Setting up Qlik Sense Desktop

Qlik Sense Desktop requires a Windows 7 or later PC with at least 4 GB of RAM (keep in mind that Qlik Sense uses RAM to store data, so larger datasets will require more RAM). For non-Windows computers, your best option is Qlik Sense Cloud, which we will cover in the next section.

To download Qlik Sense Desktop (note that instructions may vary slightly depending on region), perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Qlik website: https://www.qlik.com
2. Click the Try or Buy button at the top right
3. Click Try It Free underneath Qlik Sense Desktop
4. Fill in your contact information or log in with your Qlik Account if you have one

Alternatively, you can go to directly to https://www.qlik.com/us/try-or-buy/download-qlik-sense and then follow step 4. Once you submit the form, it should automatically start the Qlik Sense Desktop download.

To install the software, follow these instructions from the Qlik Help site https://help.qlik.com:

1. Double-click on Qlik_Sense_Desktop_setup.exe to start the installation. The welcome dialog is displayed.
2. Click Custom Installation. The License agreement dialog is displayed.
3. Read the License agreement, select the I accept the license agreement checkbox, and click Next.
4. Type or browse to the location where you want to install Qlik Sense Desktop and click Next.

1. Qlik Sense Desktop cannot be installed in locations where administrator rights are required, for example C:\Program Files.
2. Type or browse to the location where you want Qlik Sense Desktop to store app content, and click Next.
3. On the ready to install screen, select to create a desktop shortcut. Click Install.
4. In the extension bundles section of the Ready to install screen, select to create a desktop shortcut. Select which extension bundles you want to install from the list of those available for your Qlik Sense installation.
5. If you have chosen not to install the extension bundles, click Install. Otherwise, click Next.
6. If you are installing any of the extension bundles, accept the extension bundle license agreement. Then click Install.
7. When the installation has completed, the installation summary is displayed.
8. Click Finish to close the installation summary.

You can now open up Qlik Sense Desktop; you will have to log in with the credentials you used to create an account. 

Once you open Qlik Sense Desktop, you can also navigate to it from a browser, such as Google Chrome, at the http://localhost:4848/hub web address. You must keep Qlik Sense Desktop open while using Qlik Sense from your browser.

From this main screen, or the Qlik Sense Desktop hub, you can click on any of the thumbnails and explore a ready-made Qlik Sense application, courtesy of Qlik, to help jumpstart your orientation into Qlik Sense. We'll go into some more detail on using Qlik Sense in the Self-service with Qlik Sense section:

For the Self-service with Qlik Sense section, we'll be leveraging the Sales Discovery application, so if you'd like to follow along on your screen, click that thumbnail and you'll be taken into the sheet menu, then click on the first sheet. If you followed this section and don't wish to set up a Qlik Sense Cloud account, you can skip the next section.