What is Coherence?
So, Parallels Desktop 11 introduces a new Travel Mode that saves your battery life on your Mac laptop. You can increase battery life up to 25% by switching off power-hungry features. You can also set it to switch on Travel Mode automatically when the battery charge drops to a certain level. Travel Mode in Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac If there’s one drawback to running Windows on your Mac with Parallels Desktop, it’s that a virtual machine can really eat away at your battery life if you’re not careful.
Coherence is a view mode that allows you to run Windows applications on your Mac, as though they were native Mac applications.
In Coherence mode, you can use both your Windows and Mac applications at the same time without managing two separate desktops or rebooting.
You can even load Windows applications directly from your Mac Dock or Mac desktop. In this mode, all Parallels Desktop controls, icons, and menus are hidden, except for the Parallels icon in the Mac menu bar and the Windows Applications folder in the Dock.
Additionally, due to its nature Coherence mode completely disables Windows screen saver instead, Mac screen saver is being used.
Windows Start button and Desktop are hidden in Coherence mode.
- Windows Taskbar buttons are available on Mac menu bar:
- Windows Start menu is available by clicking on Windows Dock icon:
Toggle Coherence mode
Enter Coherence
- When Windows is in Windowed view mode, click on View menu > Enter Coherence:
- Click on the Coherence icon (blue circle) in the top left corner of the virtual machine window:
Exit Coherence
- Click on the Parallels icon in the Mac menu bar and select View then click Exit Coherence.
- Or right-click on the Windows icon in the Dock and select View then click Exit Coherence.
Working with a virtual machine in Coherence
Start Windows application
- Click on the Windows Applications Folder in the Dock and choose the application you need:
Open Windows Start menu
- Right-click on the Parallels icon on Mac menu bar to activate Windows Start menu:
- Click on the Parallels icon in the Mac status bar and select Windows Start menu:
- Click on the Windows icon in the Dock:
Switch between open Windows applications
- Click on application icon in the Mac Dock:
Note: All Windows applications icons are marked with the Parallels symbol to distinguish them from Mac applications.
Additional options for Windows applications
- Additional options are available by right-clicking on their Dock icons:
- New item menu allows to open a new application window/mail/document, etc. depending on application functionality.
- Quit, Hide, Show All Windows, Options, and Add to Launchpad are the same as for native Mac applications.
- App Settings allows to assign certain actions per-application basis, such as Keep Mac Awake, Always Hide Others, Do Not Disturb, Use in Full Screen.
- Show Jump List activates the Jump List available for Windows applications' icons in the Windows Task Bar.
If you have several windows of the same Windows application open, you may switch among them in Mac:
- By selecting from the corresponding list by right-clicking on the application icon in the Dock:
- By using Show All Windows option:
To access the virtual machine configuration:
- By selecting from the corresponding list by right-clicking on the application icon in the Dock:
- Either right-click on the Windows icon in the Dock and select Configure...:
- Or click on the Parallels tray icon in the Mac status bar and select Configure...
Settings
The settings for Coherence mode are available in virtual machine Configuration > Options > Applications.
Note: To be able to use Coherence mode, Parallels Tools should be installed(see KB 115835).
To learn more about how Coherence work, we also recommend visiting this blog post: Coherence - It’s a Kind of Magic!
Parallels, the virtualization software famous for being able to run Windows on the Mac, is celebrating its 10 years of innovation this week. Parallels has seen a cornucopia of changes since its initial launch in 2006 and it shows no signs of slowing down. Today marks the 10th anniversary since Parallels’ launch and they’ve decided to spend the next week highlighting the decade of features that made its way onto the Mac. To infamfurther show their appreciation towards previous, current, and future customers, Parallels is offering 25% off Parallels Desktop software. This includes Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac, Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition, and Parallels Desktop Business Edition. We’ve decided to take a deep dive with the Parallels team into showcasing their trajectory from where they came, and where they might go in the years to come.
Parallels may be simply known to many as virtualization software for the Mac, and that’s how I often treated it whenever someone asked me what it did. When I worked at an Apple retail store, I frequently showcased it to customers looking to make the move from Windows to Mac. Many of these customers had one or two apps that required a Windows system (proprietary or enterprise software), and I knew Parallels would be a solid fit for them.
Personally, I have been using Parallels ever since I worked at Apple Retail. While taking my Computer Science courses in college, I used it so that I could run code in Visual Basic alongside Xcode to see memory differences in the way each OS handled itself. At one of my previous jobs I used Parallels to run proprietary software alongside my Mac dev environment. I found it easier to use the two with Parallels’ Coherence Mode instead of having to learn and recreate my workflow within Windows.
History
Parallels history is a long and interesting read, especially when you realize they launched their initial version a year before Apple launched the original iPhone. The company has moved insanely fast in software releases (already onto its 11th version!) and has shown a dedication to improving the products.
Let’s take a quick look at some of Parallel’s history before diving into what this signifies for the future.
