Application Groups

In this section:

About Application Groups
Add an Application Group
Add Existing Applications to an Application Group
Add a New Application to an Application Group from Application Data Collection (Automatic)
Add a New Application to an Application Group from Application Data Collection (Manual)
Add a New Application by Name to an Application Group

About Application Groups

Applications that use common registry keys, files or folders can be added to an Application Group and managed as a single group for personalization. This helps ensure consistency across all applications within that group. An Application Group may consist of only one executable - this enables applications to be quickly added to the group in the future as required. When creating an application in Environment Manager, options are available to add it to a new or to an existing Application Group.

Inclusions and exclusions must be set at Application Group level and scope can be viewed and managed from different tabs in the Application Group work area. Refer to Application Inclusions and Exclusions.

Note that Personalization settings are only synchronized with the Personalization Server when:

the initial application in the group is opened
the last application in the group is closed

For example, if all Microsoft Office applications are managed within one group and Outlook, Word and Excel are opened in that sequence, synchronization occurs once when Outlook is opened. If Word, Outlook and Excel are closed in that sequence, synchronization occurs only when Excel is closed. See also Application Group Properties.

Applications in a standard Application Group share the same virtual cache and so do not exist in the file system or registry directly. See Application Personalization.

Certain executables may not work reliably when using standard virtualization - such as those dependent on integrated applications’ settings (the calendar functions for Microsoft Teams for example). In this circumstance, a non-virtualized Application Group (or NVAG) should be considered as an alternative personalization solution. NVAG enables personalization when PVC is disabled. Refer to About PVC virtualization for further information

Add an Application Group

In the User Personalization navigation tree, select Personalization Settings > Application Personalization > Application Group.
In the Personalization ribbon, click Add Application Group.

The Add Application dialog displays.
Enter a name for the Application Group. Application Groups must not have the same name as existing applications or Application Groups.
Click OK.
The Application Group is created in the navigation pane.

Add Existing Applications to an Application Group

In the User Personalization navigation tree, select Personalization Settings > Application Personalization > Application Group.
Select an application group.
From the Personalization ribbon, click Add Application > Select Application.

The Select Applications dialog displays.
Select the required applications. Multiple applications can be selected using the Ctrl or Shift keys.
Click OK.

The selected applications are added to the Application Group.

Add a New Application to an Application Group from Application Data Collection (Automatic)

In the User Personalization navigation tree, select Personalization Settings > Application Personalization > Application Groups.
Select an application group.
From the Personalization ribbon, click Add Application > Select Application.

The Select Applications dialog displays.
Click New > From Application Data Collection.

The Add Application - Data Collection dialog displays. The dialog lists applications that have been collected by Application Data Collection.
Select one of the following radio buttons to target specific application versions:
- Use Major Application Version - Applications are grouped by their major version number. For example, 5.0 and 5.1 are grouped together, but 6.0 is separate.
- Use All Application Versions - Applications are grouped, regardless of their version number. For example, 5.0, 5.1 and 6.0 are grouped together.
Select an application from the list.
Click View automatic configuration details.

A read-only copy of the configuration displays.
From the snapshot taken at each application close, the following statistics are calculated and displayed alongside each registry key or folder path for all users that have run the application:
- Occurrences - The total number of times that the registry path or folder path has been accessed by the application.
- Average Size - The average size of the data in the registry key or folder from each application close. For example, a size of 100 bytes at the first application close and a size of 200 bytes at the second application close displays as an average size of 150 bytes.
- Peak Size - The largest recorded size of the data in the registry key or folder from each application close. For example, a size of 100 bytes at the first application close and a size of 200 bytes at the second application close displays as a peak size of 200 bytes.
The cumulative sizes of the Average Size and Peak Size displays at the bottom of the dialog. This information shows the potential profile size per user if the application is personalized.
Click Done to close the automatic configuration view.

The automatic configuration closes.
Click OK.

The Enter Details dialog displays.
In the Name field, enter a name to uniquely identify the application within the Environment Manager console. Applications must not have the same name as existing applications or Application Groups.
Click OK.
Select the new application in the list and click OK.

The application is created and added to the Application Group.

Add a New Application to an Application Group from Application Data Collection (Manual)

In the User Personalization navigation tree, select Personalization Settings > Application Personalization > Application Group.
Select an application group.
From the Personalization ribbon, click Add Application > Select Application from the Personalization ribbon.

The Select Applications dialog displays.

Click New > From Application Data Collection.

The Add Application - Data Collection dialog displays. The dialog lists applications that have been collected by Application Data Collection.

Select one of the following radio buttons to target specific application versions:
Use Major Application Version - Applications are grouped by their major version number. For example, 5.0 and 5.1 are grouped together, but 6.0 is separate.
Use All Application Versions - Applications are grouped, regardless of their version number. For example, 5.0, 5.1 and 6.0 are grouped together.
Tick No, I want to configure this application manually (advanced).
Click Configure.

The dialog lists all registry keys and folder paths which have been collected by Application Data Collection for the selected application.

From the snapshot taken at each application close, the following statistics are calculated and displayed alongside each registry key or folder path for all users that have run the application:
- Occurrences - The total number of times that the registry path or folder path has been accessed by the application.
- Average Size - The average size of the data in the registry key or folder from each application close. For example, a size of 100 bytes at the first application close and a size of 200 bytes at the second application close displays as an average size of 150 bytes.
- Peak Size - The largest recorded size of the data in the registry key or folder from each application close. For example, a size of 100 bytes at the first application close and a size of 200 bytes at the second application close displays as a peak size of 200 bytes.
If required, tick Hide paths which are rarely personalized to filter out paths which are not recommended for inclusion.
Tick the registry and folder paths to be added as inclusions for the Application Group.
As paths are selected and deselected, the Application Profile Size updates with the cumulative sizes of the Average Size and Peak Size for the selected paths. This information shows the potential profile size per user if the application is personalized.
Click OK.

The Enter Details dialog displays.

In the Name field, enter a name to uniquely identify the application within the Environment Manager console. Applications must not have the same name as existing applications or Application Groups.
Click OK.

The application is created and is listed in the Select Applications dialog.

Select the new application in the list and click OK.

The application is added to the Application Group.

Add a New Application by Name to an Application Group

In the User Personalization navigation tree, select Personalization Settings > Application Personalization > Application Groups.
Select an application group.
From the Personalization ribbon, click Add Application > Select Application from the Personalization ribbon.

The Select Applications displays.
Click New > By Name.
In the Application field, enter an application executable name or click the ellipsis (...) to select an application from the file system.
Optionally, in the Folder field, enter a folder path or click the ellipsis to select a folder from the file system. The application is managed only if it is located in the specified folder.

If the field is left blank, all applications matching the entered criteria are managed, regardless of location.
In the Name field, enter a name to uniquely identify the application within the Environment Manager console. Applications must not have the same name as existing applications or Application Groups.
Optionally, in the Operating System and Application Version fields, specify regular expressions to target a specific operating system or application version. Alternatively, use the .* default regular expression to include all operating systems and application versions.

The specified combination of executable name, operating system and application version must not match existing applications.
Click OK.

The application is created and is listed in the Select Applications dialog.
Select the new application in the list and click OK.