Desktop app

The Crewhall desktop app for Windows and macOS opens your organization's Crewhall in its own window. On top of what the web app does, it shows native notifications, keeps an unread count in the tray, opens crewhall:// links and syncs Drive folders with your computer.

Download and install​

1. In Crewhall, open My account › Security.
2. In the Desktop app card, select Download for Windows or Download for macOS.
3. Run the downloaded installer.

The sign-in page also has a Download the desktop app link. Both appear only when your organization's server offers a desktop release; if you do not see them, ask your admin.

The current builds are distributed without a code signature:

• Windows: SmartScreen may warn on the first install. Select More info, then Run anyway.
• macOS: the first time you open the app, right-click it and choose Open.

Connect to your organization​

On first launch the app asks for your organization's address.

1. Enter the Server address, for example work.example.com, and select Continue.
2. Check the organization name and logo, then select Connect.
3. Sign in as you do on the web. See Getting started.

To switch to another server later, open Settings › General and select Change server. This removes your synced folder pairs, but it does not delete local files.

If the server cannot be reached, the app shows Server unreachable with Try again and Change server.

Settings​

Open Settings… from the tray menu (on macOS, also from the app menu). It has three tabs: General, File sync and About.

Notifications and calls​

With Desktop notifications turned on in Settings › General, messages, mentions and calls appear as system notifications. While the Crewhall window is in front, they appear inside the app instead.

You can act on a notification without opening the app:

• Messages: write a reply in the notification, or select Mark as read.
• Meetings: Join.
• Calls: Answer or Decline. An incoming call also brings the window to the front, and on Windows the taskbar button flashes.

Choose which kinds reach the desktop in the Desktop column of My account › Notifications.

Tray and unread badge​

The app keeps an icon in the tray (the menu bar on macOS) and shows an unread count: chats with unread messages plus other unread notifications.

• Windows: a number on the taskbar icon and a dot on the tray icon.
• macOS: a badge on the Dock icon and a number in the menu bar.

The tray menu has Open, Back to home, Sync now, Settings…, Start when I sign in, Install update and restart (when an update is ready) and Quit. With Start when I sign in on, the app opens in the background when you log in to your computer.

Links and shortcuts​

• crewhall:// links open a page of your Crewhall server in the app. For example, crewhall://chat/… opens a chat. A crewhall://connect?server=work.example.com link sets up a server and asks before switching. These links never open another site.
• Global shortcut: Ctrl Shift Y (⌘ Shift Y on macOS) brings Crewhall to the front from any program. Change or turn it off in Settings › General › Shortcut that opens Crewhall. If another program already uses the keys you pick, your old shortcut stays.
• New window: middle-click or Ctrl-click a link, or right-click it and choose Open in new window.
• Meetings open in a separate window, so you can keep working in the main one.

On Windows, File Explorer menus in Settings › General adds Upload to Crewhall to the right-click menu of files and folders, and Crewhall to the Send to menu.

Sync Drive folders​

The app can sync a Drive folder both ways with a folder on your computer.

1. Open Settings › File sync and select Add folder.
2. Choose a space, then a Drive folder, or Whole space. Select Sync this folder.
3. Select Choose a folder on this computer… and pick the local folder.

Sync runs when the app starts, when a file changes on either side and every five minutes. Each pair shows its state (Up to date, Syncing, Paused, Error) and has Pause, Sync now, Open folder and Remove pair. Removing a pair leaves the files on both sides.

• If a file changes on both sides, both copies are kept. The local one is marked as a conflicted copy.
• Deleted items go to the trash in Drive and to the trash or Recycle Bin on your computer.
• If a sync would delete a large number of items at once, it stops and waits until you select Confirm delete.
• Pages, boards and drawings are not synced. Items with names your system does not allow are skipped and listed in the settings.
• In a space where you can only view, local changes are not uploaded.

Virtual drive (Windows)​

On Windows, Settings › File sync can also turn on a Virtual drive. Your spaces appear as folders inside one folder, %USERPROFILE%\Crewhall by default. Files take no room until you open them; the first time you open a file, all of it downloads. The folder you choose must be empty and must not overlap a synced folder.

Turning the virtual drive off deletes the copies on your computer, except changes that are not uploaded yet. Files on the server stay where they are. If you do not see the option, your server does not support it yet.

Updates​

Windows: the app downloads updates from your organization's server by itself. When an update is ready, a notification says it will be installed when you restart. To install it at once, choose Install update and restart in the tray, or Restart and install in Settings › About. Check for updates in the same tab checks right away.

macOS: because the macOS build is not signed, it does not update itself. Download each new version from My account › Security › Desktop app and install it over the old one.