

# Session guidance for Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser
<a name="session-guidance"></a>

After you sign into the web portal, you can launch a session and perform various actions during your session.

**Topics**
+ [Starting a session in Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser](start-session.md)
+ [Using the toolbar in Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser](use-toolbar.md)
+ [Using the browser in Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser](use-browser.md)
+ [Ending a session in Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser](end-session.md)

# Starting a session in Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser
<a name="start-session"></a>

After you sign in to launch a session, you will see the **Launching session** message and progress bar. This indicates that Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser is creating a session for you. Behind the scenes, Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser is creating the instance, launching the managed web browser, and applying administrator settings and browser policies. 

If this is your first time signing into your web portal, you will see blue **\$1** icons in the toolbar. This icon indicates that a tutorial is available, which will guide through the available features in the toolbar. You can use these icons to learn how to:
+ Allow browser permissions for the microphone, webcam, and clipboard, by selecting the lock icon next to your local browser, and setting the switch to **On** next to the clipboard, microphone, and camera.
**Note**  
When you enable webcam permissions at the start of your first session, the webcam is briefly enabled and a light on your computer will flash. This grants local browser access to your webcam.
+ Enable Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser to launch additional monitor windows, by selecting the lock icon in your browser and the setting to **Always allow pop-ups**.

If you ever want to re-launch a tutorial, you can choose **Profile** from the toolbar, **Help**, and **Launch tutorial**.

# Using the toolbar in Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser
<a name="use-toolbar"></a>

To learn how to use the toolbar, follow these steps.

To move the toolbar, select the lighter bar in the top section of the tool bar, drag it to your desired location, then release it to drop it. 

To collapse the toolbar, hover over it, and select the up-arrow button, or double-click the lighter bar in the top section. The collapsed view provides you with more screen real estate, and one-click access to the most commonly used icons. 

To increase the size of the display, select the browser window and zoom in. To increase the display size of the toolbar icons and text, select the toolbar and zoom in. 

To zoom in or out on a Windows device, follow these steps:

1. Select the toolbar or web content.

1. Press **Ctrl** \$1 **\$1** to zoom in, or press **Ctrl** \$1 **-** to zoom out.

To zoom in or out on a Mac device, follow these steps:

1. Select the toolbar or web content.

1. Press **Cmd** \$1 **\$1** to zoom in, or press **Cmd** \$1 **-** to zoom out.

To dock the toolbar to the top of the screen, choose **Preferences**, **General**, and **Docked** under **Toolbar mode**.

The following table includes a description of all the available icons in the toolbar:

![\[WorkSpaces Secure Browser architecure\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/workspaces-web/latest/adminguide/images/toolbar-icons-new.PNG)


**Note**  
The Clipboard and Files icons are hidden by default, unless your administrator grants these permissions. Only administrators can enable or disable clipboard and files on a web portal. If these icons are hidden and you need to access them, contact your administrator.

# Using the browser in Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser
<a name="use-browser"></a>

When you start your session, the browser displays the **Startup URL**, which is a URL chosen by your administrator. If administrator hasn't chosen a **Startup URL**, you will see the default new tab experience from Google Chrome. 

From the browser, you can open tabs, launch additional browser windows (from the Windows toolbar icon or the browser's triple dot menu), enter a URL or search in the URL bar, or go to websites from managed bookmarks. To access bookmarks for the web portal, open the **Managed Bookmarks** folder on the bookmarks bar (beneath the URL bar), or open the bookmarks manager from the triple dot menu on the right side of the URL bar. 

To resize or move the browser window, drag down the Chrome tab strip. This allows more screen real estate for multiple browser windows during the session. 

**Note**  
Browser features, such as Incognito mode, might not be available during your session if your administrator has turned them off. 

# Ending a session in Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser
<a name="end-session"></a>

To end a session, choose **Profile** and **End session**. After a session ends, Amazon WorkSpaces Secure Browser deletes all of the data from the session. No browser data, such as open websites or history, or files or data from File Explorer are available after a session ends.

If you close a tab during an active session, the session ends after a period of time set by your administrator. If you close the tab and revisit the web portal before this timeout takes effect, you can join the current session and see all of your previous session data, such as open websites and files.