Release Notes

6/18/2026 - Block Remote Input 

Block Remote Input is now available for PDQ Remote sessions. Suppress the end user's keyboard and mouse input to maintain uninterrupted control while you support.

How it works:

• Block Remote Input is available in the session toolbar under the Desktop dropdown when connected to a Windows remote computer.

  

• The end user can press Esc at any time to release the block.
• The block is automatically released when the session ends.

Important: Block Remote Input requires the latest version of PDQ RD Viewer. If you're on an older version, you'll see a banner prompting you to update when you open the viewer. You can also download the latest version directly from the Remote Desktop page in PDQ Connect.

Have feedback or questions? Schedule a call with us here!

6/16/2026 - Output logs redesign

Output logs got a well deserved redesign! No more deciphering blocks of output or guessing which step produced what.

Changes made:

• Every step has its own section, that lists the step name, status, step type and one-click copy for each step's log
• Ability to quickly search the logs
• A dedicated button to open the logs
• When a step is skipped, we now list the rationale
• Nested packages list the parent package and child steps are numbered accordingly
• and more!

6/9/2026 - macOS Package Library Packages

We are thrilled to announce the release of PDQ-managed macOS Packages!

Manage macOS packages alongside Windows

• PDQ Packages for macOS will now appear within the Packages page, indicated by the Apple icon.
• macOS Packages are grouped with their Windows equivalents (where they exist), so you can keep your macOS applications automatically up-to-date using the same package you use for Windows.
  • ie. The existing Google Chrome package now supports both Windows and macOS
• The package selection dialog for Deployments and Automations has been updated with new granular controls for Windows and macOS.

macOS Packages supported

We are starting out with a small selection of popular macOS packages with plans to grow quickly. This initial release includes:

• Google Chrome
• Zoom
• Mozilla Firefox
• Slack
• Microsoft Visual Studio Code
• 1Password 8
• Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft Edge
• TailScale

Just like Windows packages, these are fully managed and updates will be provided automatically.

Managing Macs and have feedback? Ideas? Suggestions? Schedule a time with us!

Want more macOS packages? Request them here!

6/8/2026 - Windows Updates Early Access

• Connect used to only scan devices for KBs that were already installed, now we're pulling all updates from the device - installed, not installed, pending reboot, failed, etc.
• Click on the new windows updates tab in the left nav (under Inventory) to view a summary of all updates and devices where they are applicable. From here you can trigger a deployment to install updates to any devices where they aren't installed.
• Drill into a KB from that tab to see details about the devices themselves, you can trigger deployments to install updates here as well.

6/8/2026 - AI Package Assistant Early Access

We’re excited to announce the early access release of the AI Package Assistant, a new tool designed to help you create better custom Windows packages in PDQ Connect.

The AI Package Assistant brings together PDQ’s collective packaging knowledge to help you build more reliable packages with less guesswork. The AI Package Assistant evaluates existing packages, finds dependencies and silent parameters, and more – all to help you create a reliable package that is ready for deployment. During the early access period, it’s completely free to use.

For organizations that are unable to use AI features, the AI Package Assistant is being released opt-in, meaning an administrator on your account will need to enable it before you will be able to use the feature.

How it works 
When editing an existing package or creating a package, you can now open the AI package assistant to help create and modify the package. Simply click the Package assistant button at the top, and interact with the AI assistant to perform your request.

Example: 
You may want to know how a package made by someone else works. If you ask the package agent “what does this package do?”, the package assistant will help break-down the individual steps of the package.

Example: 
If you want to create a package that is not in the package library, you can ask the package assistant to create the package for you. The package agent will evaluate existing packages in the library, research online for best practices in installing the application, and help you find the right installation files.

Enabling the AI Package Assistant

The AI Package Assistant is default off for all existing customers. An account administrator can enable the AI Package Assistant in settings, under the new “AI Tools” category.

FAQ:

When will the AI Package Assistant leave early access? 

We’re not totally sure. We are releasing this to our customers early so we can get their feedback and learn about how we can make it better.

Where’s the best place to provide feedback?

In our Discord server we have a channel called #connect-packageassistant, we’d love any feedback on where/how we can make improvements!

Will I pay for what I use during early access? 

No, the AI Package Assistant is 100% free during the early access period. You don’t pay for any of the usage during this period.

What will it cost after early access ends? 

We're not sure yet. During early access we’ll look at usage trends and real-world fixed costs to PDQ and assess that as early access progresses.

Can I opt out of AI features? 

Yes, of course! AI features for existing customers are opt-in only. We aren’t automatically enabling them for your account. Your devices, your decision around how AI is used. If you don’t want to use AI features, simply don’t enable them. Only administrative users in PDQ Connect can manage this setting.

5/28/2026 - Vulnerability Filters + macOS Software Support

Vulnerability Filters 
With the new vulnerability filtering experience, sysadmins can now quickly zero in on the vulnerabilities that matter most to them. Previously, the only controls available were toggles to hide ignored or resolved vulnerabilities. Now, vulnerabilities can be filtered by affected software, CVSS score, known exploit, PDQ risk score, vulnerability name, vulnerability status, and number of impacted devices - with the ability to combine multiple filters for even more precision.

macOS Software Support 
The Software tab now includes macOS devices, giving sysadmins a unified view of software across their environment. For Mac devices, you can see which software is installed or not installed across your fleet. Additional columns — including latest version, outdated status, and vulnerability data — will be available for macOS in a future update.

5/14/2026 - Live Device Process Monitor

With the new live device process manager, sysadmins can now perform even more real-time actions on devices without the added hassle of having to remote into devices just to do simple things like ending a process. 

Previous to this update, the process manager for devices was refreshed up to every 12 hours, resulting in the process information being out of date. With the new improved process manager, sysadmins can view information about currently running processes such as process name, CPU & memory utilization, and more. Sysadmins can also end processes - all in near real-time.

Click to learn more about this update.

4/22/26 - Device migration

You can now move devices freely between your tenants in a multi-tenant organization.

• Only parent-level admins may migrate devices.
• You may send devices to and from any tenant, including the parent.
• On the devices page, select the devices you want to migrate
• Hit Actions > Migrate devices
• Choose the tenant you’d like to send devices to, then review & confirm

When you trigger a device to migrate, Connect will send instructions for the PDQ agent to reconnect with the target tenant. Assuming the device is online, this process could take a few seconds, up to perhaps a minute. While migrating, you will not be able to deploy or send commands to the device.

If something were to go wrong, rest assured you will not lose access to the device. Because the agent remains installed, you can see the list of devices pending migration, and cancel any that get stuck.

Click here to learn more about multi-tenancy

4/13/26 - PowerShell Scanner

With this update, PDQ Connect customers can now create custom PowerShell scanners to scan and store and use custom device information not automatically scanned by PDQ Connect.

PDQ Connect has always shown IT teams what is installed and how devices are configured, but only for the data it was built to collect. If a team needed to track something outside that scope, like Windows 11 readiness, battery health, plugged in devices, or environment-specific data, Connect could not help. This update closes that gap by letting customers create custom PowerShell scanners to collect and store virtually anything about a device.

Click here to learn more about this update.

4/1/26 - Remote Session Memory + More Packages

With this update, the PDQ Connect Remote desktop viewer client remembers settings set by individual users, making the experience consistent from one session to another. This update also includes an additional 78 new packages in the PDQ package library - giving sysadmins even more options to automate deployments and remediate vulnerabilities.

Click here to learn more about this update.

3/30/26 - Package Folders + More Packages

With this update, 69 additional packages have been added to the PDQ maintained package library - giving IT admins an even easier way to manage and deploy top apps. Additionally, custom packages can now be placed into package folders, enabling IT teams to keep the package page more organized. With the new package folder capabilities, IT teams can create custom folders, nested folders, drag and drop custom packages into folders, and more.

Click here to learn more about this update.

3/23/2026 - New Software tab

The Software tab is now available to all PDQ Connect customers, providing a centralized view of software across your environment along with the ability to take immediate action.

📣 What's new

You can now view all software identified in your environment, helping you quickly understand what’s installed, what’s missing, and what needs attention.

With the Software tab, you can:

• View all software across your devices in one place
• See how many devices have an application
  • Installed
  • Not installed
  • Latest version
  • Outdated version
• Click into a specific status to deploy software to currently impacted devices

💡 Why this matters

• Improve visibility: Instantly see what software exists across your environment without manual tracking
• Reduce risk: Quickly identify outdated applications that may need updates
• Act faster: Go from insight to deployment in just a few clicks
• Work more efficiently: Eliminate the need to switch between views to understand and act on software data

📦 Availability

• Basic & Plus: New functionality providing software visibility and device targeting
• Premium: Expanded view beyond vulnerabilities to include installed, not installed, latest, and outdated software

⚠️ Important note

Software-based statuses in the Software tab are designed for visibility and manual actions.
Automations can only be configured using groups created from the Devices page.

3/2/2026 - Deploy in listed order & remote desktop file transfer setting

Packages now deploy in their listed order!

For both manual & automated deployments, packages now deploy in the order they are shown on screen (e.g. top to bottom). Many customers provided feedback that this is how they expected deployment ordering to work, and now it does!

Additionally, we added a setting for hiding the remote desktop file transfer white box on session start. For all new and existing orgs, this setting has been set to off based on customer feedback, but can be re-enabled under Settings -> Remote desktop. Customers can also use the existing remote desktop notification settings to let end-users know about sessions about to start.

2/26/2026 - Ask our docs & help menu improvements

We’ve introduced `Ask our docs`,  which allows you to search docs or ask questions and get AI-generated answers sourced directly from our Help Center documentation. `Ask our docs` does not have access to your environment data and cannot answer questions specific to your environment.

`Ask our docs` is accessible under the updated help menu icon in the lower left nav, which now also includes links to:

• Help center
• Status page
• Discord
• Release notes

Freshworks integration  - February 25, 2026

PDQ Connect now integrates with Freshdesk and Freshservice (requires Premium tier API access)! Add the PDQ Connect sidebar to your tickets to:

• Automatically surface matching machines based on the requester’s email
• Deploy software in one click
• Launch remote access immediately for that device
• Open device details in Connect

To setup the integration, you will need to retrieve an API key (Premium tier only), and then use a custom field to associate email addresses with specific devices.

Redeploy from failed step & package sharing  - February 10, 2026

Redeploy from failed step

You can now redeploy packages starting from the step that failed!

In the redeployment modal, there is now a checkbox to allow you to skip steps that ran successfully the first time the package was deployed, reducing duplicated work and avoiding unintended side effects from re-running successful steps.

Package sharing (multi-tenancy)

Multi-tenancy now supports sharing packages with tenants

Custom packages created in the parent organization can be shared with tenants to deploy and automate. When a shared package is updated, those changes are applied globally for all tenants using it, simplifying maintenance and ensuring consistency. Sharing is not yet supported for packages that include group membership conditions.

