Each August, the Mac community is treated to the latest version of Parallels Desktop. This application, which is celebrating its tenth birthday this year, provides a way for Mac users to run Microsoft Windows — and a lot of other desktop and mobile operating systems — on their favorite computer without needing to use Boot Camp. While Boot Camp provides a way to turn any Mac into a fast and compatible Windows machine, Parallels gives users the ability to run Windows and Mac apps side by side. On August 18, Parallels announced Parallels Desktop 12, the latest iteration in this venerable and useful virtual machine environment. Let’s take a look at what’s new.
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Parallels Toolbox for Mac is a smart, simple set of tools and utilities to simplify everyday tasks. Compress files with one click to use less storage space.
Enhanced Performance
Every year, the team at Parallels manages to squeeze out a little more performance out of Parallels Desktop. This year, the team has concentrated on enhancing the speed of creation of Snapshots, which are captured “points in time” for a virtual machine. Parallels Desktop 12 can do this up to 90 percent faster, suspend virtual machines up to 60 percent faster, access shared folders up to 25 percent faster, and even provide up to 10 percent more battery life on MacBooks.
Once macOS Sierra is available, all Desktop 12 users will be able to control the storage space used by virtual machines from Sierra’s optimized storage control panel.
Parallels Toolbox for Mac
One of the new features of Parallels Desktop 12 is Parallels Toolbox for Mac. Automatically installed when Parallels Desktop 12 is installed on your Mac, Toolbox provides menubar access to a group of commonly-used utilities (see image below). The company plans to release new tools quarterly, so the usefulness of Toolbox will increase with time.
What’s in Toolbox? At this time, the tools include:
Archiver: A tool for archiving/unarchiving files and folders through a drag and drop interface. Archives can be password-protected, and the unarchive tool works with ZIP, RAR and other archive formats.
Record Screen: A screen recorder that captures windows, screen areas, or full screen views, and saves them to a video file.
Take Screenshots: Provides screenshot capabilities for windows, areas, and full screens. Helpful for those times when you can’t remember the OS X screenshot shortcuts…
Time: You know the clock app in iOS? That’s similar to what the Time function of Toolbox does. It has an alarm clock, date countdown function, a stopwatch, and a timer.
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Convert Video:A drag and drop method of converting videos for viewing on iPhone and iPad. It works very well with the next function.
Download Video: Download copies of internet videos from YouTube, Facebook and other sites. Just drag the video URL to the tool or paste it in, and it is downloaded to your Mac.
Do Not Disturb:A fast way to put your Mac into “Do Not Disturb” mode, although it’s just as quick to do it from Notification Center. In the process of doing something that shouldn’t be stopped or slowed by your Mac going to sleep? Do Not Sleep ensures that your Mac stays wide awake.
Hide Desktop:This is a useful function when doing screen sharing, as it hides all icons on your Mac desktop with a single click.
Lock Screen:With a click, you can lock your Mac screen when you leave your desk.
Mute Microphone: Helpful when you’re making Skype or FaceTime calls and need to answer a phone. It mutes and unmutes the microphone with a click.
Record Audio: Need to record an audio message with a click? This starts a recorder immediately. I’ve found this useful for recording conversations on speaker phone.
Parallels Access
The Pro and Business Editions of Parallels Desktop 12 include a license for Parallels Access. This app provides what I consider to be the best remote access function available if you need to control your Mac from an iOS device. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve used the Access iOS app to connect to my Mac from iPad or iPhone in order to run some process that I just couldn’t do on the iOS device (see image below):
Parallels Access on an iPhone 6s Plus displaying apps on a remote Mac
Other functions
In the past, if you wished to add a Windows 10 virtual machine and didn’t have a license code for Windows 10, you had to either go to your nearby office supply store and buy one, or order a license online. Now Parallels Desktop 12 takes care of that for you, allowing you to buy and install Windows from right inside the Parallels Wizard (see image below):
The Parallels VM Wizard, which now allows users to buy a Windows license
One very cool feature is the Scheduled Windows Maintenance Option that allows the user to schedule Windows updates and maintenance at times where they aren’t going to be disruptive to work (see image below):
I love this next feature — I store a lot of non-critical website passwords in the Mac keychain so that they’re automatically filled in when I visit a site. Now Parallels Desktop 12 extends that capability to Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer running in Windows. Once can also open SharePoint and Office 365 in the MS Office for Windows desktop applications directly from Mac Safari or Chrome browsers.
