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Finding your way around Synergy 3: window, menus, tray icon and pausing sharing

Updated

Written for Synergy 3 (v3.7.2), checked 7 October 2026.

Every Synergy 3 setting lives in one window. To open it, click the Synergy 3 icon in the system tray (the menu bar at the top of the screen on macOS) and choose Show config, or open Synergy 3 the way you open any other app.

The settings list

The list down the side of the window, titled Settings, has three sections.

Section Item What it's for
User Screen layout Arrange your computers and choose which one shares its keyboard and mouse (the primary computer).
User Keyboard & mouse Hotkeys, relative mouse moves, Alt Gr and lock to screen.
User Copy & paste Turn clipboard sharing on or off and set its size limit.
User License Apply a new license by logging in or entering a serial key.
Connections Manage computers See every computer Synergy 3 has found, and open each one's menu.
Connections Add computer Add a computer by its IP address or hostname when it doesn't appear on its own.
Advanced Local settings Login screen, beta updates, appearance, config file location and resetting your settings.
Advanced Local networking Which network interface Synergy 3 uses, and keep alive.
Advanced Security TLS encryption and verifying your other computers.
Advanced Miscellaneous Switching delays, the meta key, the Core port and, on Windows, UAC prompts.
Advanced Troubleshooting The log, error reporting and the diagnostic tool.
Advanced Config file (a switch) Run Synergy 3 from a text configuration file instead of the Screen layout. While it's on, the other items are grayed out.

When a newer version is ready, Update available appears at the bottom of the list. Click it to get the update.

The buttons beside the settings list

These buttons are in the bottom-left corner of the window, in the narrow strip to the left of the settings list. From top to bottom:

  • Pause: stops sharing your keyboard and mouse until you resume it, even after a restart. While sharing is off, the button is highlighted and shows a play symbol, and its tooltip says Paused; click it to resume.
  • The log button opens the log in its own window. A red dot on it means an error has been logged since you last looked.
  • Switch to light mode or Switch to dark mode: changes the window's colors. To follow your system setting instead, use Appearance in Local settings.
  • The help button opens our help center.

The tray icon

Synergy 3's icon in the system tray (the menu bar on macOS) is our logo in a single color, a ring of four curved pieces. It shows whether Synergy 3 is sharing on this computer:

  • The plain ring: sharing is on.
  • The ring faded, with a pause sign (two upright bars) in the middle: sharing is off. To share again, open the window and click the Paused button, the highlighted play symbol in the bottom-left corner. If a message shows instead, follow it. Sharing is off because you paused it, or because something needs your attention first, such as your license or a macOS permission. The pause sign also shows for a moment while Synergy 3 starts.
  • No icon: open Synergy 3 the way you open any other app, which starts it if it isn't running. If its window opens but the icon still doesn't show:
    • On Windows, click the arrow in the taskbar that shows hidden icons.
    • On macOS, quit another app that has an icon in the menu bar, since macOS hides icons that don't fit.
    • On Linux with GNOME, install a tray extension such as AppIndicator support, since GNOME shows no tray icons without one.
    • If it's still missing, please send our support team a diagnostic report from this computer: How to get diagnostic info?

If the icon shows the pause sign while you can still move your cursor between your computers, see: Tray icon shows paused, but sharing still works?

To see whether your computers are connected, open the Screen layout on your primary computer and hover over the small icons on each computer in the layout. The icons are explained in: Arrange your computers on the Screen layout in Synergy 3

The tray icon doesn't show this, only whether this computer is sharing. When your computers lose their connection, their tray icons stay plain, and when you pause your primary computer, only its own tray icon shows the pause sign.

To open the icon's menu, right-click it on Windows; on macOS and Linux, click it.

  • Show config: opens the Synergy 3 window. On Windows, clicking the icon itself does the same.
  • Pause or Resume: pauses or resumes keyboard and mouse sharing, the same as the Pause button in the window. The menu shows Resume while the icon shows the pause sign. If the icon still shows the pause sign after Resume, open the window and click Paused there, since only the window shows what's stopping sharing.
  • Restart: restarts the connection, which often fixes a connection that has stopped responding. It doesn't resume sharing you've paused; choose Resume for that.
  • Exit: quits Synergy 3. Closing the window alone doesn't quit it; it keeps sharing in the background.

The app menu

On Windows and Linux the menu is at the top of the Synergy 3 window. On macOS it's at the top of the screen while Synergy 3 is the active app.

  • Synergy 3 menu (Synergy on macOS): About (version, license and Change license), License and Exit, which closes only the window. To quit Synergy 3, choose Exit from the tray icon menu.
  • Help menu: Show Log (Ctrl+L, or Cmd+L on macOS), Contact Support and Run Diagnostic Tool.

Pause and resume sharing

To stop sharing your keyboard and mouse, click Pause in the bottom-left corner of the window, or choose Pause from the tray icon menu. To share again, click the same button, now Paused, or choose Resume from the tray icon menu. While sharing is paused, the tray icon shows a pause sign.

Synergy 3 stays paused until you resume it, even when you restart Synergy 3 or your computer. This is also how you choose whether Synergy 3 shares when it starts: leave it paused to start without sharing, or resume it to share every time.

Pause applies only to the computer you pause it on. Pausing the primary computer stops sharing with all your computers; pausing any other computer takes only that one out.

Synergy 3 opens paused?

  1. Open the Synergy 3 window.
  2. Click the Paused button, the highlighted play symbol in the bottom-left corner.

From then on, Synergy 3 shares every time it starts.

If Synergy 3 shows a message instead, follow it. Synergy 3 keeps sharing off by itself while one of these needs your attention:

If it still opens paused after you restart your computer, or clicking Paused doesn't start sharing, and none of these messages explains it, please send our support team a diagnostic report from each of your computers. Synergy 3 should share unless you've paused it, so this is a problem we need to fix. How to create the report and where to send it: How to get diagnostic info?

Tray icon shows paused, but sharing still works?

  1. Open the Synergy 3 window.
  2. Click the Paused button, the highlighted play symbol in the bottom-left corner.

Synergy 3 restarts sharing on this computer, and the tray icon goes back to the plain ring.

On macOS or Linux, if an Already running, Legacy core running or Core already running message shows instead, follow it: something else was sharing your keyboard and mouse. What to do for each one: "Already running" message in Synergy 3

If no message showed, please send our support team a diagnostic report from each of your computers. Synergy 3 should show paused only while it isn't sharing, so this is a problem we need to fix. How to create the report and where to send it: How to get diagnostic info?

Which settings reach your other computers

Most settings are shared with all your computers as soon as you change them, so you can change them from any computer. These apply only to the computer you change them on:

  • The Local settings page, except Automatically restart connection, which changes on all your computers
  • The Troubleshooting page
  • Network interface, on the Local networking page
  • Take foreground window (more reliable input capture) and, on Windows, Run as system to allow UAC interaction, on the Miscellaneous page

Can't find what you need? Contact our support team: Contacting our support team

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