Many users tend to use multiple monitors on Windows 11/10, but it’s not easy to control the brightness of all of these monitors without performing multiple clicks. This is where a Twinkle Tray or Monitorian comes into play. It allows the user to easily change the brightness of multiple monitors that are currently connected to the computer.
Change Brightness of Multiple Monitors on Windows 11/10
Using Twinkle Tray for PC
We should also point out that Twinkle Tray works just as well for single monitor computer systems, so don’t be afraid to download it and give it a test drive right now.
OK, so Windows 11 and Windows 10 deliver basic controls for controlling brightness, and that’s not ideal for some users. Therefore, we will discuss using Twinkle Tray to simplify life, especially for multi-monitor users.
First, download the Twinkle Tray app from the Microsoft Store or the official GitHub page.
After installation, click on the app icon via the tray to open it.
This is very easy to accomplish when it comes down to adjusting the brightness.
- After clicking the icon, you should see a small area for adjusting the brightness.
- This area will showcase all connected monitors.
- The monitors will be listed numerically—for example, Display 1, Display 2, Display 3, etc.
- Drag the controls under each display to increase or decrease the brightness.
Want to turn off all connected monitors? No problem at all.
- Simply click on the Twinkle Tray icon.
- From there, click the Turn off displays icon next to the gear icon.
We like what the developers have done with the Settings area. It allows users to customize the app to their liking, which is always a good thing.
- In order to open the Settings menu, the user must click on the icon.
- After that, click the Gear icon, and right away a new window will appear.
This area contains everything you need to customize Twinkle Trays to your needs. Let’s examine some of the features found within the Settings menu.
- General: The General tab contains the ability to Apply brightness at Startup. This is also the section where users can change the language, theme, user interface, tray icon, and more.
- Monitor Settings: From this tab, the user can change the brightness update rate. Additionally, if folks want to give their displays a unique name to differentiate them, then, by all means, go ahead and do it. One can also choose to reorder their monitors if that is something the user wants to do.
- DDC/CI Features: From this tab, folks can disable or enable DDC/CI features. However, it all depends on whether the connected monitors support this feature. If not, the app will make this clear.
- Time Adjustments: We like this feature very much. In fact, it is possibly the best of what Twinkle Tray has to offer, well, from our point of view. Users can take advantage of the Time Adjustments feature to determine the level of brightness by time. For example, you can set the app to increase brightness during the day and decrease said brightness during nighttime.
- Hotkeys and Shortcuts: Finally, we want to discuss Hotkeys and Shortcuts. This section allows the user to set hotkeys for certain actions. For example, you can add a hotkey to increase and decrease the brightness of each monitor. Furthermore, hotkeys can be used to turn off all displays at once.
- Updates: The update tab does nothing, so ignore it. If there are new updates, these will be downloaded and installed automatically.
Overall, we believe this is one of the best apps for Windows 11/10. We hope that Microsoft will soon realize how important this tool is and update Windows with the ability to manage the brightness of multiple monitors easily.
If not, then at least Twinkle Tray is available free of charge, well, at least for now because anything can change.
- You can download the Twinkle Tray app from the Microsoft Store.
- You can also download it from the official GitHub page.
Using Monitorian for PC
Monitorian is a free Microsoft Store app that lets you calibrate the brightness of multiple monitors with ease and consequently keeps you safe from this risk. It is also available as an installer and a portable executable.
If you have attached external monitors connected to your Windows PC, the open-source app lets you change screen brightness more easily from the system tray icon.
The tool is available as either Installer or Executables. When you decide to choose the latter option for installation, the settings file will be created at the following location:
[system drive]\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\Monitorian\
Also, when you Start or sign in, a registry value will be added to the following entry
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
When the app’s icon is visible in the system tray, you can configure it to run automatically at Windows Startup.
Selecting ‘Show adjusted brightness’ from the options menu displays the adjusted level of brightness on the slider control of the screen.
If you would like to rename any monitor in the app, simply press and hold its name until it becomes editable.
Also, to learn the capabilities of monitors, click the app title in the menu window three times and then select the button that appears. After confirming the action, a log file will be created on the Desktop.
In all, it’s a useful application that can jump into settings to change the brightness on your computer instantly or relax settings to make the viewing experience more comfortable.
At a given time, the number of monitors that can be shown or displayed is currently restricted to 4. Simply access it whenever you feel the need to dim your computer.
Requirements: Compatible with Windows 11/10, .NET Framework 4.6.2 and The external monitor must be DDC/CI enabled.
You can download the Monitorian app from Microsoft Store and the desktop software from Github.
Also read: Best Multi-Monitor Brightness Control software for Windows.
What is a Twinkle tray?
Twinkle Tray is a free app for Windows 11/10 that allows users to manage the brightness levels for one or more monitors connected to a computer. This app is required because Windows does not allow users to manage the brightness of multiple connected monitors.
Read: Prevent Windows from decreasing brightness when using Battery Saver
What is DDC CI on or off?
DDC/CI stands for Display Data Channel/Command Interface. If your monitor supports it, ensure it is always on. It allows the monitor to be connected to your video card and send data on its specifications.
