The workspace
Folders, computers and connections, how settings are inherited, and how to bring in what you already have.
Three kinds of thing
| In the tree | What it is |
|---|---|
| Folder | A place to keep computers and other folders. A site, a customer, an environment. |
| Computer | One machine, with its host name or address. It can be marked as production, and is then labelled PROD wherever it appears. |
| Connection | One way of reaching a computer: a protocol, a port, the settings for it, and the name of the credential to use. A computer can have several. |
Building it
- New folder: point at WORKSPACE in the Explorer and choose the folder button, or press Ctrl Shift N.
- New computer in a folder, or new connection on a computer: point at the row and choose +, or select the row and press Insert.
- Edit: F2. Delete: Delete.
- Everything is also in the row's right-click menu, and in the File and Edit menus.
Before anything is deleted, PluggedDesk tells you what goes with it: "folder Customers and 1 subfolder, 2 computers, 3 connections". Deleting closes the tabs of what was deleted.
Settings are inherited
A setting can be made at any level. The most specific one wins:
- what PluggedDesk starts from (the secure defaults);
- the workspace as a whole;
- the folder, and each folder inside it;
- the computer;
- the connection;
- your own override, which is kept for you only and changes nothing in the workspace;
- a choice made for one session, such as a resolution picked from the session's toolbar.
So a rule that belongs to a whole site is set once, on its folder. The properties pane (Alt Enter) shows every setting with where its value comes from. A setting that your platform or the engine does not support is not shown, and the pane says how many are hidden.
Save to connection writes a change into the workspace. Keep as my override keeps it for you alone.
Finding things
- Favourites and Recent are above the tree. Right-click a row to add it to your favourites.
- The filter above the tree narrows it as you type (Ctrl F).
- Ctrl K searches everything and opens what you choose.
- Quick connect in the title bar (Ctrl L) takes
host,host:portor anrdp://address. If the workspace already has a connection to that host and port, that one opens. Otherwise the computer is added to a folder called Quick Connect, where you can rename it or delete it like anything else.
Importing .rdp files
Right-click a folder and choose Import .rdp…. Each file becomes a computer and a connection in that folder.
An .rdp file can carry a saved password, encrypted for the Windows account that saved it. PluggedDesk drops every
one of them, and tells you how many it dropped. A password belongs in the vault, not in a file that is copied about.
The workspace file
The workspace is one file: %APPDATA%\PluggedDesk\workspace.json. It holds the structure, the settings and the names
of credentials. It never holds a secret, so it can be backed up, compared and copied to another computer.
- It is rewritten on every change: written beside itself first, then moved into place, so a crash cannot leave half a file.
- If the file cannot be read when PluggedDesk starts, it is moved aside, never overwritten, and the status bar says so.
- There is no undo beyond editing again.
Your favourites, your recents, your overrides and the layout of your window are kept separately, in personal.db in the
same folder. They are yours, and are not part of the workspace.
What it does not do yet
- A workspace shared by a team. Today, sharing is copying the file.
- Moving a row by dragging it in the tree.
- Connection templates.