One of the more useful features for developers is the ability to mimic network conditions through preconfigured network profiles. While testing apps in a virtual machine, users can use the Network Conditioner (only in the Pro edition of Parallels Desktop 12) to simulate EDGE, 100 percent loss, 3G, DSL, “very bad networks” and Wi-Fi.
Finally, if you want to try other operating systems just for the heck of it or need to run an app that only runs on one of those other operating systems, there are a variety of free system available from the VM Wizard. Google’s Chromium OS, Ubuntu Linux, Android, Fedora Linux, CentOS Linux and Debian GNU/Linux are all immediately installable in the Wizard. I’m currently checking with Parallels to see if macOS Sierra beta versions can be installed in virtual machines, as it would be a safe and convenient way to continue testing the new versions of the upcoming Mac operating system. Once I’ve received word from Parallels, I’ll update this post.
Click here to find out if you qualify for free Parallels 12 upgrade from MacSales.com and for information on special pricing.
BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Parallels® (www.parallels.com/about), a global leader in cross-platform solutions and creator of industry-leading software for running Windows® applications on a Mac®, today launched Parallels Toolbox 2.5 for Mac (www.parallels.com/toolbox). The new suite of easy-to-use tools simplifies tedious everyday computing chores down to just a click or two, so Mac users can quickly get the job done and supercharge their productivity. Additionally, Parallels Toolbox Business Edition launched today making it easy for businesses to provide employees with the time-saving tools they need, while giving IT admins the total control and flexibility they require.
“Many employees lose valuable time every week struggling with how to get basic things done simply and quickly – like prevent presentation disruptions, clean the drive, record video of their screen to share or convert to the right format, securely archive files and more. Available solutions are unnecessarily complex, and manual steps can be hard to remember,” said Jack Zubarev, President of Parallels. “With Parallels Toolbox, users and businesses can quickly accomplish common tasks in just a click, and it provides an ever-growing suite of tools at their fingertips to get things done and be more productive.”
New Tools in Parallels Toolbox 2.5 for Mac include:
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- Screenshot Page – capture and print lengthy webpages that don’t fit into your screen: Take and print screenshots of webpages in one click – even long pages that don’t fit into your browser screen. Easily add a button to your Safari toolbar for even more convenient use, and designate the default output file format as PDF, PNG or JPG in settings. Demo videos: How to Capture Lengthy Webpages - “Snagit 2018 vs. Parallels Toolbox” (https://youtu.be/fwG_iuIUFhs), and “How to Capture a Full Webpage Screenshot with a Safari Extension” (http://bit.ly/ScreenshotSafariPR) .
- Free Memory – reclaim RAM memory and optimize its consumption on your Mac. Add this Free Memory tool to the macOS menu bar to easily check how much RAM is available with just a click and reclaim available memory.
- Resize Images – batch convert images to your desired file size and format. Simply drag the source images to the tool’s window, specify the desired dimensions/size and output location, and click.
New Enhanced Versions of Existing Parallels Toolbox Tools:
- Clean Drive – reclaim disk space before you run out: Quickly scan and detect duplicate files for easy review and removal, discover the largest files, remove temporary OS and applications files, and free up potentially gigabytes of space in just a click. This newly enhanced tool now monitors your drive and periodically reminds you to run it to remove useless junk in the filesystem (old logs, caches, mobile device backups, etc.) for better Mac performance. Demo video: How to Clean Drive and Free-up Space on My Mac (http://bit.ly/CleanDrivePR).
- Download Video – watch your favorite YouTube and internet videos offline: Simply drag and drop or copy and paste a video URL to the tool to instantly start its download. Pre-select your desired resolution (max, up to 1080p, 720p or 360p) and download destination, such as desktop or folder. Add the Safari extension to make video downloading even easier. Demo video: “How to Download YouTube Video to My Mac” (http://bit.ly/DownloadVideoPR).
- Record Video – easily record screen videos with your desired resolution and audio source: Record Area, Screen or Window in just a click, with the ability to pre-select audio source (same as system, display audio, built-in microphone or mute), resolution, and destination such as desktop or folder.
- Capture Tools – time-delay option for better results: Users can now specify a 1-5 second delay when capturing screen.
