Introducing the new Microsoft Remote Desktop Preview app for Mac

First published on CloudBlogs on Aug 11, 2015
Hi everyone, this is Ayesha Mascarenhas from the Remote Desktop team. Today, I would like to tell you about the preview of the Microsoft Remote Desktop app for Mac. Those of you using Mac devices today may already be familiar with the Remote Desktop app for Mac. The Remote Desktop Beta app released today is a separate application with a brand-new user interface design and new features. The Remote Desktop team is looking forward to our users test driving this new application and providing us feedback. How should you decide which app to use? The Microsoft Remote Desktop app for Mac available in the Mac App Store and updated regularly, is our fully tested and fully featured application. It supports connecting to desktops, remote resources and Azure RemoteApp. This is the app you should use in a live operating environment . The Microsoft Remote Desktop Beta app for Mac is a pre-release app available on HockeyApp (see instructions on how to install the app from HockeyApp in the section in this post on Installation and Checking for updates). The pre-release app showcases the new user interface design and features we would like to receive your feedback on. This app does not have all the features that the release version has, and will not have the release level of product support. You may share your feedback with us in multiple ways. Rate and review the application from within, report issues or request new features from within the app. What’s new in the pre-release app The Beta app currently supports connections to desktops only. It introduces the following features

• A new user interface
• Improved management of user accounts
• Ability to use both CMD X/C/V and CTRL X/C/V to cut/copy/paste with the remote session

Experience the new user interface design When you launch the Beta app, you will notice a fresh new look and feel.

• Connection center - The connection center is the starting point of the app and allows you to easily find and manage the desktops that you want to connect to.
  • Click the Add button (+) to add a new desktop
  • Double click on a desktop tile to connect to it
  • Hover over a desktop tile to see the edit button or simply right click on a tile to see options to edit, duplicate or remove the tile
  

Figure 1: The new connection center.

• Preferences – This is where you can manage global settings that can be applied across all desktops. Go here to
  • Turn off desktop previews in the connection center
  • Manage your user accounts

Improved management of user accounts With the Beta app, you can now manage user accounts easily with the ability to save a user account once, and use this saved user account across multiple desktop connections. You can add a new user account by going to Preferences and selecting ‘Accounts’. Figure 2: Adding a new user account You can also add a new user account or choose a previously saved user account while adding a new desktop connection. Desktop connections Within a remote session, the Beta app introduces the following improvements

• Ability to use both CMD X/C/V and CTRL X/C/V interchangeably to cut/copy/paste within the remote session

In addition to the above, the Beta app continues to support the following features of the release version of our app

• Connecting to local desktops with a single monitor
• Seamless audio and video streaming

Installation and checking for updates

• Installation – Click the download button here to download the Remote Desktop Beta app (it is not necessary to sign in to HockeyApp to download the Beta app)
• Check for Updates - Use this option to check for updates that we make available to the Beta app.

Figure 3: Option to check for updates Share your feedback Figure 4: Options to share your feedback There are multiple ways for you to share your feedback on your experience with the Beta app:

• Rate the app – use this option to give the app a star rating and to send us your comments just like you would on any App Store.
• Recommend new Features – use this option to propose new features on our User Voice site . Posting requests here lets other users also vote on the feature so we can understand the broader need for the feature.
• Report an issue – use this option to report bugs or issues you are running into. The interface to report an issue allows you to submit your name and email ID. Keep in mind however that these fields are optional. You can submit feedback and issues through this option without entering your personal contact information.

Try it now I encourage you to download the Beta app today and test the experience on your Mac device. This is only the beginning! Keep an eye out for future updates where we will add additional features and experiences including support for Multiple monitors, Clipboard redirection, Remote Desktop Gateway, Remote Resources (RemoteApp and Desktop Connections), and Azure RemoteApp preview. Want to use Remote Desktop on your other devices? Check out the Microsoft Remote Desktop apps for Windows 10 Universal Windows platform (Preview), Windows 8.1 , Windows Phone , iOS , Mac OS X and Android . Note: Questions and comments are welcome. However, please DO NOT post a request for troubleshooting by using the comment tool at the end of this post. Instead, use the in-app option to report an issue on the Beta app . To report an issue on any other of our Remote Desktop apps, start a new thread in the Remote Desktop clients forum . Thank you!