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Click, Drag, Scroll, and Select

You control apps from your computer in Parallels Access using the same gestures you're used to using with apps made for your iPad, iPhone, or Android device. In addition, there are a few special gestures that make it easy to work with desktop apps.

Click: Tap directly on an interface element to click it. A touchpoint indicator appears briefly to show where you clicked. Tap twice to double-click.

Smart Tap technology helps activate the control you're aiming for, even if you miss it and tap nearby instead.

Click more precisely: Tap and hold near an item you want to click, such as a small button, to bring up a magnifying glass, then center the pointer over the item and release to click.

PAX_Precision_Control

Drag an item: On your computer you often click the mouse and then drag to do things like move items around the screen; select text; move selected text; choose menu items; drag sliders, window dividers, and other interface elements; and more. Parallels Access makes it easy to carry out those same actions on your phone or tablet.

To drag an item, do one of the following:

  • Tap and hold an item that you want to drag to bring up a magnifying glass, and keep holding for a moment as a blue line circles the magnifying glass and the pointer briefly pops up to show it is locked in. Then drag to move the item.
  • Or to start dragging more quickly, tap and hold an item that you want to drag, tap anywhere else on the screen with a second finger, and then drag the item.

You can use these methods to grab any item or object that you would grab on your computer by clicking and holding the mouse button. For example, rather than tapping a menu name and then tapping a second time to select a menu item, for greater precision you can tap the menu name, hold until the pointer locks in and the menu opens, and then drag down to the menu item you want.

Right-click: Tap with two fingers. In many cases, this brings up a shortcut menu.

Right-click more precisely: Tap and hold near an item you want to click to bring up a magnifying glass, then center the pointer over the item and, while still holding, tap anywhere else on the screen with two more fingers to bring up a shortcut menu. Then drag the pointer to the menu item you want and release to click.

Scroll: Drag up, down, left, or right with one or two fingers.

Select text: There are a few ways to select text. Try them and see which you like best.

  • Tap and hold text to bring up a magnifying glass and keep holding for a moment as a blue line circles the magnifying glass and the pointer briefly pops up to show it is locked in. Then drag to select text.

    PAX_Selection_Reticle

  • Tap and hold text to bring up a magnifying glass and tap anywhere else on the screen with another finger, and then drag to select text.
  • Double-tap a word or triple-tap a paragraph to select it and then drag the selection handles to modify your selection.
  • On an iPad or iPhone, you can also select text just as you would in any iOS app: Tap and hold text until the magnifying glass appears, and then release immediately to show the Edit menu. Then tap Select to select a single word, and adjust by dragging the selection handles.

Once you've selected text using any of the methods above, you can refine your selection by dragging the selection handles that appear.

Zoom: In some applications, such as Microsoft Office apps, you can spread two fingers apart or pinch together to enlarge or reduce text size, or otherwise zoom in or out, just as you would using a trackpad on your computer.

Use a Mouse Pointer

For an alternate way of interacting with apps, you can use an onscreen mouse pointer to click and select text, similar to how you would using a real mouse.

To use the mouse pointer, tap Panel_settings in the toolbar on the right and then tap Mouse Pointer. An arrow pointer 36654 appears and left- and right-click buttons mouse_left appear at the bottom of the screen.

Click: Drag one finger anywhere on the screen to move the pointer. Tap mouse_left to click directly under the pointer.

Select text: Tap and hold mouse_left with your thumb as you move the pointer with a finger to select text.

Drag an object: Tap and hold mouse_left with your thumb as you move the pointer with a finger to drag the object underneath it, such as a file or a folder.

Right-click: Tap mouse_right to right-click under the pointer.

Scroll: Drag up, down, left, or right with two fingers.

Magnify: To magnify text and graphics as the pointer passes over them, tap and hold until until the magnifying glass appears and then move the pointer.

PM_Magnifying_Pointer