Use keyboard, mouse, touch, and pen in Windows App

Once you're connected to your devices and apps using Windows App, it's important to know how to use its features and configure settings. This article shows you how to user different input methods, such as keyboard, mouse, touch, and pen in Windows App.

Prerequisites

Before you can configure display settings, you need:

  • Windows App installed on your local device, or access to Windows App in a web browser, with at least one device or app added. To learn more, see Get started with Windows App

Input methods

Select a tab for the platform you're using.

Here's how to use the different input methods in Windows App for Windows. You can use a built-in or external PC keyboard, mouse, and trackpad to control devices or apps.

Keyboard shortcuts

There are several keyboard shortcuts you can use with your devices and apps. These shortcuts are divided into two categories: those shortcuts to control the session window, and those shortcuts to use in the remote session.

Here are the keyboard shortcuts you can use to control the session window:

Key combination Description
CTRL+ALT+HOME Activates the connection bar when in full-screen mode and the connection bar isn't pinned.
CTRL+ALT+PAUSE Switches the client between full-screen mode and window mode.

Most common Windows keyboard shortcuts, such as CTRL+C for copy and CTRL+Z for undo, are the same in a remote session. When you're using a device or app in windowed mode, there are some keyboard shortcuts that are different so that Windows knows when to use them in a remote session or on your local device. These keyboard shortcuts are:

Windows shortcut Windows App shortcut Description
CTRL+ALT+DELETE CTRL+ALT+END Shows the Windows Security dialog box. Also applicable in fullscreen mode.
ALT+TAB ALT+PAGE UP Switches between programs from left to right.
ALT+SHIFT+TAB ALT+PAGE DOWN Switches between programs from right to left.
WINDOWS key

or

CTRL+ESC
ALT+HOME Shows the Start menu.
ALT+SPACE BAR ALT+DELETE Shows the system menu.
PRINT SCREEN CTRL+ALT++ (plus sign) Takes a snapshot of the entire remote session, and places it in the clipboard.
ALT+PRINT SCREEN CTRL+ALT+- (minus sign) Takes a snapshot of the active window in the remote session, and places it in the clipboard.

Note

Keyboard shortcuts don't work when using device or app sessions that are nested.

Keyboard language

By default, devices and apps use the same keyboard language, also known as locale, as your Windows PC. For example, if your Windows PC uses en-GB for English (United Kingdom), the same is also used by Windows in the remote session.

You can manually set which keyboard language to use in the remote session by following the steps at Managing display language settings in Windows. You might need to close and restart the application you're currently using for the keyboard changes to take effect.

Use touch gestures

You can use touch gestures to replicate mouse actions in your remote session. If you connect to a device or app running Windows 10 or later, native Windows touch and multi-touch gestures are supported.

The following table shows which mouse operations map to which gestures:

Mouse operation Gesture
Left-click Tap with one finger
Right-click Tap and hold with one finger
Left-click and drag Double-tap and hold with one finger, then drag
Right-click Tap with two fingers
Right-click and drag Double-tap and hold with two fingers, then drag
Mouse wheel Tap and hold with two fingers, then drag up or down
Zoom With two fingers, pinch to zoom out and move fingers apart to zoom in

Learn more about how to use Windows App: