Examine the display options
Setting up a device’s display capabilities and screen effects is vital in getting the most from your computing environment. Many users need a crisp, sharp display capable of vibrant colors and fast movement.
For many people, changing the display options starts with right-clicking the desktop and then selecting the Display settings menu item. This method opens the Display item in the System category of the Settings app. Here, you can configure a wide variety of settings. The Display item contains the following configurable items:
Rearrange your displays: A large rectangle or multiple large rectangles at the top of the Display area represent your displays. When you've more than one display, you can change the placement of these display rectangles. For example, you can move one rectangle to the left and the other to the right. However, if you extend these displays, the mouse cursor won't move from left to right across the gap between displays as expected. To fix this issue, you can switch the two display rectangles - or more if you've them - so that the mouse’s cursor moves between them.
When multiple displays are connected, most settings on this page are independent for each monitor. When you review or change these settings, the setting will apply to the display you've selected here.
Identify: If you've more than one display, each display rectangle will have a number, starting with the number 1. Even if you only have one display, you'll see the rectangle with the number 1 on it. If you select the Identify hyperlink under the rectangle, a large number will appear in a pop-up window on your screen, corresponding to your displays. Therefore, if you have one display, you'll see a pop-up window with a large number 1 on your only display. If you have two displays, one display will have a large number 1 in a pop-up window, while the other will have a large number 2 in a pop-up window.
Detect: When you select this hyperlink, it detects other connected displays that haven't come up in the Display settings. However, any connected displays should show automatically.
Night light: Monitors emit a blue light, which can affect sleep habits when using the computer in the evening. Night light allows users to set a warmer tone and optionally define a schedule to turn on night light at a specific time automatically.
Color Profile: Color profiles can help monitors to display colors more accurately. Color profiles can be important for graphics, video, or photography users who want to ensure color consistency. Many monitor manufacturers provide a color profile, usually with the driver. Users reporting darkened or washed-out colors have a good chance of incorrectly setting the profile.
HDR: High dynamic range offers a more vibrant picture by increasing the range of colors displayed, which typically get lost in brighter or darker areas of content shown without HDR. HDR capabilities depend on the display and graphics card and whether the app or game supports it. Most manufacturers will show in the specs if the hardware is HDR capable. Selecting HDR provides options for adjusting and fine-tuning settings if the hardware supports it.
Change the size of text, apps, and other items: You can choose to scale the size from 100% to 225%. Selecting the Advanced scaling settings hyperlink allows you to set a custom size from 100% to 500%. This page also allows you to turn off ClearType, labeled as Fix scaling for apps. Fix scaling for apps is on by default to correct apps that may look fuzzy at different resolutions.
Resolution. This drop-down box contains all the resolution sizes available to the graphics device and monitor that make up your display(s). Sizes will vary but usually show a “(Recommended)” indicator on the resolution that best matches the connected display’s native resolution. Note that lower-end graphics hardware may be set to higher resolutions and introduce a significant performance impact.
Orientation. Not all Windows devices will have this drop-down option. Virtual machines and desktops usually don't because this is primarily a mobility function. Tablets and particular laptops will change automatically from landscape to portrait view based on how users hold them because of a gyroscopic sensor in the device. Not every device has such sensors, and the Display settings provide the orientation drop-down to manage this manually.
Multiple displays. This drop-down list box is unavailable if you only have one display. The choices you can make include Duplicate these displays, Extend these displays, Show only on 1, Show only on 2, and more if you've more than two connected displays.
Make this my main display. This check box is only available when you've two or more displays. You must select one of the large rectangular display icons to make the change. Otherwise, the main display will be the monitor you are on, which will be grayed out because it's already the main display. The display that you select will be the display on which you sign in and get the first items on the desktop.
Apply. Some changes won't take place until you select Apply. When you do so, the changed display appears with an overlay screen with a Keep these display settings? Reverting to previous display in x seconds message. The overlay screen also includes two options: Keep changes and Revert. If you select Keep changes, you'll return to the Display Settings page with the new settings applied. If you choose Revert - or wait for the seconds to elapse - the display reverts to how it was before you selected Apply. The Display Settings page appears again.
Advanced Display Settings. This hyperlink takes you to another page that allows you to set the refresh rate of each connected display. Refresh rate determines how smooth motion appears on the screen. 60 Hz is typical, meaning the display will refresh 60 times per second. Higher refresh rates consume more power and are typically only increased to improve game performance.
Graphics Settings. This hyperlink takes you to a page that allows you to assign power profiles to specific applications. For example, you may operate a power-saving profile to improve battery time. However, assign a high-performance profile to a video editing app to avoid having users understand and remember to change the device’s power settings and prevent calls to the help desk reporting poor performance.
Other display settings
Some settings that impact display can be found in the Ease of Access group (Windows 10) or Accessibility group (Windows 11) in the Settings App. These options include:
- Size of the text and mouse pointer
- Text cursor size, color, and thickness
- Enabling or disabling visual effects, such as animations or transparencies.
- Color filters and high-contrast settings
The Personalization category of the Settings app contains several configurable items that affect the display, such as background, colors, and other functions such as Themes, Lock screen, and Start menu.