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Keyboard, mouse and clipboard

In a remote-control session your mouse and keyboard work the remote PC as if you were sitting at it, and you can copy and paste between the two PCs.

Keyboard

There are two ways to send your typing, under View options on the toolbar:

  • Keyboard: physical keys (the remote layout) (the default) sends which keys you press, and the remote PC's keyboard layout decides what they type. Best for shortcuts and games, and when both PCs use the same layout.
  • Keyboard: characters (this PC's layout) sends the characters your keyboard makes with your layout. Use it when the two PCs have different layouts, for example a US keyboard here and a German one there. Shortcuts with Ctrl or Alt are still sent as keys.

If the wrong characters appear, switch to characters. The setting for new sessions is in Settings > Display.

Windows shortcuts

While the session window is in front, the Windows key, Alt+Tab, Ctrl+Esc and Print Screen go to the remote PC, not your own. To use them on your own PC again, click another window (or your taskbar) with the mouse.

Ctrl+Alt+Del is the exception: Windows never lets an app take it from your keyboard. Use Remote actions > Send Ctrl+Alt+Del instead (see Remote actions and privacy mode). It needs the installed version on the remote PC.

Other things to know:

  • Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock on the remote PC follow yours.
  • When you switch away from the session window, any keys you were holding down are released on the remote PC, so nothing gets stuck.

Mouse

Clicks, the scroll wheel (up and down, and sideways on mice that have it) and the back and forward side buttons all go to the remote PC.

With Show the remote cursor on (under View options), the remote PC's own pointer is drawn over the picture, so you see the real shape (a text cursor, a resize arrow, a busy circle), and your own pointer hides while it is over the picture.

View only

View options > View only (no mouse or keyboard) stops sending your mouse and keyboard, so you can watch without disturbing the person at the remote PC. Turn it off to take control again. A session started with View only stays view-only.

If the person at the remote PC takes away Mouse and keyboard during the session, your input stops and the toolbar greys out what needs it.

Clipboard

With View options > Sync the clipboard on (the default - except for a computer you connect to for the first time, where it starts off until you turn it on; your choice is then remembered for that computer), whatever you copy on one PC can be pasted on the other:

  • text, both ways,
  • pictures (for example a screenshot you copied), both ways.

To copy files, use the file manager instead (see Transferring files).

The clipboard only syncs while the remote PC allows it; the person there can turn Clipboard off for your session. View-only sessions never share the clipboard. To stop sharing it yourself, turn Sync the clipboard off; the setting for new sessions is in Settings > Display.

In the web viewer

The web viewer has the same two keyboard modes, called Map keys and Type characters, but a browser can't take every shortcut. See Connecting from a browser.