Parallels Toolbox 5.0 Adds New Tools on Windows and Mac

Parallels Toolbox 5.0 is available today on Windows and Mac, several new tools on top of the new UI that debuted in version 4.5.

There are five new tools, four for Windows–Barcode Generator, Barcode Reader, Measure Color, and Recognize Text—and five for the Mac: Barcode Generator, Barcode Reader, Focus on Window, Transform Text, and Recognize Text.

A quick rundown:

Barcode Generator. This tool is used to generate QR codes, UPC codes, and many other codes.

Barcode Reader. Just drag an image containing a code of any kind onto this app, and it will recognize it. You can also hold a code in front of your computer’s camera to scan it that way.

Focus on Window. This new tool highlights one window and dims the rest of the open windows on-screen so you can focus on what you’re doing.

Transform Text. This tool helps you transform text to capitalize case, title case, lower case, sentence case, or other styles. It can also clean up text by removing empty lines, duplicate lines, or by reversing it.

Recognize Text. This tool converts an image of text into actual plain text that can then be copied to the clipboard and used elsewhere.

Measure Color. This Windows-only tool works like a color-eyedropper so you can obtain the color of any item you can see onscreen.

Parallels Toolbox 5.0 costs $19.99 per year but you can try it for free for 7 days. If you’re not familiar with this set of tools, be sure to check it out: I think you’ll be surprised by how useful it is.