API/Device endpoint improvements

We expanded the information available in our devices endpoint. It now includes all data shown in the Overview tab, including fields like last seen, last boot up time, manufacturer, and more.

Remote desktop support for shared VM sessions - January 29, 2026

Previously, when remoting into a virtual machine (VM) that already had an active user session, a new separate session would start. Now, remote desktop connections support shared VM sessions.

When connecting to a VM, you can now choose to:

• Join the existing session to assist an active end-user, or
• Start a completely separate session

This change applies automatically to virtual machines. For non-VM devices, there is no change in behavior.

Package & step conditions; disable steps - November 24, 2025

Package and step conditions are now available!

With conditions, you can configure your package or specific steps to conditionally run. When a package-level condition is not met, the entire deployment will be canceled. If a step-level condition is not met, that step will be skipped.

We currently support the following conditions:

• Group membership
• OS version
• Logged on user
• File
• Registry
• Services
• Processes

Conditions are evaluated at runtime when the deployment begins processing (except group membership, which is determined when the deployment is created). Conditions are not based on scanned data, and do not require any custom scanners.

Additionally, you will now see OS version conditions displayed for your existing packages. This is purely a UI change and does not change the behavior of your packages: we have silently enforced these OS version condition since Connect launched.

Disable steps

You can now also disable any custom package step, making troubleshooting and testing easier.

Now in Early Access - macOS device support!

We are excited to announce that you can now manage macOS devices in PDQ Connect! Available to all accounts.

💻 The following macOS features are now available:

• macOS agent installation
• Device Details: basic macOS device inventory
• Commands (bash & zsh)
• Remote desktop
• Custom packages, including:
  • Supported file types: DMGs & PKGs
  • Package steps
  • Deployments & automations
• Reports

🎁 Manage Macs for free during Early Access!

• You won’t be charged for macOS devices during the Early Access stage. They will not count against your current paid license count.
• There is no limit on the number of macOS devices you can manage.
• Early Access will conclude July 31, 2026.
• Once Early Access concludes, macOS devices will be billed prorated at the same per-device rate as Windows devices under your Connect subscription. We will provide plenty of notice prior to August 1, 2026 when we start charging for macOS so you’ll have adequate time to plan for additional licenses or remove them from your account.

ℹ️ More information on macOS Early Access in Connect:

• Knowledge Base documentation is available:
  • PDQ Connect for macOS - Supported Mac Features
  • Installing the PDQ Connect agent for macOS
  • Installing PDQ Connect Agent on macOS using SimpleMDM
  • Installing PDQ Connect macOS agent using MS Intune
• Join us in the #connect-macos channel on Discord!
• Check out our roadmap for upcoming macOS features.

Custom Packages for macOS - October 28, 2025

Custom packages are now supported for macOS!

Accounts participating in the macOS Alpha program can now:

• Create & deploy custom packages (PKGs and DMGs) for macOS devices
• Use package steps & file/folder attachments
• Create automations using custom packages for macOS devices

Important notes about macOS support in Connect:

• As a reminder, macOS support for Connect is still in Alpha!
• Customers interested in participating can sign up here.

Deployment summaries - September 2, 2025

We’ve updated our main deployments page to now summarize deployments by package!

With deployment summaries, if you deploy Chrome to 100 devices, you will see 1 row summarizing the deployment status for all 100 devices, rather than 100 individual rows.

Deployment summaries make it much easier to understand the overall status and health of deployments, particularly when deploying to dozens or hundreds of devices at once.

If you want to see the individual device-by-device details for a deployment, just click into the deployment, and you can view the device breakdown.

From there, you can also bulk redeploy and cancel deployments for multiple devices!

Software tab, scanning status and vulnerability reports - August 25, 2025

🛡️ Software tab

You can now view vulnerabilities organized by software!

With the new software tab, you can:

• View a list of software in your environment that has known vulnerabilities
• See your vulnerabilities grouped by severity (critical, high, medium, low)

⚡ This is just the start—soon you’ll be able to see all software in your environment, not just those with vulnerabilities.

🔄 Scanning status

• Vulnerabilities now show as scanning after you deploy a fix until results are updated.

📑 Vulnerability reports

• Users can now filter reports to the last 30 days
• Choose to include or exclude resolved vulnerabilities

ℹ️ More information

These features are available at the Premium pricing tier.

We’re actively building additional functionality for the software and vulnerabilities tabs. Share your feedback here to help guide what’s next!

Pre-built groups & automations - July 7, 2025

You can now access pre-built groups & automations for the most popular software & Windows cumulative updates!

Earlier this year, we updated on our onboarding flow for new customers, allowing them to select more pre-built groups & automations than before. We've now brought those same groups & automations to existing customers.

You can access these pre-built groups & automations from the devices page (under the dropdown for creating groups & folders) or the automations page (in the `...` menu in the upper right hand corner.

While these groups & automations are prebuilt by PDQ, they are not actively managed by PDQ: you may occasionally need to manually update these groups or automations if there is a major change in how the vendor names and versions their software. Managed software tracking is planned as a part of the upcoming `Software` tab.

Light mode & more - May 22, 2025

You can now set Connect to use light or dark modes, or inherit your system settings, via the Preferences tab in Settings.

We’ve also fixed issues where column ordering on the devices table was not persisting, and increased the nested folder limit in the groups panel from 3 to 5.

Light mode and column ordering settings are stored via local storage, so you may see changes in a different browser or after clearing your cache.

