About the Citrix Client for Mac OS X
This article applys to the following Citrix/Virtual Desktop clients: 
Overview
The Citrix client for Mac OS X allows to you connect to Virtual Desktop applications by clicking on manually configured icons for a given application straight from your Mac OS X Desktop. This differs from connecting to applications via the Citrix Client for Java. which is installed dynamically as a Java applet when you use the Virtual Desktop Web Interface. For a description of the differences between the two clients, see this article.
ICA Files
After you install the Citrix client for Mac OS X, application-specific files (called ICA files) can be created with the Citrix ICA Client Editor. The ICA files contain settings about which application you want to connect to via Virtual Desktop, your encryted username/password, desired screen size, color depth, etc. For Instructions on how to create ICA Files, see this article.
Default settings
Using the Citrix ICA Client Editor, you can specify global connection settings such as screen size and color depth that will apply to all Virtual Desktop connections. However, when creating ICA files, you can change individual setting so they are different than the defaults.
For example, if your default setting for color depth is "thousands of colors", all Virtual Desktop connections will launch using that setting by default. Sometimes, the default setting won't be appropriate for a certain application. If you were creating an ICA file that connects to Adobe Photoshop, for example, you could specify the setting "millions of colors" for color depth so only Photoshop opens with this setting.
Drive Mapping
By default, your \USER folder on the hard drive of your Mac is detected and mapped for you when you connect to a Virtual Desktop application. This means that if you click File | Save when you are in a Virtual Desktop application, a drive called "C$ on 'Client' (V:)" will appear. In your session on the Virtual Desktop server, the remote application sees your \USER folder as a kind of "virtual drive" that you can save documents to just like it was a drive on the server. You may also define other folders or drives on your Mac as mapped drives in addition to your \USER folder. This is done using the Citrix ICA Client Editor. See this article for more details.
Key Features
- Seamless Windows: This feature is new with version 10 of the Citrix client for Mac OS X. Seamless Windows may be selected in the setting for screen resolution instead of a set value like 1280 x 1024. This means that you can dynamically resize remote application windows just like any other window on your Mac. If a finite screen resolution is selected, you may not resize the remote window past that resolution. If you resize the window to a smaller area than the set resolution, you will get "scroll bars" on the right and bottom of the remote window.
- More robust printer mapping: The Citrix Client for Mac OS X will duplicate the printers that you have installed on your Mac in your remote session. When working in a Virtual Desktop application, your printer will appear as "Mac Printer from (iowa\{your HawkID} in session X". Unlike the Citrix Client for Java, USB printers that are attached directly to your Mac are accessible as well.
- Easier Access to Virtual Desktop applications: The pre-configured ICA Files you create on your Mac desktop provide quick access to remote applications. To the Citrix client for Java, you would need to browse to the Virtual Desktop Web Interface website, log in and find the desired application. This makes the Citrix client for Mac OS X more suitable for users who frequently connect to a smaller number of applications.
More Information
For instructions on installing and using the Citrix client for Mac OS X, see the applicable section on the main Virtual Desktop Documentation page.
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Last Updated: 04/24/2008