Parallels Desktop Help - Copy and Paste Between macOS and Windows

Copy and Paste Between macOS and Windows

Parallels Desktop allows you to copy and paste images and formatted text (italic, bold, underlined, and of various colors, fonts, and sizes) between macOS and Windows applications.

To enable copying and pasting between macOS and Windows:

Do one of the following:
- Click the Parallels 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.
Click Options > More Options.
Select Share Mac clipboard.
To preserve text formatting when copying and pasting text, select Preserve text formatting.

Note: To enable copying and pasting between macOS and Windows, Parallels Tools must be installed. In most cases, Parallels Tools are installed by default. Copying and pasting between macOS and Windows is unavailable if you isolate macOS from Windows.

Copy and Paste Files

You can easily copy and paste files between Windows and macOS by doing the following:

Select a file (or multiple files) and press Command+C on your keyboard to copy it.
Open a folder or click the desktop in the other operating system and press Command-V to paste the file.

Notes:
1. To enable copying and pasting files between macOS and Windows, in Sharing settings All disks or Home folder only must be chosen from the Share Folders menu, and Access Windows folders from Mac must be selected. In most cases all of these options selected by default.
2. If Home folder only is selected in the Share Folders menu, you will be able to copy and paste files from the Mac to Windows only from the Mac home folder.

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Share Items Between macOS and Windows

Share Files and Folders