Services & processes tabs - April 2, 2025

We now scan for services and processes data!

With the new Services and Processes tabs, you can:

• View services and process data for each device (based on last scan)
• Start, restart, or stop services
• End running processes
• Filter, group, and report on service and process data

📣 Your feedback matters

Additionally, we’d love to hear from you about your experience with Connect, and what we have planned. Complete the short, two minute survey below to share your thoughts directly with PDQ’s product team!

Connect feedback survey

Remote desktop chat - February 18, 2025

You can now chat with end-users during a remote desktop session!

Remote desktop chat is now fully enabled in the latest remote desktop agent. To chat with an end-user, simply click the chat icon in the RD viewer.

Most devices will have already automatically updated to this latest RD agent version: any remaining devices without a chat-enabled RD agent should update automatically shortly after coming online.

20GB file uploads - February 3, 2025

We have raised our individual file upload limit from 5GB to 20GB!

With the larger file size limit, you can now more easily deploy software such as AutoCAD, Revit, and other products.

The 20GB limit is per file, not per step or package.

Automated vulnerability patching & device deletion - December 16, 2024

🤖 Automated vulnerability patching

You can now automate vulnerability patching!

With this new feature, you can streamline how you address vulnerabilities in your environment. If we detect that a vulnerability can be resolved using a package from our PDQ Package Library, you’ll now see an Automate button directly on the affected software card for the specific CVE selected.

How It Works:

1. When a vulnerability is detected for a specific software and we detect the fix within our Package Library, the Automate button will appear.
2. Click Automate to open a modal where you can preview and create the automation for the software selected.
3. Once set up, any new vulnerabilities for that software will be patched automatically—no need to manually fix CVEs one by one!

🗑️ Automated device deletion

You can now automatically delete devices that haven’t been seen recently!

When Auto-delete devices is enabled via settings, devices that have not been seen within the customizable number of days will be automatically deleted.

Remote desktop bulk installs, notifications, and vulnerability details - November 20, 2024

Bulk install remote desktop agent

You can now bulk install the remote desktop agent.

To do so, select the devices you want to install the agent on, and then select Install remote desktop agent from the ... menu in the upper right hand corner of the devices page. The remote desktop agent will remain installed indefinitely.

Notify end-users before remote desktop session

You can now notify end users, or require end-user approval, before starting a remote desktop session.

These settings can be configured per device, or globally via Settings.

View granular detection details for vulnerabilities

We have added detection details for vulnerabilities, which will help you pinpoint why a vulnerability is being detected in your environment.

Detection details will help show whether vulnerabilities were detected via installed software and/or running processes, as well as details such as the specific path where the vulnerability was identified.

Additionally, we updated our logic for detecting Windows vulnerabilities. Some customers may see an increase in detected CVEs for Windows, which is expected based on the update.

Session timeout, SSO, and MFA updates - October 7, 2024

We've made several security and user experience improvements to our authentication service.

As a result, your account was automatically logged out on October 7, and required you to reconfigure multifactor authentication (MFA) for your account, even if you previously set it up. 

Please reach out to us with any questions.

 

Updates and new features now available to you:

• MFA updates: You can update your MFA preferences at anytime in the billing portal.
• Session timeout: Within the billing portal, your account’s admin can set a specific time limit, after which team members’ accounts will automatically log out of PDQ Connect.

• SSO: Within the billing portal, your account’s admin can configure single sign-on (SSO) with any provider, such as Okta or Entra, via OpenID Connect (OIDC).

• Login flow improvements: User experience improvements to our account creation and login processes will be available.

Remote desktop & vulnerability management - September 24, 2024

Today we are launching two major features, remote desktop and vulnerability management!

📺 Remote desktop

We are partnering with ISL Online to bring remote desktop into Connect. With this feature, you will be able to:

• Remote into any device, regardless of whether a user is actively logged in or not
• Run in administrator mode with full UAC control
• Transfer files to/from the device
• View multiple monitors
• Record sessions
• Track remote desktop session usage
• Limit access to remote desktop via RBAC
• And much more!

To remote into any device, you will need to install a second, remote desktop agent (done via Connect's UI) and download a local viewer.

Existing customers will have access to remote desktop starting today, and for new customers, remote desktop will be available in our new Plus and Premium tiers.

🛡️ Vulnerability management

We are introducing vulnerability management into Connect, allowing you to scan your environment for vulnerabilities, and patch them via our Package Library and custom packages!

• View all vulnerabilities detected in your environment via automated scanning
• View individual vulnerability details, including affected software and devices
• Patch vulnerabilities via recommended Package Library packages (where possible), or custom packages
• Run vulnerability reports
• Create groups based on vulnerability data
• Control access to vulnerability data + features via RBAC

Vulnerability management will be available in our new Premium tier.

Custom fields bulk import - July 16, 2024

Bulk imports for custom fields are now generally available!

With bulk imports, rather than updating each device’s custom fields individually, you can upload one .csv to update multiple devices at once.

Practically, this means you can update multiple custom fields for hundreds of devices with a single .csv upload, rather than having to click into each of your hundreds of devices individually!

How to get started:

1. Go to your custom fields page (located under More in the left nav).
2. Click Import values under the ... button for the custom field you want to update.
3. Download the .csv template
4. Follow the steps to finish the bulk import

Lastly, you can now also add custom fields as columns on the devices table!

Have feedback on your experience with Connect? Join us on a 30-minute call to share your thoughts and help us determine what features we add next.

