How to use multiple monitors in Windows 10

After you’ve connected your Windows 10 PC to external displays, you can adjust the settings for each one.

Video: Connecting a monitor

Here’s a video on the basics of connecting to an external monitor.

Before you start

Before changing settings for your external displays, make sure everything is connected properly. Here’s what you can do:

Make sure your cables are properly connected to your PC or dock.

Check for Windows updates. To check for updates, select Start > Settings > Updates & Security > Windows Update > Check for updates.

Tip: If you’re using a wireless display adapter, connect to an HDMI port on newer TVs, then wirelessly connect your PC to it. After connecting your wireless display adapter to your TV, go to your Windows 10 PC and select Start > Settings > System > Display, then select Connect to a wireless display.

Rearrange your displays

You’ll see this option when Windows detects more than one display. Each display will be numbered to help you identify them more easily.

Identify a display

To see which number corresponds to a display, select Start > Settings > System > Display > Rearrange your displays, then select Identify. A number appears on the screen of the display it’s assigned to.

Detect a display

If you connected another display and it isn’t showing in Settings, select Start > Settings > System > Display > Rearrange your displays, then select Detect.

Arrange your displays

If you have multiple displays, you can change how they’re arranged. This is helpful if you want your displays to match how they’re set up in your home or office. In Display settings, select and drag the display to where you want. Do this with all the displays you want to move. When you’re happy with the layout, select Apply. Test your new layout by moving your mouse pointer across the different displays to make sure it works like you expect.

Change display options

After you’re connected to your external displays, you can change settings like your resolution, screen layout, and more. To see available options, select Start > Settings > System > Display.

Change orientation

Windows will recommend an orientation for your screen. To change it in Display settings, go to Scale and Layout, then choose your preferred Display orientation. If you change the orientation of a monitor, you’ll also need to physically rotate the screen. For example, you’d rotate your external display to use it in portrait instead of landscape.

Choose a display option

To change what shows on your displays, press Windows logo key + P. Here’s what you can choose.

See things on one display only.

See the same thing on all your displays.

See your desktop across multiple screens. When you have displays extended, you can move items between the two screens.

See everything on the second display only.

Second screen only

Related topics

Simply Windows on Youtube — These videos are only available in English

How to split your screen in Windows 10

Windows has always been a great environment for multitasking, with the ability to run multiple applications at once and to switch between them with relative ease.

In Windows 10, Microsoft tightened up the snapping mechanism and expanded its functionality. Today, the latest version of Windows 10 offers a number of ways to split your screen into multiple windows and get real work done, with better support for higher-resolution displays and multiple monitors.

See more

Snap Assist

One of Windows 10’s most important contributions to split-screen multitasking is Snap Assist, which makes it easier to select an open application window when you are choosing which applications to arrange on your screen. Here’s how to use it:

Step 1: Choose the window you want to snap to one half of the screen, then drag it to the edge.

Step 2: A translucent outline of where it will snap to will appear. If you’re happy with it, let go, and your window will snap into that position.

Alternatively, press and hold the Windows key and the Left or Right Arrow key to snap the last selected window to one side of the screen.

Step 3: If you have other windows or applications open, when you snap your chosen window, you’ll also see a number of options that can fill the second half. Click on one, and it will automatically snap into place opposite the first window. If you don’t and the selection grid disappears, drag your second window to the edge of the empty space.

Step 4: To resize the two windows, hover the cursor over the dividing line until it becomes two arrows. Click and hold on the divider to adjust the two windows accordingly. However, there’s a limit to how narrow a window can be.

Note: Is Snap Assist refusing to work or acting strangely? Check your startup programs, the apps that automatically launch when you log into Windows. Sometimes these can interfere with Snap Assist, and disabling them will fix the problem. Our guide on managing startup programs is a great place to start.

Use the keyboard shortcut

Want a faster way to do this on your keyboard? There is a shortcut to split windows that are really useful. In an active window, press and hold the Windows key and then press either the Left or Right Arrow key.

This should automatically snap the active window to the left or right. Select another window to fill the second empty space.

Snapping more than two windows

If you have a large or high-resolution display, you can take advantage of all of that extra screen real estate by snapping up to four windows on a single screen using Corner Snap.

Step 1: Drag and drop your first window into any corner.