Streamlined Video/Photo Capture and Conversion
- Make a GIF: Quickly create animated GIFs from videos. Pre-select your desired GIF frame rate and resolution, then drop a video onto the tool's window or open a video, adjust the start and end points, and add some text. Simply click 'Make GIF' and it's saved in the same location as the video. Demo video: “How to Quickly Make GIF with Parallels Toolbox for Mac” (https://youtu.be/Sz0S1AAp2YM).
- Convert Video: Drag almost any video to the tool, such as your favorite movie or TV show, to convert it to MP4 so it can be played on tablets and phones. Demo video: “How to Convert Video to MP4 on My Mac” (http://bit.ly/ConvertVideosPR).
- Take Photo: Take photos using the PC’s camera and the image file is saved at your pre-selected destination such as your desktop or a folder.
- Capture Screen: Click anywhere to take a screenshot of the entire screen and automatically save it in a variety of formats (PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PDF and GIF) to your desktop or pre-selected folder.
Enhanced Presentations and Screen Sharing
- Presentation Mode – avoid embarrassing disruptions: One click hides desktop files, blocks email, message notifications, prevents sleep mode, and automatically detects and adjusts resolution for external displays. It will even remember your desired settings for each monitor and automatically make proper adjustments every time you reconnect. Click again to restore everything. Demo video: “How to Avoid Mac Presentation Disruptions” (https://youtu.be/BdMM-WdeHLE).
- Launch – opening multiple applications and files for a project is now fast and simple: With just one click, open several items at once—such as applications, documents, folders, links or other files. Simply drag the files to the tool’s window to create a sequence of items that automatically open the next time you click the tool’s icon.
- Do Not Disturb – don’t waste time changing settings in each running application: One click disables notifications and Dock animations that could interrupt your work or presentation.
- Do Not Sleep – prevent disruptions and inconvenient logouts: Disables all system settings that cause the computer to sleep in just one click.
- Hide Desktop – instantly hide distracting files instead of moving each one manually: One click hides files, folders and icons on your desktop for clutter-free presentations. Demo video: How to Quickly Hide Icons and Files on My Mac Desktop (http://bit.ly/HideDesktopPR).
- Switch Resolution – easily make your screen easy on the eyes: Change display resolutions in a snap to make text and images displayed on screen easy to read. Demo video: “How to Change Mac Screen Resolution – System Preferences vs. Parallels Toolbox” (https://youtu.be/onUYm3bAtMQ).
Improved Mac Productivity
- Archive: Easily create compressed and password-protected archives of your files from various locations, to save space or share them, by dragging files and folders to this tool window – no need to move or copy files to a single folder.
- Unarchive: Quickly unpack archives of various file compression formats—such as RAR, RPM, XAR, and Z—including those not supported by the built-in system utility. Double-clicking these files opens unarchive and starts unpacking, even password-protected archives.
Parallels Toolbox Business Edition
IT admins get total control with Parallels Toolbox Business Edition, which makes it simple to deliver time-saving and help-ticket-reducing tools to employees based on their individual needs:
- Manage licenses and subscriptions
- Unified volume license key: Quickly and easily deploy to all computers across the organization with a single license key that activates multiple copies of Parallels Toolbox.
- License Management Portal: Simple, user-friendly dashboard enables IT. administrators to view license key, expiration dates and track the number of individual licenses in use and available.
- Split license key into sublicenses: Protect the master license key by creating sublicenses with a limited number of individual licenses and custom expiration dates.
- Deploy and Customize
- Mass Deployment and Administration: Parallels Toolbox Business Edition is quickly and easily deployed on computers across an organization with standard software development tools.
- Customizable Tool Library: Quickly and easily customize and control the list of tools available to staff based on individual needs.
Availability and Pricing
Download Parallels Toolbox For Windows
Parallels Toolbox 2.5 for Mac, as well as the separately announced Parallels Toolbox 1.5 for Windows, are each available today as a stand-alone product at www.parallels.com/toolbox for $19.99 per year. Each annual license includes free updates of new and enhanced tools as they become available several times a year.
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About Parallels
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Parallels is a global leader in cross-platform solutions which make it possible and simple for customers to use and access the applications and files they need on any device or operating system. We help customers take advantage of the best technology out there, whether it’s Windows, Mac, iOS, Android™ or the cloud. Parallels solves complex engineering and user experience problems by making it simple and cost-effective for businesses and individual customers to use applications wherever they may be—local, remote, in the private datacenter or in the cloud. Visit www.parallels.com/about for more information.
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