Automatic deployment trigger - May 28, 2024

The Automatic trigger for automations is now available!

With the Automatic trigger, you no longer have to wait for your next scheduled automation run: packages will be deployed the moment they’re needed, either when a new device joined a group or when a new version of a package was released.

This means you can create automations that deploy packages immediately to new devices, or automations that push out a new version of our Package Library software the moment its released!

Staged deployments & duplicating packages - May 16, 2024

Staged deployments is now available under Settings > Bandwidth!

With staged deployments, you can better manage Connect's bandwidth usage for specified IP addresses by limiting the number of active downloads.

When the downloads limit is reached, excess deployments will remain in a Staged status until the number of active downloads drops below the allowed limit.

📦 Duplicating packages

You can now duplicate Package Library and custom packages! To duplicate a package, go to the package details, and click ... > Duplicate package.

When duplicating a Package Library package, a custom version of that package will be created.

Custom fields - April 15, 2024

You can now create and manage custom fields for your devices!

With custom fields, you can now store notes and details per device, like warranty dates, intended users, device locations, etc. Custom fields support string/text, date, number, and true/false data types.

You can also manage your device inventory by creating groups and reports based on the custom fields.

For now, custom fields must be updated per device. We are actively building out a bulk import feature for custom fields, so more to come soon!

Public API - March 11, 2024

You can now integrate with PDQ Connect via our public API!

With the public API, you’ll be able to retrieve device & inventory information, query for groups and packages, and deploy any existing package to individual devices or groups.

To begin using the public API, first retrieve your API key from our settings page. Once you have your API key, you can review our API documentation, and access any of the following endpoints:

• Get devices
  • Get device inventory by ID
• Get groups
• Get packages
  • Get package versions by ID
• Deploy packages

Additionally, the ability to view, create and revoke API keys can be enabled/disabled for custom role-based access control (RBAC) roles.

Long term, we plan to add additional public endpoints, enabling you to create more robust integrations.

Entra ID integration & group membership filtering - February 21, 2024

You can now integrate your Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) tenant and access Entra ID group & device data!

The Entra ID integration provides two new capabilities:

• Scan, filter, and report on Entra ID group data
• Compare devices with a PDQ Connect agent installed against your Entra ID devices to identify devices not yet enrolled in PDQ Connect

You can enable the integration in Settings within the Entra ID (Azure AD) integration tab.

You will see any automatically identified Entra ID tenants. From there, complete the authentication workflow. Once authorized, data from the authorized Entra ID tenant will begin populating in Connect.

🎯 Group membership filtering

We’ve also added group membership data to our filters, reports, and device details page. This will allow you to filter and/or report based on what groups a device belongs to.

Role-based access control (RBAC) - December 19, 2023

Role-based access control (RBAC) is now live in Connect! To access RBAC, navigate to the Settings page via the gear icon in lower-left corner navigation. From there, users can:

• View all existing users in their org, and their current role
• View all existing roles in their org
  • Each org will have two non-deletable roles, Admin and Member
    • Admin = has all permissions
    • Member = has all permissions except those related to managing roles & teammates
  • All existing users have been migrated to the Admin role
    • This means existing Connect users will not lose any permissions with this release, unless they are manually assigned a new role
  • Orgs can change the default role for newly invited users
• Assign & change roles for any users
• Create new custom roles, with the following configurable permissions
  • Deploy packages
  • Manage groups (i.e. create/edit/delete)
  • Manage custom packages (i.e. create/edit/delete)
  • Manage automations (i.e. create/edit/delete)
  • Manage custom scanners (i.e. create/edit/delete)
  • Manage reports (i.e. create/edit/delete)
  • Run commands
  • Delete devices
  • Manage roles (i.e. create/edit/delete)
  • Manage custom variables (i.e. create/edit/delete)
• For the most part, when users don't have permission for something, they won't see the button, input, etc.
  • ex. users whose role does not include the Deploy packages permission won't see the Deploy button throughout Connect

Emailed reports, custom scanners, & custom variables - November 27, 2023

Reports: filter, schedule & email

• You can now filter reports, ex. creating an Adobe report that only shows software with Adobe in the name.
• Additionally, you can now schedule reports to run automatically, and have them emailed to 1 or more email addresses!

Custom scanners

• You can now create custom registry, and files & folders, scanners!
• The new registry scanner allows you to scan each device’s registry and return specified keys & values.
• Similarly, the new files & folders scanner allows you to scan each device’s file system and return information about specific files and/or folders.
• To start creating custom scanners, click on the new More icon in the left nav, and then select Custom scanners

Custom variables

• Lastly, you can now also create custom variables to use in filters!
• To start creating custom variables, click on the new More icon in the left nav, and then select Variables

Reports - October 11, 2023

You can now create and export reports directly in Connect!

With our new reporting feature, you are able to:

• Create, edit, and delete reports
• Select from default device columns, such as device name or OS version, as well as columns from one additional data source, such as software data or Windows update data
• Apply row grouping to summarize your report data, such as grouping devices by software name to see all software installed at your organization
• Target specific groups or devices to include in your report
• Export reports as .CSV so you can share them or integrate the data with other reporting and visualization tools

For now, reports must be manually run and exported. Scheduled & emailed reports are in progress, and will be available soon.

As you begin creating reports, we’d like to hear your feedback. Share your thoughts on reporting via a short form linked below — your input will help us improve and enhance reporting to better meet your needs.

