General: Using the Display menu and virtual displays in Fluid sessions

Jump Desktop 10's in-session Display menu lets you control how the remote desktop is laid out across your local screens while you're connected. This article covers the menu's sections, the quick presets, and how to set up virtual displays — including the new Fixed Size per-monitor configuration in the server's Display settings.

These options apply to Fluid connections (Jump Desktop Connect on the host). The menu adapts to what the host supports — items that don't apply to the current connection are hidden automatically.

Opening the Display menu

While connected to a remote computer:

• Mac: Click Display in the menu bar.
• Windows: Open the in-session toolbar and click the Display menu.

Quick presets

The top of the menu offers three one-click layouts. They are the fastest way to get a good remote-desktop arrangement without thinking about individual settings.

If you ever want to go back to fine-grained control after using a preset, the rest of the menu still works — adjust resolution, virtual display count, or window mode independently and your changes are preserved.

Saved Presets

Save your favorite display arrangement once and apply it on any other Fluid connection.

1. Arrange the windows the way you like — set the virtual display count, choose Retina if you want it, drag windows to the screens you want.
2. Open Display ▸ Saved Presets ▸ Save Current as Preset… and give the preset a name.
3. On any other Fluid connection, open Display ▸ Saved Presets, point to your preset's name, and click Apply.

To remove a preset, hover its name in the submenu and click the Remove (trash) item. Apply and Remove are visually distinct so you don't trigger one when you meant the other.

Saved Presets are stored on the computer you're connecting from, so they follow you regardless of which host you connect to.

Virtual Displays

Virtual displays are software displays that Jump asks the host to create for the duration of your session. They're useful when:

• The host is headless (no physical monitor attached).
• You want your local displays' size and aspect ratio reflected on the remote desktop.
• You want to split the remote desktop across multiple windows.

Under Display ▸ Virtual Displays you'll see:

• Off (Show Host Displays Only) — use only the displays physically attached to the host.
• Same as this Mac / Same as this PC — let Jump pick the count automatically to match your local screens. Because this usually creates more than one display, it requires Jump Desktop for Teams Enterprise.
• 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 — pick an explicit number of virtual displays for this session. A single virtual display is included on every plan; choosing two or more requires Jump Desktop for Teams Enterprise.
• Keep After Disconnect — when checked, the virtual displays stay on the host after you disconnect (so any apps or windows you left behind stay where you put them for next time). When unchecked, the virtual displays are removed when you disconnect. If the host has a policy that forces this on or off, the checkbox shows that state and is greyed out.

Resolution

• Match Display Resolution — resize the remote desktop to match your local display size as your window size changes. Recommended for most cases.
• Use Retina Resolution — render the remote desktop at Retina (HiDPI) pixel density so text and edges look sharper on high-resolution screens.

Layout

• Displays In Single Window — show all remote displays together in one window.
• Displays In Separate Windows — show each remote display in its own window; useful with multiple local screens. This is included for everyone on macOS; on Windows it requires Jump Desktop for Teams Pro or later.
• Save Layout — save the current per-window arrangement for this server. The next time you connect, this layout will be applied automatically. (Hidden on Mac when "Save Window Positions" is enabled in Preferences, because layouts then save automatically.)

Active Displays

When the host has multiple displays and you're in Single Window mode, this section lets you choose which remote display is visible.

• Cycle Displays — switch to the next remote display.
• The list below shows each remote display's name and resolution; pick one to jump straight to it. Virtual displays are tagged with "Virtual".

Configuring virtual displays before you connect

You can also configure virtual displays per-server so they take effect every time you connect to that computer.

1. In the main Jump Desktop window, right-click the server and choose Edit Server.
2. Open the Display tab.
3. Set Display type to Virtual. (The default Host uses the host's existing displays.)
4. Pick a Virtual displays count: Same as this Mac/PC, or an explicit number.
5. Choose a Resolution mode (see below).
6. (Optional) Turn on Keep After Disconnect if you want the virtual displays to persist on the host between sessions.

Resolution modes for virtual displays

Fixed Size per-monitor configuration

When you pick Fixed Size, a card appears for each virtual display. Click a card to open its configuration sheet:

• Resolution — pick from common presets (e.g. 1920 × 1080, 2560 × 1440, 3840 × 2160) or choose Custom… to type in any width and height.
• Scale factor — choose how large text and UI elements appear (e.g. 100%, 125%, 150%, 200%). Matches the macOS or Windows display-scaling settings most users are familiar with.
• Refresh rate — pick a refresh rate (e.g. 60 Hz, 120 Hz) or choose Custom… for a specific value.

Each virtual display can have different settings — for example, you can configure one at 4K @ 150% scale for productivity and another at 1080p @ 100% for testing.

Resolution modes for non-virtual (Host) displays

If you leave Display type set to Host, the Resolution picker offers a different set of options:

Tips

• Sharpest possible output: in Fluid sessions, pick Matched Virtual Displays (or Match @ Retina with the corresponding virtual display count). The host's display will exactly match the size and pixel density of your local screen, so there's no scaling between host and viewer.
• Multi-monitor productivity: save your preferred multi-window layout as a Saved Preset so you can reapply it on a new host with one click.
• Apply only some changes: the menu doesn't have an Apply button — every change is sent to the host as soon as you click it.

Requirements

The features above are part of Fluid connections (Jump Desktop Connect on the host). Your local Jump Desktop viewer must be running version 10.12 or later — the Display menu, Saved Presets, and Fixed Size per-monitor configuration all ship in the viewer.

What's available depends on your plan:

• One virtual display — a single high-performance virtual display is included with every version of Jump Desktop, on all plans and all platforms.
• More than one virtual display — using two or more virtual displays (the Matched Virtual Displays preset, the Same as this Mac / Same as this PC option, or any virtual display count above 1) requires Jump Desktop for Teams Enterprise on every platform.
• Displays In Separate Windows — showing each remote display in its own window is included for everyone on macOS. On Windows it requires Jump Desktop for Teams Pro or later; because the quick presets use separate windows, they require Teams Pro on Windows as well.