files that that folder may fail. Once the client is brought back online, move operations to that folder will be successful.
  • Files or Folders marked for offline that fail to download will continue to have the Sync in progress overlay.
  • If there is no available disk space when attempting to make files offline, explorer may become unresponsive without any error notification.