Share your thoughts on Connect’s reporting

Static groups - October 10, 2023

You can now create a group and manually assign devices to it, rather than rely on filtering!

This is particularly helpful when:

• You're managing multiple locations and/or client devices that don't have a reliable naming schema to filter on
• You have "special case" devices, such as exec team devices or specific users who you test updates with
• You know a group only needs a few devices and simply don't want to filter

Command Prompt support, easier uninstalls, & more - August 16, 2023

We’ve made uninstalling software even easier. Now, when viewing the installed software on any device, you can click Run uninstall command from the additional actions button, which will preload the uninstall command in the Commands tab. From there, just click Run command, and the software will be uninstalled.

To enable this, we’ve added support for command prompt cmds in the Commands tab and in our custom packages.

• In the Commands tab, simply change the language selection from PS to Cmd
• In custom packages, we’ve renamed our PowerShell step to the more general Script step, and added a dropdown selector allowing you to choose between PowerShell and Command Prompt
  • Script steps will default to PowerShell, which will work as it has previously
  • If changed from PowerShell to Command Prompt, you can:
    • Write cmds directly in the code editor
    • Upload .bat files, as you would a PowerShell script

By adding Command Prompt support, you no longer need to worry about converting your .bat files to .ps1 scripts, nor finding the PowerShell equivalent to your tried & true cmds.

Additionally, we’ve added a Networking tab to our device details page, as well as to our filtering. This will give you more detailed network & connection information, such as DNS servers, IPv4 & IPv6 addresses, link speed, and more!

Lastly, we've created a status page for PDQ Connect and our other products. It provides a live view of uptime information and any current outage alerts, with an option to subscribe to updates via email, text, and other methods.

Folders for groups - June 20, 2023

You can now create folders for your groups, allowing you to better organize your environment!

• To create a folder, click on the arrow next to Create group at the bottom of the groups side panel, and then click Create folder
• Once named & created, you can drag any existing groups into your new folder
• We support three levels of nesting for folders
• You can rename or delete existing folders at any time

Additionally, we've also implemented two quality-of-life improvements for groups based on user feedback:

• The groups list is now more compact
• You can resize the width of the groups side panel by hovering over the border and dragging to the desired width

Bulk scan & delete - June 12, 2023

You can now scan or delete multiple devices at once!

To do so, select your devices via the checkbox column on the devices page, and then click the ... button to the right of the Deploy button and select the relevant option.

Alternatively, to scan your entire environment at once, you can go directly to the ... button and click Scan devices.

Additional improvements 🛠

• We fixed a bug where scans occasionally showed as blank (no package) deployments
• We fixed a bug where software could be listed multiple times for a single device
• We fixed a bug where automated scans would consistently fail for certain devices
• We fixed a bug where deployment statuses could change after being marked Complete or Error
• We fixed a bug where automations occasionally created duplicate deployments for a single device
• We fixed a bug where filtering deployments based on the Canceled status would not return results
• We fixed a bug where the is comparison for date filters did not return results due to matching on exact time and date, not just date
• We fixed a bug where accented characters were not displaying correctly
• We fixed a bug where automations could not be set to run at particular times on the weekend
• We fixed a bug where the deployments page could have deployments re-order when the page automatically refreshed
• We updated the sorting logic for the groups side panel to respect special characters (ex. ! or ?)

Nested package step - May 23, 2023

You can now create nested package steps, allowing you to reference an existing package (both Package Library & custom) as a step in any custom package.

With nested packages, you can create more complex deployments, ensuring that multiple packages are deployed in a specific order while performing other actions such as running scripts and rebooting devices.

New feature: Commands - April 24, 2023

You can now execute PowerShell commands without deploying a package for any device in Connect!

The new Commands feature enables you to troubleshoot devices, gather information, and perform quick actions without needing to package the command first.

To begin executing commands, go to the Commands tab on any individual device page. How Commands work:

• Most commands will fully execute and return an output within seconds
• We log and display which Connect user ran a specific command
• Command history is stored indefinitely
• Commands are currently enabled to only run per device
• Commands will be executed in the local system context

Additional improvements 🛠

• You can now use both reboot steps & file copy steps (the nested package step is coming soon!)
• We now store your rows per page and column selections for the devices table in local storage
  • This means if you set your devices page to show 100 devices per page rather than 25, we will default to 100 devices per page on future visits
  • Previously, these were stored in session storage which meant these settings would often reset between visits to Connect
• The full command that will be run for install steps now displays
  • Previously, we did not display the full command, requiring users to assume which commands were prepended to their custom parameters
• We added an error icon display next to the step name to make it more obvious which specific steps in your custom packages have errors
  • Previously, errors were only displayed inside the step itself, requiring users to click through each step until they found the error
• We added a loading spinner next to the step name in custom packages to make it more obvious when an upload is still processing
  • Previously, we only showed the loading spinner per file, requiring users to click into any step where they uploaded files to view current upload status
• We fixed a bug where sorting on the OS column resulted in a 500 error
• We fixed scrolling behavior on the devices table
  • Previously, any horizontal scrolling occurred on the full page, which could result in the deploy button and other headers being hidden from view. This also caused a bug where users could unintentionally cause columns to start widening on their own
• We fixed scrolling behavior within the deployment modal
  • Previously, selecting a large number of devices or groups would extend the modal beyond the current view
• We added tooltips when hovering over truncated filter fields and column values
  • Previously, there were no tool tips, preventing users from seeing the full contents of a truncated filter field or column
• We moved our Package Library services to a new hosting provider. In most cases, you won't notice anything different with this change. However, depending on your web filters, you may need to add two new addresses to your allow list:
  • https://connect-package-library.e9d69694c3d8f7465fd531512c22bd0f.r2.cloudflarestorage.com/
  • https://connect.e9d69694c3d8f7465fd531512c22bd0f.r2.cloudflarestorage.com/ 

Custom package improvements, data exporting, and more - April 5, 2023

Improved custom packages 📦

We've released a handful of highly requested improvements to custom packages, detailed below:

• You can now run any package step as Logged on user
  • Previously, you could only run steps as Local system
  • If there is no user currently logged in when the step runs, the step will fail. Tip: Use the error mode setting for each step to direct the package to stop or continue if the step fails.

