Sharing Applications

You can access macOS applications from within Windows and you can access Windows applications from macOS. For example, if you locate a file using the Open menu in a Windows application and decide you would rather open the file using a macOS application, you can.

Notes: 1. Provided that Parallels Tools are installed in Linux, you can also open macOS files using Linux applications. 2. This feature is not supported in the App Store edition of Parallels Desktop. For more information on the differences between the Standard and App Store editions, follow this link.

Enable Sharing macOS Applications

When sharing macOS applications is enabled, you can open macOS Applications from within Windows or Windows applications.

If not, you can enable it at any time by doing the following:

1. Do one of the following:

   • Click the Parallels Desktop icon in the menu bar and choose Configure.

   • If the Parallels Desktop menu bar is visible at the top of the screen, choose Actions > Configure.

2. Click Options and click Applications.

3. Select Share Mac applications with Windows.

Once sharing macOS applications is enabled, you can do the tasks below.

Open a File from Windows in a macOS Application

You can open a file in a macOS application from Windows Explorer, from the Open dialog in most Windows applications, or from Windows Desktop if Windows is set to appear in a separate Window or at full screen. You may want to do this if you don't have a Windows application that can open the file.

• In Windows, right-click (or Control-click) a file and do one of the following:

  • Choose Open on Mac from the shortcut menu. The file opens in the default macOS application for that file type.

  • Choose Open With from the shortcut menu, and then choose an application.

Note: You can only perform these actions with files stored in shared folders.

Open a macOS Application from the Windows Start Menu

From the Windows Start menu, do one of the following:

• Choose All Applications > Parallels Shared Applications, and then choose an application.

• Type the name of the application you're looking for in the search field, then choose the application from the list.

Enable Sharing Windows Applications

When sharing Windows applications is enabled, you can open Windows applications from the macOS Finder. You can also choose to add a folder to the Dock containing all your Windows applications for easy access.

1. Do one of the following:

   • Click the Parallels Desktop icon in the menu bar and choose Configure.

   • If the Parallels Desktop menu bar is visible at the top of the screen, choose Actions > Configure.

2. Click Options and click Applications.

3. Select Share Windows applications with Mac.

Add a Windows Applications Folder to the macOS Dock

1. Do one of the following:

   • Click the Parallels Desktop icon in the menu bar and choose Configure.

   • If the Parallels Desktop menu bar is visible at the top of the screen, choose Actions > Configure.

2. Click Options and then click Applications.

3. Be sure Share Windows applications with Mac is selected, and then select Show Windows applications folder in Dock.

Configure Whether Dock Icons Bounce to Alert

When a Windows application icon in the taskbar would normally flash to alert you to something, such as a new message in Skype or a notification in Microsoft Outlook, by default its icon also bounces repeatedly in the macOS Dock.

To enable or disable Windows application icons bouncing to alert:

1. Do one of the following:

   Click the Parallels Desktop icon in the menu bar and choose Configure.

   If the Parallels Desktop menu bar is visible at the top of the screen, choose Actions > Configure.

2. Click Options and click Applications.

3. Select or deselect Dock icons bounce to alert.

Note: Icon bouncing is available for Windows with Parallels Tools installed, provided that Share Windows applications with Mac is selected in the Applications pane.

Force Quit Windows Applications

If your running Windows guest OS application doesn't respond and freezes, you can easily force quit it as you can do with any macOS application. To force quit a Windows application, do one of the following:

• Right-click the icon of the Windows application available in the Dock, press Option (Alt), and choose Force Quit.

• Press Option + Command + Esc (Alt + Command + Esc), select the name of the Windows application you want to quit and click Force Quit.

Note: To be able to force quit Windows guest OS applications, Parallels Tools must be installed.