Note: To use the keyboard shortcut, press and hold the Windows key followed by the Left or Right Arrow key to snap the active window to the left or right. Next, press and hold the Windows key followed by the Up or Down Arrow key to move the snapped window into the top or bottom corner.

Step 2: With the first active window in a corner, drag and drop your second window into any other available corner. You are not required to pick a specific corner.

Step 3: Repeat Step 2 to fill in the other two corners as needed.

Note that a 2020 update to Windows 10 updated this four-window design and made all the snapped windows act as a single window. This may not sound important, but it’s really handy when you have to do something else, like open an additional app or file while working with your snapped windows — they will now stay together, waiting for you to get back.

Further reading

Turning off Snap Assist and adjusting settings

Snap Assist is easy to disable if it becomes troublesome. Here’s how:

Step 1: Open the Settings app. It’s the gear icon on the Start Menu.

Step 2: Select System.

Step 3: Select Multitasking listed on the left.

Step 4: Click the Toggle displayed under Snap Windows to toggle this feature off.

If you’d rather disable specific Snap Assist features rather than toggling it completely off, there are three settings you can disable instead. Just ignore Step 4 and uncheck the boxes next to each setting as needed:

• When I snap a window, automatically size it to fill available space
• When I snap a window, show what I can snap next to it
• When I resize a snapped window, simultaneously resize any adjacent snapped window

Customize grids with a third-party app

We’ll be the first to point out that the native Windows 10 option is impressive; however, there are a variety of third-party apps that give you a bit more. With these apps, you can enjoy more definitive, grid-like changes to your windows so you can obtain all the tools you love so much (in the perfect size) and place them wherever you desire. Our recommendation is AquaSnap .

AquaSnap lets its users develop and change as many split windows as necessary with a neat snap function that operates similarly to Windows 10. That being said, it’s slightly more flexible and consists of a few cool, extra tools such as snapping small windows together and other sweet gimmicks.

You can download and start using the Personal version of AquaSnap for free. With it, you’ll have access to basic features like docking, snapping, stretching, various keyboard shortcuts, and a whole lot more. If you’re ready to step it up, you can opt for the Professional edition, which comes in two different versions: Standard and Site. You can pay $18 for the Standard version and $600 for the Site version. These special editions allow you to acquire licenses, add convenient mouse shortcuts, benefit from multi-monitor support, and relish three other premium features.

How to set up two monitors for double the screen real estate

A must for multitaskers.

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Even a generous 24-inch monitor can feel cramped when you’ve got multiple windows open on your desktop (and who doesn’t?). It’s much worse if you’re confined to a laptop screen. Fortunately, it’s simple enough to add a second monitor to your PC setup and spread out.

(Note: While the monitors we discuss below are 1080p, our article about 1080p vs. 4K monitors can help you determine which approach to take for your own home setup.)

Mentioned in this article

Any modern desktop or laptop PC has the graphics capability to run dual displays. All that’s required is a second monitor. You can get a very nice second screen for around $100, such as a HP’s 21.5-inch, 1920×1080 Pavilon IPS monitor for $99 or so on Amazon or Acer’s 21.5-inch, 1920×1080 G226HQL for $90 on Amazon. Both feature fairly thin bezels, an important feature if you want to minimize the interruption between your two screens.

Mentioned in this article

Today’s monitors typically come with some combination of VGA, DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort ports. In other words, you’ll have a couple options for how to connect the monitor to your PC. While its common for VGA and DVI cables to come included with the display, you may have to purchase your HDMI or DisplayPort cable separately if you go that route. Those can be easily purchased on Amazon.

You can also tap your television to act as a second display in a pinch, although doing so has some potential drawbacks. Our guide to using your TV as a computer monitor explains everything you need to know, though the method for telling Windows to manage it is the same as you see below.

How to set up dual monitors

Step 1: This part is easy. Simply connect your second monitor to a power outlet and an available port on your PC.

Step 2: Next you have to tell Windows how to manage the two monitors. Right-click the desktop and select either Screen resolution (Windows 7 and Windows 8) or Display settings (Windows 10).

Windows 8: By choosing to Extend the display, your two screens will act as one.

In the resulting dialog box you can specify the displays’ arrangement. The Multiple Displays pull-down menu allows you to control how the two screens work together. Choosing Extend these displays will prompt Windows to treat your displays as one contiguous screen.