• You can now bulk upload both folder and file attachments
  • Previously, you could only upload individual files
  • When uploading folders, the folder structure is maintained to ensure that underlying folders and files can be referenced correctly by installers and scripts
  • You can also now upload zipped files and folders
    • You will be prompted to zip files or folders if you upload over 250 files. Zipping helps ensure a faster upload experience.
    • "Top level" zipped files will be automatically unzipped on the target device. (If a zipped file is nested within a folder or another zipped file, these will not be automatically unzipped.)

• You can now write PowerShell commands and scripts in our new embedded editor
  • Previously, you could only upload PowerShell scripts; there wasn't an option to write PowerShell directly in the step itself
  • Our editor includes features such as syntax highlighting and line numbering to improve the scripting experience
  • As a reminder, PowerShell natively supports almost all Command Prompt commands
  • Additionally, now when you upload a PowerShell script, its contents will be displayed in the PowerShell editor

• The Packages page now displays your custom packages at the top by default
  • Previously, the packages page was sorted alphabetically, which made finding custom packages more difficult

✨ P.S. We're currently working on additional improvements to custom packages, such as adding more step types!

Export data from Connect ⬇

You can now export data from most tables in Connect

• Previously, there was no ability to export
• Data may be exported in a .csv format and is limited to the rows displayed
  • For example, if you need to view data for 500 devices, set your Rows per page setting to 1000
• When exporting a group, any applied filters will be listed at the bottom of the export to provide context on why those devices are included in the group
• More reporting capabilities are planned for future

Additional improvements 🛠

• You can now view the Registry path and Uninstall string for all software on a device's Software tab
  • Previously, this information was not displayed
• You can now filter, sort, and search on the Last user column
  • Previously, a bug prevented these actions for this column
• You can now use greater than and less than comparisons for OS version, as you can for software versions
  • Previously, you could only use standard text or string comparisons
• We fixed a bug where you could not save an automation if it was scheduled to run for the first time within the next 24 hours
• When creating or editing an automation, an error message will now inform users when an invalid time is entered
• We updated the Details text for Queued deployments to clearly communicate that the deployment will start once the device is back online
• We fixed sorting behavior so that empty cells are always shown at the bottom of a sorted column
• We fixed a bug preventing filtering on a device's software tab
• We updated the Invite teammate modal so that hitting enter sends the invite, without having to click the Invite button
• We made a few small UI tweaks, such as fixing the error icon, improving contrast on our toast notifications, and making it more obvious which table cells include clickable links

Trial & purchase flows, performance improvements, and more - March 7, 2023

You can now start a 30-day trial and purchase a subscription directly within Connect

• Until recently, we've operated in a closed beta. Now, anyone interested in trying Connect can start a trial or purchase via self-serve.
  • Note: We offer several discounts on Connect, which you currently must contact us to claim at connect-sales@pdq.com. More information on pricing and trials can be found on our website.
• Users enrolled in the closed beta will maintain their beta access for the foreseeable future. We will contact you and give you advance notice of your beta experience concluding.

Multiple backend performance improvements were made to ensure much faster load of devices & groups

Disk free % has been re-added as a filter option under Devices. This was temporarily removed while improving backend filtering logic.

Error handling for invalid date or time formats for the automation start time is now available. Previously, using an invalid date or time format (ex. 24 hour time, which is not supported) would not display any error text, yet would prevent the package saving successfully.

Improved software filtering & deployment updates - February 21, 2023

Improved software filtering 

Filtering for software is now much more intuitive and powerful.

Previously, to create software filters for both name and version, users needed to use a (softwareName)@(softwareVersion) syntax. We recognize that this was nonintuitive, and did not allow for certain filtering needs, such as finding devices with software version lower than a specific version.

You can now use separate name, version, publisher, and install date columns for filtering on software

• Previously users were required to use the (softwareName)@(softwareVersion) syntax to filter on software version. Publisher and install date also could not previously be filtered

You can now use additional version comparisons, such as lower than

• Previously, you could only use equals, does not equal, contains, etc. for versions, which prevented filtering for devices where software was installed but its version was lower or higher than the current latest version

When applying multiple filters to the same category of data, these filters will apply to a single object

• For example, if you have a filter for software name contains Chrome and software version is lower than 109, we'll look for a single piece of software that has Chrome in the name and a version number lower than 109

When filtering for devices missing a certain software, you only need to use does not contain or does not equal

• For example, if you have a filter for software name does not contain 7-zip, we’ll identify all devices that don’t have 7-zip installed. No need to adjust the logic any further