June 15th, 2006: Parallels Desktop launches and becomes the first software to mainstream virtualization software on the Mac. Customers are now able to run Windows and OS X simultaneously on a Mac without having to reboot into Bootcamp.
Parallel's For Mac
February 27th, 2007: Parallels Desktop sees its 2.5 release, introducing its Coherence Mode to the world. The new functionality allows a user to run Windows applications seamlessly alongside Mac applications, and then utilizing gestures from the Mac within both.
November 11th, 2008: Parallels Desktop 4 for Mac is released with support for 32-bit and 64-bit architecture virtual machines.
November 4th, 2009: Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac launches with full support for Windows 7 and OS X. Apple’s Multi-Touch trackpad gestures and Drag and Drop support are added in further unifying both operating systems.
September 14th, 2010: Full 64-bit architecture support is introduced with Parallels Desktop 6. Mac OS X’s Spotlight is integrated with Windows.
June 2011: Parallels Desktop for Mac Enterprise Edition (now renamed to Business Edition) is launched with features that unify volume license keys and introduces a license portal for IT administrators.
September 6th, 2011: OS X Lion support is introduced alongside Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac with Full-Screen, Launchpad for Windows apps, and Mission Control.
November 6th, 2011: NASA is spotted with Parallels Desktop installed on their MacBook Pros that were used to successfully land the Curiosity Rover on Mars.
September 4th, 2012: Parallels Desktop 8 for Mac is launched with full support for DirectX 10. Mountain Lion’s dictation with text-based Windows apps is now functional, and shared Bluetooth is now a feature.
August 28th, 2013: Parallels Access mobile app is launched. Customers can now use iPads and iPhones with native touch gestures to access and run applications on their Mac and Windows remotely at anytime.
September 5th, 2013: Parallels Desktop 9 for Mac integrates Dropbox, iCloud, and SkyDrive and skyrockets to 40% better virtual machine performance over its predecessors.
August 20th, 2014: Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac launched with support for OS X Yosemite. Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac Pro Edition features the Parallels Wizard that creates optimized and automatically configured virtual machines to best suit different user needs.
August 19th, 2015: Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac and Pro Edition is launched with OS X El Capitan and Windows 10 support. Windows 10’s Cortana assistant is brought to the Mac, even before Apple’s own Siri has arrived. Cortana is able to be used with Mac applications, and Parallels introduces its new power-saving Travel Mode.
Future
All of the discussions of Parallels’ past got me thinking what this meant for the company’s future. I already ran Windows alongside my Mac and the two felt like magic when working in conjunction with one another. There is a certain point where the experience just felt like a single unified one. Parallels felt less like virtualization software and more like another tool to help run the software that I know and love.
I spent some time with Nikolay Dobrovolskiy, VP of Desktop Virtualization at Parallels, to discuss where he felt Parallels would be going in the years to come. I mentioned to him how when running Parallels there was a certain point where Windows and Mac blended together (of course UI differences aside…), especially in Coherence Mode. He stated this is generally the goal that Parallels is focusing on.
He explained to me that Parallels as a company looks to put its focus on three key areas: virtualization with its Parallels Desktop software, remote access with Parallels Access, and business environment solutions with its Parallels Remote Application Server and Parallels Mac Management software.
Dobrovolskiy frequently returned back to talk about a 2026 vision he had for software as a whole. He believes in a future where software will move more towards a unified workspace; a collection of applications used, with music, videos, and notes stored across all devices. These would be available everywhere at any time, no matter what OS as user was on. An end user wouldn’t even have to think about where these apps were or where the files were stored, because for them it truly didn’t matter.
He mentioned how 25 years ago technology was at a point where there was, for all intents and purposes, a “computer guy”. This person would have enough of a general knowledge on computer technology that they could quickly debug various issues across multiple different paradigms. The issue with this computer guy mentality today is that the complexity of technology as a whole has outpaced the learning technical knowledge of any one person. The very connections that aren’t necessarily important for an end user to see, now become a confusing mess to a computer guy looking to solve and maintain various systems.
From the discussion I had with Dobrovolskiy, it sounded to me as if he believed Parallels could become that software that would integrate various other pieces of software together in seamless ways. I gleaned that this could mean that instead of a computer guy needing to understand all the connections across various systems, he could debug issues by returning to its intial “connector”. Parallels software, could be the connector here that brings everything together.
Parallels For Mac Support
In my eyes, Parallels has long passed the notion of “virtualization software”. It’s transcended into something akin to a software/environment unifier. Parallels Desktop on the Mac is simply the foot in the door, whereas Parallels Access brings a whole new paradigm to touch interfaces where they didn’t previously exist. The conversations I had with Dobrovolskiy made me excited to see where the company would continue to go next, and what it would mean for all its customers.
Parallels For Mac Review
Parallels Desktop is currently on sale for 25% off its current lineup. This includes Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac, Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition, and Parallels Desktop Business Edition.
Buy Parallels For Mac
If you have any questions for me about my journey and experience with Parallels, please leave them in the comments below and I’ll get back to them!