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Arranging your computers

Updated

Written for Synergy 3 (v3.8.4) and Synergy 1 (v1.22.3), checked 20 October 2026.

Place each computer where its screen sits on your desk, and the cursor moves between computers across the edges that touch. The steps for each product are in its own section below.

Connecting your computers for the first time? For the steps, see: Connecting your computers

Several monitors on one computer

Place a computer with several monitors in the layout like any other: it takes one place there, however many monitors it has. Most monitor arrangements work as they are.

Synergy 1 and Synergy 3 treat all of a computer's monitors as one big screen, so the mouse moves to the next computer at the outer edges of that computer's whole monitor arrangement. How the monitors line up with each other is set in your operating system's display settings, not in Synergy 1 or Synergy 3.

If your monitors are uneven, or the mouse stops at some of them, see: Multiple monitor and custom monitor positioning support

Need a layout the editor can't draw?

Use a text config file for a screen wrap, where the cursor leaves one side and comes back on the other. For the steps, see: Creating a screen wrapping configuration

How to export your current layout, edit it and load it: Creating and using text config files

For a layout such as one computer beside part of another:

  • Synergy 3: drag and resize the computers on the Screen layout.
  • Synergy 1: use a config file, which makes layouts the grid can't.

What follows depends on your product: Synergy 3 or Synergy 1

Synergy 3

Install Synergy 3 on each of your computers, then open Screen layout on any one of them. Your other computers appear there on their own, and anything you change is shared with all of them.

Choose the computer that shares its keyboard and mouse

  1. On the Screen layout, click the three-dot menu on the computer whose keyboard and mouse you want to use.
  2. Click Make this primary.

The primary computer shows a mouse badge (its tooltip reads Controls the keyboard and mouse). The first-run tutorial calls this option "Use this keyboard and mouse"; it's the same thing. Your license is activated on the primary computer only. For details, see: How license activation works

Arrange and resize your computers

  • Drag each computer so its edge touches the computer next to it, where you want the cursor to cross. Computers snap together when you drag them close.
  • Drag a computer's edge or corner to resize it, so the touching edges match where your screens really meet.
  • To see computers outside the view, drag an empty part of the layout.

Synergy 3 saves the layout as soon as you let go.

The computer menu

Click the three dots on a computer, on the Screen layout or on the Manage computers page:

  • Make this primary: share this computer's keyboard and mouse (not shown on the computer that's already primary).
  • Computer preferences: name, modifier keys, dead corners and other per-computer options. Each option is explained in: Computer preferences in Synergy 3: name, modifier keys, dead corners and more
  • Retry connection: reconnect to a computer that shows as unreachable (not shown on the computer you're using). If Synergy 3 doesn't know its address yet, a Can't connect yet message offers Try again and Connect manually.
  • Remove computer: take the computer off your layout.

What the icons on each computer mean

Hover over the small icons on a computer to see its status:

  • Keyboard/mouse connected or Keyboard/mouse not connected: whether keyboard and mouse sharing is working with this computer.
  • Service reachable or Service unreachable: whether this computer's Synergy 3 background service can be reached over the network. If it's unreachable, try Retry connection, then: How to do a ping test

Auto discover

Auto discover, at the top of the Screen layout, finds other computers running Synergy 3 on your network. It's on by default. If a computer doesn't appear, add it by its address from Add computer. For the steps, see: Connecting your computers

Messages on the Screen layout

  • Computers overlap. Drag the computers apart so none sits on top of another.
  • Computers have the same name. Rename one in Computer preferences.
  • No primary computer selected. Choose one with Make this primary.
  • The current license only allows a number of computers: remove computers with Remove computer, or move to an edition that allows more: Need more computers?
  • Connection from an address rejected due to serial key mismatch. Enter the same serial key on every computer, in License on each one, starting with the computer at that address. Update all computers can't reach a computer while its serial key doesn't match. For the steps, see: Entering or changing your serial key
  • Connection from an address rejected due to incompatible version. Install the same version of Synergy 3 on every computer.
  • On a Mac, a warning about Apple Wireless Direct Link (AWDL): click Turn off AWDL and enter your Mac password to stop the stutter it causes, or Don't warn about AWDL to hide it. More about lag: What to do when the mouse cursor lags?

Need more computers?

For business and enterprise customers: Synergy Business has no limit on the number of computers. To compare the business editions, see: Comparing Synergy Business Essential, Advanced and Enterprise

For personal, non-commercial customers: Synergy 3 Max allows 15 computers, Synergy 3 Plus 5 and Synergy 3 Lite 3. To move to an edition that allows more, see: Upgrade your license to a higher edition or to Synergy 3

Synergy 1

On the server computer, click Configure Server to open Server Configuration. The Computers tab shows a grid: place each computer on it where its screen sits on your desk. Click OK when you're done. If Synergy 1 is running, it restarts to apply the new layout.

Add a computer

The easy way is to let the client connect: on the client, type the server's name or IP address in Connect to: and click Connect. The first time it connects, the server offers to add it:

  • If the server asked you to compare fingerprints, a message then says A new client called '...' has been accepted. Click OK.
  • Otherwise, the server asks A new client called '...' wants to connect. Click Add client.

Server Configuration then opens with the new computer already placed beside the server. Drag it to the right spot and click OK. The full steps for connecting a client: Connecting your computers

To add a computer by hand:

  1. Drag the new computer icon at the top right of the Computers tab (Drag to the grid to add a new computer.) onto an empty square. It appears as Unnamed.
  2. Double-click it.
  3. Type the client's name in Name, exactly as that computer shows it next to This computer's name:.
  4. Click Save.
  5. Click OK.

Move or remove a computer

Drag a computer to another square to move it. To remove one, drag it onto the trashcan at the top left (Drag a computer from the grid to the trashcan to remove it.).

Double-click any computer to change its name, aliases, modifier keys, dead corners and lock-key fixes. Each option is explained in: Synergy 1 computer settings: name, aliases, modifier keys, dead corners and lock keys

Need more computers?

To use more than 15 computers with Synergy 1, give the server a text config file. The grid in Configure Server holds at most 15 computers (5 columns by 3 rows), and each square is one computer, whatever its number of monitors, but a config file has no such limit. Once the grid is full, the new computer icon is grayed out and a new client gets no message offering to add it.

  1. On the server, click the Export server configuration button (the save icon next to Configure Server).
  2. Save the file somewhere you'll keep it, for example C:\SynergyConfiguration\synergy-server.conf.
  3. Open the file in a text editor such as Notepad.
  4. In section: screens, add the new computer's name followed by a colon, on its own line just above that section's end: 
    Computer16:
  5. In section: links, link the new computer to its neighbour in both directions. This example puts Computer16 below Computer11, so Computer11 gets a down link and Computer16 gets an up link: 
    Computer11:
    right = Computer12
    up = Computer6
    down = Computer16

Computer16:
    up = Computer11
  6. Save the file.
  7. Click Configure Server.
  8. Go to the Config file tab.
  9. Tick Use a server config file.
  10. Click the folder button next to Config file path.
  11. Choose your file.
  12. Click OK. If Synergy 1 is already running, it restarts with the new configuration; otherwise click Start.

The name you add must match the name set on the new computer in Synergy 1 (shown next to This computer's name: on that computer). While Use a server config file is ticked, the Computers, Hotkeys and Advanced tabs are switched off and everything comes from the file.

This works for any layout, not just a 16th computer below the bottom row. For rows of 10 computers, for example, give each computer a line in section: screens and a left, right, up or down link for each edge you want to cross. For the full file format, see: Creating and using text config files

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