Apps Launcher: How do I add apps to the Apps tab?

Table of Contents

Overview

Set up Apps & links

My links

Analytics

Overview

Simpplr allows you to customize your Apps Launcher by adding your organization's most commonly used applications directly to your Simpplr Home dashboard. If allowed by the app manager, end users can also add their own links or favorite existing links via the My links tab.

Begin by adding custom JSON to your Simpplr intranet. To do so: 

1. Navigate to Manage > Apps & links.
   
   
2. Select Custom JSON from the dropdown.
3. Enter your custom JSON code in the box. Below is a sample of what your code should look like. Copy & paste this into the box, or download the attachment at the bottom of this article to use as your template. 

   [{    "name": "Google Mail",    "url": "http://google.com",    "img": "https://www.abc.xyz/text.jpg"}, {    "name": "Google",    "url": "http://google.com",    "img": "https://www.abc.xyz/googleicon.jpg"}, {    "name": "Simpplr",    "url": "http://simpplr.com",    "img": "https://www.abc.xyz/simpplricon.jpg"}, {    "name": "Another App",    "url": "http://google.com",    "img": "https://www.abc.xyz/icon.jpg"}, {    "name": "Workday",    "url": "http://workday.com",    "img": "https://www.abc.xyz/workdayicon.jpg"}]

4. Replace the "name" and "url" components with your own app name(s). For example, if you user Microsoft 365, your line of code may look like this: {
   "name": "Microsoft 365",
   
   "url": "https://office.com",
   
   "img": "https://affinityit.co.uk/uploads/images/content/_large/Microsoft_365_-_New_Website.png"
   
   },
5. When replacing the "img" component to show the app's logo/icon, you'll want to make sure you're hosting the image file on a dedicated server. This will allow you to copy the image endpoint and enter it into your JSON. If the image source file is already hosted on a platform, simply copy & paste the file url to your JSON (as in the example above). The image(s) used must have the sharing settings set to Global, or Anyone with link if stored on Salesforce (more on this below).

Note that the maximum total apps that can be added via JSON is around 100, depending on the length of characters you input.

We've provided links to some of the most common company logos/icons used by our customers in the Apps launcher. Feel free to download the images and upload them to your hosting server. These images are in the optimal size to work on the Apps launcher, so you won't need to edit them before placing them on your hosting server.

• ADP
• Atlassian
• Basecamp
• Box
• Cerner
• Confluence
• Dropbox
• Expensify
• Greenhouse
• Jira Software
• Lattice
• LinkedIn
• Salesforce
• SAP
• SAP Concur
• Sequoia One
• Servicenow
• Slack
• Smartsheet
• Trello
• UKG
• Welltok
• Workday
• Zendesk
• Zoominfo

Set up Apps & links

To ensure the app icon visibility across the intranet, we recommend hosting the image file either on a Simpplr's site file folder or on your organization's Salesforce instance, then set the file sharing settings to allow visibility to anyone with the link.

To save images on a site's file folder:

1. As an App manager or System admin, navigate to one of your intranet's sites. A good location to host your icons may be an IT site or Marketing site. 
2. Go to the Files section of the site and create a new folder.
   
3. Name your folder Apps icons or something easily memorable, then assign Read only permissions. Click Create.
   
4. Click into your newly created folder and upload the icon image you want to use for your app.
5. Now go to your Salesforce instance by removing everything after .com in your Simpplr url. Find the image url by navigating to the Files section of Salesforce. You can do this by clicking the + icon a the top of the home page and scrolling down to Files.
   

   Note:

   You can also upload a new image/icon to the Files section. The image must be 110x40 pixels.
   
6. Locate the image file you uploaded to your site click into it. Right click and choose Open Image in New Tab.
    
7. In the new tab, right click the image and select Copy Image Address, or copy the URL from the top bar.
   
8. Navigate back to your JSON editor in the Manage > Apps & links menu and paste the url you just copied into the "img" source location. Once complete, scroll down and click Save. The changes may take a moment to go into effect.
   

To save images as documents in Salesforce:

One other method for saving your images in Salesforce is to upload them as documents in a document library. The steps are similar to uploading as files. To do so:

1. Click the + icon on the home dashboard of your Salesforce instance. 
2. Scroll down until you see Documents and click.
3. Click New.
   
4. Find the image file you're looking to add and upload it in the Choose file section. Uploading this image should auto-populate the Document Name and Unique Name fields. If it doesn't, just title the image file. the Unique Name will autofill.
   
5. Check the box next to Externally Available Image. Then click Save.
6. From the next page, you'll see the image you just uploaded. Right click into the image and choose Copy Image Address.
   
7. Navigate back to your JSON editor in Simpplr and paste the url you just copied into the "img" source location. Once complete, scroll down and click Save. The changes may take a moment to go into effect.
   

My links

The app manager can allow end users to create their own custom links by enabling this setting through Manage > Apps and links. If enabled, users can add any links they'd like to their My links tab. These links will only be visible to the end user's profile.

• • Custom links are the links added by the user.

  • If the setting to create custom links is enabled, users can add their custom links, by providing a unique 'Label' and 'URL'.

  • Once created, the new link gets added on top of the saved links list

  • Clicked links will open in a new tab

Users can also favorite any existing organization links for easy access. An organization link is a link added by the app manager through Manage > Apps and links. These links are visible to all users, as they always have been.

Users can mark any link from the 'Links' tab as their favorite. Once favorited, that link gets added to the My links tab.

Edit My links

Users can manage both favorited organization links and custom links on 'My links' tab. Note that a maximum of 30 links can be added.

To manage the My links tab, click the pencil icon (Edit). You can delete any link. Again, this will only be relevant to the individual user. End users will not have control over the general Apps & links tabs.

Users can drag and drop saved links to arrange them in their preferred order on 'My links' tab.

If an app manager disables/deleted any link from Manage > Apps and links, that link will be removed from Links as well as My links tab. If enabled again, it would be added to the 'Links' tab but needs to be favorited by the user again.

Analytics

You can view analytics on your apps' performance by going to Analytics > App and selecting the Content tab. 

Under Apps & links usage, you'll see analytics on the ten most-clicked apps. While the analytics UI only shows up to the ten most-clicked apps, you can download a CSV to compare click rate on all apps. 

Since organization links can be clicked from both 'Links' and 'My links' tab, both have been captured in the Apps and links usage on the Global analytics widget. Custom links are user-specific, and are not part of the global analytics.