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Managing and Switching Workspaces

A workspace is an isolated ntkDeploy working area for one organization or operational context. Each workspace keeps its own profiles, providers, device groups, rollout history, audit history, and workspace-scoped policy settings, while the ntkDeploy shell keeps shared preferences such as theme mode and deployment defaults.

This tutorial walks through the workspace selector, shows what changes when you switch, and explains how to use Manage Workspaces to create, edit, import, export, and delete workspaces.

Prerequisites

1. Find the workspace selector

The workspace selector is in the left sidebar, directly below the ntkDeploy branding.

It shows:

  • The active workspace's organization name above the dropdown.
  • The active workspace's display name inside the dropdown.
  • A Manage workspaces... option at the bottom of the list.

Use this selector for day-to-day workspace switching. Use Manage workspaces... when you need to create, edit, import, export, or delete workspace records.

2. Switch to another workspace

  1. Open the workspace dropdown in the left sidebar.
  2. Select the workspace you want to activate.
  3. Wait for the switch to finish. ntkDeploy reloads the active workspace session automatically.

When the switch succeeds, the app keeps the same shell chrome but refreshes the workspace-scoped data behind it.

What changes when you switch

Area Behavior
Profiles, providers, device groups, assignments, rollout history, and audit log Reload to show the records stored in the newly selected workspace only
Policy Server and conductor settings Switch to the configuration saved for the newly selected workspace
Workspace artifact path Resolves to the active workspace under the shell's artifact base directory
Theme mode and deployment defaults Stay the same because they are shell-scoped settings rather than workspace-scoped settings

For the storage model behind this behavior, see Architecture Overview. For the shell-scoped versus workspace-scoped settings split, see Settings Reference.

What can block a switch

ntkDeploy refuses to switch workspaces while certain in-progress flows are still open.

Blocking state What to do
Active profile edit session Finish the edit or cancel it before switching
Device-group draft input Clear or complete the draft group or path input
Open device-group dialog or route Close the dialog or return to the main screen
Open Manage Workspaces dialog Close the dialog, then switch from the sidebar

When a switch is blocked, ntkDeploy shows a snackbar explaining the first blocking condition it found.

3. Open Manage Workspaces

  1. Open the workspace dropdown.
  2. Select Manage workspaces....

The Manage Workspaces dialog lists every known workspace and exposes the available actions for each row.

Action Where it appears Notes
Edit Workspace Every workspace row Opens the workspace editor dialog for metadata changes
Export Workspace Active workspace row only Saves the current workspace as a .zip bundle
Delete Workspace Inactive workspace rows Requires confirmation and may still be refused for protected workspaces
Import Dialog action bar Imports a workspace bundle into shell storage
Create New Dialog action bar Opens the same editor dialog used for edit

Note: While Manage Workspaces is open, the switch guard prevents switching workspaces from the sidebar.

4. Create a workspace

  1. In Manage Workspaces, click Create New.
  2. Enter a Display Name and Organization Name.
  3. Optionally enter Notes and an Environment Tag.
  4. Click Save.

The new workspace appears in the list immediately.

Note: Creating a workspace does not automatically switch the app into it. After creation, select it from the workspace dropdown when you are ready to move into that workspace.

5. Edit workspace metadata

  1. In Manage Workspaces, click Edit Workspace on the row you want to change.
  2. Update the workspace metadata.
  3. Click Save.

Create and edit both use the same dialog. Editing changes the workspace label and metadata; it does not merge workspaces or move records between them.

6. Import a workspace bundle

  1. In Manage Workspaces, click Import.
  2. Select a workspace bundle .zip file.
  3. Wait for ntkDeploy to validate and import the bundle.
  4. Confirm that the imported workspace appears in the list. If ntkDeploy reports that the import succeeded but the list could not refresh, close and reopen Manage Workspaces and then verify the new row.

Imported bundles restore the workspace record, workspace database content, workspace-scoped settings, and workspace artifacts when they are present in the bundle.

Important: Import does not automatically switch the current session. After the import succeeds, use the workspace selector to move into the imported workspace when you are ready.

For bundle contents and portability details, see Importing and Exporting Profiles and Workspaces.

7. Export the active workspace

  1. Switch to the workspace you want to export.
  2. Open Manage Workspaces.
  3. Click Export Workspace on the active workspace row.
  4. Choose a destination .zip path and save it.

ntkDeploy exports the active workspace only. The export button does not appear on inactive rows.

8. Delete an inactive workspace

  1. Switch away from the workspace you want to remove.
  2. Open Manage Workspaces.
  3. Click Delete Workspace on the inactive row.
  4. Review the confirmation dialog.
  5. Click Delete to confirm.

On a successful delete, ntkDeploy removes the workspace from shell storage and then attempts to remove that workspace's database file and artifact subtree.

Warning: The active workspace cannot be deleted. Protected workspaces such as the default workspace may also refuse deletion even when they are inactive.

Next Steps