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Starting Qlik Sense Desktop

You start Qlik Sense Desktop from the Start menu under the Qlik Sense program group.

Before you can start using Qlik Sense Desktop, you need to authenticate yourself against a Qlik Sense Enterprise server. You need to have a working network connection to enable authentication.

After you have been authenticated once, internet access is not required to continue using Qlik Sense Desktop. However, you have to re-authenticate yourself if thirty days have passed since you last authenticated, if you have logged out, or if your administrator has revoked your user access for Qlik Sense Enterprise server. If you are using SAML authentication and close the browser, the session ends and the cookie is deleted so you must re-authenticate yourself to start a new session.

Information noteQlik Sense Desktop runs in the language of your operating system and the language cannot be altered, unless you open and run Qlik Sense Desktop in a web browser.

Authenticating against Qlik Sense SaaS

You can authenticate your Qlik Sense Desktop client against Qlik Sense SaaS. To do so, you must generate an authentication link.

How to Authenticate Qlik Sense Desktop with Qlik Sense SaaS

Download and authenticate Qlik Sense Desktop

  1. Open the hub. For more information about the hub, see The hub in Qlik Sense Desktop.

  2. Click your profile in the top right corner and select Profile settings.

  3. Under Other, select Tools.

  4. Under Qlik Sense Desktop, click Download to download Qlik Sense Desktop.

  5. Install Qlik Sense Desktop.
  6. Click Authenticate to add a server authentication link to your Qlik Sense Desktop installation. You can then click on that link in Qlik Sense Desktop to authenticate.

Authenticating against Qlik Sense Enterprise server

If you have user access for Qlik Sense Enterprise, you can authenticate against the Qlik Sense Enterprise server when you start Qlik Sense Desktop.

Before you can authenticate, the Qlik Sense Enterprise authentication link must be generated by your administrator in the Qlik Management Console.

Your Qlik Sense administrator will provide you with information about how you can receive the link using one of the following methods:

  • Retrieving the client authentication link from your Qlik Sense Enterprise hub .
  • Receiving the client authentication link from your administrator.
  • Receiving a hubs.ini file from your administrator that contains the authentication link.

Qlik Sense Desktop must be installed on your computer before you start any of the following procedures.

Information noteClient authentication is not supported on test servers.

Retrieving a client authentication link from the Qlik Sense Enterprise hub

  1. Start Qlik Sense Enterprise.
  2. Click More in the top toolbar of the hub, and then click Client authentication.
  3. A dialog box opens asking you to confirm that you want to open the authentication link using the Qlik Sense. Confirm the dialog.

    Qlik Sense Desktop opens and a new authentication button for the enterprise server is added to the welcome page under Authenticate against Qlik Sense Enterprise.

  4. Click the authentication button to log in. You may be asked to enter your Qlik Sense Enterprise credentials.

    You are now authenticated and Qlik Sense Desktop opens.

After this, when you launch Qlik Sense Desktop, you can click the authentication button and log in using your Qlik Sense Enterprise credentials.

Receiving the client authentication link from your administrator

  1. Click the authentication link provided by your Qlik Sense administrator.

    If you cannot click the link, copy the link into your browser and press return.

    If you are using Google Chrome, you must select the link option from the address bar that does not say Google Search.

    Google Chrome adress bar with link options.

  2. A dialog box opens asking you to confirm that you want to open the authentication link using the Qlik Sense. Confirm the dialog.

    Qlik Sense Desktop opens and the authentication link is added to the welcome page under Authenticate against Qlik Sense Enterprise.

  3. Click the authentication link. You may be asked to enter your Qlik Sense Enterprise credentials.

    You are now authenticated and Qlik Sense Desktop opens.

After this, when you launch Qlik Sense Desktop, you can click the authentication button and log in using your Qlik Sense Enterprise credentials.

Receiving a hubs.ini file from your administrator

  1. Copy the hubs.ini file that was provided to you by your administrator to the following location: C:\Users\<user name>\Documents\Qlik\Sense\Hubs\.

    The next time that you launch Qlik Sense Desktop, an authentication link will be added to the welcome page under Authenticate against Qlik Sense Enterprise.

  2. Click on the authentication link. You may be asked to enter your Qlik Sense Enterprise credentials.

    You are now authenticated and Qlik Sense Desktop opens.

After this, when you launch Qlik Sense Desktop, you can click the authentication button and log in using your Qlik Sense Enterprise credentials.

Logging out

You can choose to log out from Qlik Sense Desktop.

  • Click User and then click Log out in the pop-up menu.

Opening Qlik Sense Desktop in a web browser

By default, Qlik Sense Desktop runs in a window of its own. But you can also open it in a web browser.

You must log in using Qlik Sense Desktop before you can open it in a web browser.

  1. Start Qlik Sense Desktop from the start menu.
  2. Open a (supported) web browser.
  3. Type http://localhost:4848/hub in the browser address bar.

Qlik Sense Desktop opens in the web browser, showing the hub with all your apps.

Information note

You can now alter the language of Qlik Sense Desktop. For more information, see Changing language in Qlik Sense.

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