The display settings in Windows 10: Click the Identify tab under the graphic to establish your monitors’ arrangement.

Step 3: Choose monitor order. You can tell Windows which monitor is on the left or right by dragging the screen icons at the top of the dialog box. Get this wrong, and scrolling the mouse will be very confusing.

Step 4: Choose primary display. The Make this my main display option controls which monitor gets the taskbar and Start button. If you don’t see that option, the currently selected monitor is already the main one.

You can also control many of these settings by right-clicking the desktop and selecting your graphics control panel.

Senior editor Katherine Stevenson is a tech media veteran who was Editor in Chief of Maximum PC before joining PCWorld.

Split Screens in Different Versions of Windows (10, 8.1, and 7)

See multiple windows and applications on your screen

If you work with several open windows, you probably spend a lot of time switching between them. At any given moment, you might have several windows open: a browser to surf the internet, an email program, a couple of work applications, and perhaps even a game or two.

In this guide, we show you how to use a split screen in Windows 10, 8.1, and 7 so you can look at two windows at once.

Using Alt+Tab to Switch Between Windows

You can use one of the standard methods for switching between windows and apps, like Alt+Tab, but there’s another option that might suit your needs better: Windows Split Screen.

Split Your Screen in Windows 10 With Snap Assist

There are several ways to split a screen in Windows 10, but the easiest is with Snap Assist. This feature has to be enabled in Start > Settings > System > Multitasking, although it should be enabled by default.

Snap Assist lets you drag a window to a corner or side of the screen to “snap” it there, which in turn makes room for other windows to be snapped in the resulting empty screen space.

You can stack all the windows side by side by right-clicking the taskbar and choosing Show windows side by side. If there are several windows open, they’ll all resize appropriately to fit on the screen.

To split your screen in Windows 10 with Snap Assist using the mouse:

Open two or more windows or applications.

Place your mouse on an empty area at the top of one of the windows. Long-press the left mouse button, and drag the window to the right side of the screen. Move it all the way over, as far as you can go, until your mouse won’t move anymore.

Release the mouse to snap that window to the right side of the screen. It should now fill half the screen, or the corner if you dragged it there.

Select any of the other windows that are open on the left side to snap them to the left side of the screen.

Now that the two screens are beside each other, drag the dividing line that separates them to resize both windows simultaneously. This is helpful if you need to see more of one and can manage a smaller view for the other.

You can also use the Windows key + left arrow and Windows key + right arrow to snap windows.

Windows Split Screen in Windows 8 and 8.1

Microsoft assumed with Windows 8 and 8.1 that most people would use a touchscreen device. If you have a touchscreen, use the snap feature to position two windows on the screen at one time using your finger. Otherwise, use a mouse.

Stack all the windows side-by-side by right-clicking the taskbar and choosing Show windows side by side. If there are several windows open, they’ll all resize appropriately to fit on the screen.

To use split screen with Windows 8.1:

Open two or more windows and/or applications.

Place your mouse in an empty area at the top of one of the windows. Long-press the left mouse button, and drag the window to the left side of the screen. Move it all the way over, as far as possible.

On a touchscreen, swipe in from the left and hold your finger on the screen until the second window is docked on the left side of the screen.

Release the mouse to snap that window to the left side of the screen.

Select any of the other windows to snap to the right side of the screen.

Drag the dividing line to resize the windows. When you move the line between the windows or apps, only one screen is resized at a time, not both as in Windows 10.

If your screen resolution is high enough and your video card supports it, you can position three windows on the screen.

How to Do Split Screen in Windows 7

Windows 7 was the first version of Windows to support the Snap feature. It is enabled by default.

You can stack all the windows side-by-side by right-clicking the taskbar and choosing Show windows side by side. If there are several windows open, they’ll all resize to fit on the screen.

To use the Snap feature in Windows 7 to position two windows side-by-side:

Open two windows.

Place your mouse in an empty area at the top of any open window. Long-press the left mouse button, and drag the window to the left half of the screen.

Release the mouse. The window will take up half the screen.

Repeat Step 2 for the second window, this time dragging it to the right side of the screen before releasing the mouse. The window will take up the right half of the screen.

In Windows 7, you can also use the Windows key and the left or right arrow keys to move windows around.