Deployment related improvements

• We've added more information to the Deployments page, including:
  • In the Status column, you can now click the deployment status to see output logs
  • Details shows the progress details for any deployment. This granular information about a deployment, such as the exact step a deployment is on, previously wasn’t available
  • Deployed by displays the name of the person or the automation that deployed a package
  • Elapsed time shows how long a deployment took, measured by when the agent started processing the development
• You can now cancel Queued or In Progress deployments by clicking Cancel in the Actions column of the deployments page. This will submit a cancellation request, including when it is mid-step
  • Previously, there was no ability to cancel a deployment once started
• You can now schedule a one-time future deployment in Connect. Within Automations, schedule a one-off deployment by selecting the Deploy once trigger and select a specific date & time.
• You can now deploy to an entire group by simply clicking Deploy in the upper right-hand corner
  • Previously, you needed to manually select all devices in a group first
• You can now click on a device or package name on the Deployments page to view the details page for the device/package
  • Previously, these names were not linked, and you had to manually navigate to the details page for the device/package

Additional fixes & improvements 🛠

You can now invite additional teammates directly from Connect

• To invite a teammate, click on Invite teammates icon in the lower left navigation, enter their email address, click Invite, and an Auth0 invite email will be sent to the provided address
• Additionally, the lower left navigation now includes a permanent link to the Knowledge Base documentation:

We fixed a bug where an existing filter value would be cleared if you changed comparisons

• Previously, changing from equals to contains (or any other comparison) cleared the entered value, requiring the user re-enter it

Improved groups & Deployments tab – January 23, 2023

Improved groups 

You can now create more powerful groups and filters with our improved filtering experience. With additional operators and new nested filter groups, you can now use complex logic to more accurately target devices based on your specific criteria.

Additionally, we've made filters easier to use, introducing categories that organize filterable data as well as other UI improvements. 

• You can now add Filter groups to your filters, which are nested sets of filters that allow you to use more complex logic.
  • Previously, there was no ability to create nested filters.
  • We currently support two levels of nesting.
• You can now use NAND and NOR logical operators, in addition to AND and OR.
• Filterable data has now been categorized, allowing you to more quickly find the data you want.
• Previously, all filterable data was listed in a single list.
• You can more easily save your filters as a group within the filtering modal by clicking Save as group.
• You can now use additional comparisons such as is empty and is not empty.
• You can now clear all filters at once by clicking Clear filters.
• To apply filters to the table, you must now click Apply in the filtering modal.

Coming soon: We plan on releasing additional filtering and groups improvements in the coming weeks.

View all deployments

You can now view all deployments across your organization in the new Deployments tab. Previously, to view deployments, you had to go select a specific device individually in order to see what deployments occurred.

Now, all deployments are also shown in the dedicated Deployments tab, increasing visibility and making it easier to monitor the actions Connect is taking in your environment. Additionally, for errored deployments, you can now click Redeploy to quickly re-deploy the same package to the same device.

Coming soon: We're planning additional enhancements to the deployments tab in the coming weeks aimed at increasing the granularity of information provided.

Additional fixes and improvements 🛠

• You can now deploy from the Packages page.
  • Previously, deployments could only be initiated from the devices and individual device pages.
• You can now select devices and groups directly within the deployment modal.
  • Previously, you had to select any relevant device before opening the deployment modal.
• The groups list is now sorted alphabetically.
• We fixed a bug preventing Java packages from being listed on the packages page.

Automation – November 28, 2022

Automated deployments and variables are now live in PDQ Connect, allowing you to truly set it and forget it.

Automation ✨

You can now automate your deployments with PDQ Connect. Automations function similarly to schedules in Deploy and will allow you to deploy any package to individual devices or groups of devices on a recurring schedule of your choice. You can use automations to

• keep software updated
• reboot devices on a standard cadence
• clean-up files from devices with low storage space, and more.

With automation, you can skip manual updates for new software rollouts. Automation allows you to select the 'Latest' version for any package from the Package Library. That means Connect will always deploy the latest version of the specified software, removing the need to manually update automations when new versions of software are released.

For now, automations can only be triggered on a recurring basis, but we plan to implement a heartbeat-style trigger soon.

Variables 🧪

You can now automatically keep values used in filters updated, such as software versions, with variables. Variables can be used in any filter, and they work the same in Connect as they do in Deploy & Inventory. That means you can create Groups that automatically track outdated software, with version variables automatically updating on new releases.

For now, only PDQ-provided variables are supported. Custom variables will be introduced at a later date.

How to use automation & variables to keep software automatically updated 💡

If you want to ensure Chrome is kept updated throughout your environment, follow these steps:

1. Apply the following filters

Software 'not contains' 'Chrome@$(AppVerGoogleChromeEnterprise)'

Variables can be found by clicking the '(x)' button to the right of the value field

2. Save those filters as a group

Click 'Save as group' on the right side of the screen, below the 'Deploy' button

3. Create an automation targeting your newly created group

Select Google Chrome from the package list, and leave the version set to 'Latest'. Using the 'Latest' version will ensure the latest version of any Package Library software is deployed when new versions are released.

Set your desired deployment cadence

Target the group you just created

4. You’re done!

From this point on, the latest version of Chrome will be automatically deployed to the dynamic group for devices without outdated versions of Chrome.

Check out our Knowledge Base article on automation for a visual walkthrough.

Additional fixes & improvements 🛠

You can now use 'OR' when you have multiple filters applied.

• Previously, you could only use 'AND' with multiple filters.

You can now set row density, and your selected density will be persisted for the next time you visit.

• Previously, if you set row density, it would revert to the default row density when you returned to the page.

We've renamed 'Saved filters' to 'Groups' (no functionality change, just terminology)