Why Use PowerToys for Monitor Control?
Changing monitor settings like brightness or contrast usually means hunting for tiny physical buttons or digging through Windows display menus. Microsoft’s PowerToys monitor control feature, called Power Display, removes that friction by placing key display controls directly in the Windows taskbar. Once enabled, it adds an icon to the system tray that exposes supported settings for any detected screens. This makes it much faster to adjust monitor brightness during the day, dim your display at night, or tune contrast and color without interrupting your workflow. The feature is especially useful for multi-monitor setups where different screens need different levels of brightness. Because Power Display is part of the broader PowerToys suite, it also fits neatly into other productivity tools you may already be using, helping streamline how you interact with Windows taskbar display settings overall.
Install or Update PowerToys to Get Power Display
To use PowerToys monitor control, you first need the latest version of PowerToys on your PC. If PowerToys is already installed, open it and use the built-in update option to move to the most recent release that includes Power Display. If you do not have it yet, download and install PowerToys from the Microsoft Store or the official GitHub page. During installation, accept the default options unless you have specific preferences for startup behavior. Once setup completes, launch PowerToys from the Start menu. You should see a sidebar listing all available utilities. Power Display appears as one of the tools in this list. Confirm that PowerToys is running in the background, as its system tray monitor settings icon relies on the app staying active while you use Windows.
Enable Power Display and Configure Your Preferences
Inside PowerToys, select Power Display from the left-hand menu to open its dedicated settings page. Toggle the main switch to turn the feature on. When enabled, Power Display adds an icon to the system tray, giving you quick access to taskbar-based monitor controls. From this settings page, you can customize how the tool behaves. Change the activation shortcut to something that fits your workflow, so you can open the Power Display panel with a quick key combo. You can also create and save custom profiles, which is useful if you frequently switch between different brightness and contrast setups for work, gaming, or media. Finally, choose which controls appear: you might show brightness and contrast while hiding other sliders to keep the interface clean and focused on the adjustments you use most often.
Adjust Brightness and Other Settings From the Taskbar
With Power Display turned on, look for its icon in the system tray at the right of the Windows taskbar. Click the icon to reveal all supported controls for your connected monitors. At minimum, you will see a slider to adjust monitor brightness; drag it left or right to dim or brighten your screen instantly. Depending on what your monitor supports, additional sliders may appear for contrast, color temperature, rotation, and even volume. Each connected display gets its own set of sliders, letting you fine-tune multi-monitor setups independently. Because everything is handled via the Windows taskbar display settings interface, you no longer need to tap hardware buttons or open the main Settings app. This makes quick, incremental adjustments effortless, whether you are working in a bright office, editing photos, or watching videos in a dark room.
Explore Other PowerToys Tools That Boost Productivity
Power Display is just one part of a wider PowerToys update designed to streamline Windows workflows. The new Grab And Move tool, for example, makes window management easier on large displays. When enabled, holding the Alt key and clicking with the left mouse button lets you drag any window from anywhere inside it, not just the title bar. Alt plus the right mouse button lets you resize windows horizontally, vertically, or diagonally without hunting for edges. Other enhancements include the Command Palette, which now lets you pin favorite commands, and improvements to the Keyboard Manager Editor so editing recorded keys is smoother. The ZoomIt tool also gains support for scrolling screenshots, making it easier to capture long pages. Together with PowerToys monitor control, these features help you spend less time wrestling with windows and settings and more time focused on your actual work.