Amid the hustle and bustle of the final preparations for Christmas, Citrix has an early gift for you.

The Citrix Receiver team has been working closely with our customers to deliver a secure, flexible, and reliable experience with Citrix Receiver for Chrome and HTML5. Taking note of the feedback we got from you, we are happy to announce that we have released the latest upgrade of Citrix Receiver for Chrome and HTML5 2.6. We are adding more value rapidly while continuing to simplify the user  experience.

Let’s take a look inside Citrix Santa’s pack to see what’s in store!

Full screen mode in Public session:

We now support Citrix Receiver for Chrome in full-screen mode for published desktop and applications inside a public session. You need to push a full-screen policy via Google Chrome management to mandate the session open in full screen mode by default. If you do not apply policy for full-screen mode, the desktop session will open in windowed mode but you can change it to full-screen after logging inside the session.

Multi-monitor in Public session for Citrix Receiver for Chrome

As multi-monitor is hugely popular in the enterprise for boosting productivity and multitasking, we are excited to bring this capability to you. We are happy to say that we now support nulti-monitor in public sessions. As soon as you click the full-screen button on Citrix toolbar or session full-screen mode, the desktop session spans over both the monitors and you can multitask, even in public session.

In the image below, you can see a XenDesktop session now opened across dual monitors inside a public session and we have opened the public session in full-screen mode.

Access multiple stores:

To increase productivity for our customers, we have made changes in Citrix Receiver for Chrome so you can now use multiple stores without restarting the application or logging off existing open sessions. You can log in with one store id and user credentials and open the published applications and desktop. Now, if you want to access published apps and desktops from a different store id, all you need to do is open settings for Citrix receiver for Chrome without closing existing sessions and enter a new store id, authenticate with your credentials and then open published applications and desktops through the second store. You can now work seamlessly on all the sessions opened through both the storefronts without logging off or restarting the Citrix receiver.

HDX SDK v2

The HDX SDK allows a third-party Chrome app to launch XenApp and XenDesktop sessions with control and security restrictions. This API enables the healthcare partners to build a tap-n-go experience with the Citrix Receiver on Chromebook. We have had multiple updates since releasing this SDK, which not only helped improve the overall reliability and supportability of the solution, but also added significant new value to our customers. With the help of our strategic partner ‘Google’ we can now support HDX SDK in user session, public session and in KIOSK mode. More information on the SDK is available here; try it and share your feedback with us.

VC SDK v2

The Citrix Virtual Channel Software Development Kit (VCSDK) allows our partners and customers to write host-side applications and Citrix Receiver-side drivers to support additional virtual channels using the Citrix ICA protocol. We have enhanced our VC SDK for Citrix receiver for Chrome to support Kiosk mode as well.

You can now implement VC SDK in conjunction with HDX SDK. To find out more about the collaboration, visit here.

In previous versions of Citrix Receiver for Chrome, to check out the version number, you had to log in inside the session, but now you can just click on the settings icon and view the version number for Citrix receiver for chrome. This helps during the troubleshooting of an issue to quickly find the version number of Citrix Receiver.

In the image  below, you can see the version number in the settings page for Citrix Receiver for Chrome:

Keyboard enhancement for Linux VDA

Citrix Receiver for HTML5 and Linux VDA is becoming a popular combination for the secure browser use case. In order to enhance the user experience for the non-English users, we have enhanced support for the keyboard combinations specific to AltGr, Shift, and Control to handle local languages supported by Citrix Receiver for HTML5. We have also enhanced the Citrix Receiver for Chrome keyboard combinations. 

Custom Cursor:

To give a consistent experience across all the browsers using Citrix Receiver for HTML5, we are now supporting custom cursor on Microsoft Internet Explorer. Earlier, we would show native cursor even if the published application or an application inside a published desktop had a custom cursor. With this feature, the published application will show the custom cursor, thereby giving the user a local like experience. To know more about this feature, refer to the product documentation.

In the image below, you’ll note that before implementing Custom Cursor for Citrix Receiver for HTML5 on IE, that the pencil cursor in MS Paint is replaced by the generic mouse pointer cursor:

After implementing Custom Cursor for Citrix Receiver for HTML5 on IE: In the attached image, you can see that the pencil cursor in MS Paint is now displayed.

In the image below, you can see the difference which shows before implementing Custom Cursor for Citrix Receiver for HTML5 and after implementing custom cursor. You can see in the first image, that the pencil cursor in MS Paint is replaced by generic mouse pointer cursor and in the second image, you can see that the pencil cursor in MS Paint is now displayed.

Citrix Receiver for Chrome and HTML5 Configuration Utility tool

Configuring Citrix Receiver per your needs can be a little tedious at times. In addition, there is a possibility of making human errors. We have taken conscious effort to make configuring Citrix Receiver for Chrome and HTML5 as per your needs, simpler, quicker and error-free. We have created a new Configuration Utility for Citrix receiver for HTML5 and Chrome. To find out more about configuring Citrix Receiver for Chrome and HTML5 read the blog this blog post and to learn more about the utility tool, read this blog post, as well as this Knowledge Base article, which describes step-by-step implementation.

With this Configuration Utility, you do not need to remember the format or the nitty gritty of the configuration format or look around for the steps to apply it. Our team has provided a one-stop solution where you can simply select the type of configuration method, choose a Receiver, and proceed with the customization. It’s that simple. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Receiver for Chrome 2.6 is now available in the Google Chrome Web Store and on the Citrix downloads page for admins to customize and deploy using Chrome device management.

Also, don’t forget to update your Receiver for HTML5 on StoreFront to take advantage mentioned above. Receiver for HTML5 2.6 is available here.

Thank you for using Citrix Receiver for Chrome and HTML5! We welcome your suggestions and feedback in the comments section below.