Working with multiple screens

Connecting to your screens

Later you’ll learn how to physically connect your device to your screens. When you first connect an external screen or screens to your device, Windows will assume that you want whatever is being displayed on the device’s screen to be duplicated on the screens.

This may not be the behaviour you want. Maybe you’d prefer to use the attached screens as an extension to your device’s screen – thereby giving you an extended workspace.

You may elect to close down the lid of your device and use only the attached screen(s). This is normal practice within NFU Mutual.

Extending your workspace

To tell Windows that you want to extend the screen, rather than duplicate it, hold down the Windows key and tap P.

From the available options, select Extend.

Your desktop will now extend from your device across to your attached screen(s).

Windows 10 expects that when you first use the Extend feature, the screens will be physically placed side by side, with the attached screen(s) to the right of your device. If you have closed the lid of your device, Windows 10 will assume that if you have multiple external screens, these too will be placed side by side.

As such, when you move the mouse from left to right, Windows moves the mouse pointer from the left-most screen to the right.

This default behaviour is fine, if that’s how you’ve positioned your screens. But if not, you’ll find life a lot easier if you tell Windows how your screens are physically positioned.

Identifying and positioning screens

To tell Windows the position of your screens, hold down the Windows key and tap I.

From the Windows Settings dialogue box, select System and then select the Display tab.

Your screens will be shown, with the numbers 1, 2 and, if you have two attached screens, 3. Click Identify and those same numbers will temporarily appear on your screens. This can help you identify which screen is which.

Now drag the representation of each screen within the grey box, so that those representations match the real position of each screen relative to each other.

Click Apply and Windows 10 will adjust how it interacts with your screens. Try moving your mouse from screen to screen to see it at work.

Snapping application windows

Organising your open application windows on screen in a way that makes maximum use of the space available on your screens is very simple. It’s called snapping.

You can snap using your mouse or keyboard shortcuts.

To use your mouse, simply click on the title bar, at the top of an application window, and drag that window to the top, left or right edge of a screen.

If you drag the window to the top of the screen, you’ll see a semi-transparent frame around the entire screen. Release the window and the application will fill the screen.

If you drag the window to the left or right edge of the screen, you’ll see a frame around half the screen. Release the window and the application will fill either the left or right half of the screen.

You can snap with the keyboard too. First click into the application window that you want to snap, so that it is the current window. Now hold down the Windows key and tap either the Left, Right, Up or Down keys on the keyboard.

The Window will now snap to a new location, filling either the entire screen, or half or quarter of it. Play with the keyboard shortcuts, they’ll make sense after a little while.