Multi-monitor keyboard shortcuts

If you use more than one monitor then you'll already appreciate the massive productivity gains you get from having more screen estate to play with. But not many people take advantage of the amazing functionality provided by their graphics card software. One of my newest keyboard shortcuts is SHIFT+CTRL+` which I have set to move the active window to the next active monitor. This saves my having to drag windows around from one screen to the next and is superb for laying out my Inbox on one display and my calendar or task list on others.

You can discover and configure your graphics card software by right-clicking on the desktop and choosing Properties. Then go to the Settings tab and click Advanced and go to the tab named after your Graphics card. Every graphics card features slightly different software so have a root around to find something like KeyBoard Shortcuts or Hotkeys.

One other monitor tip: To get to the Advanced tab of the Display Properties dialog box in super-quick time you can add a shortcut to your desktop or the quick launch toolbar that has a target %windir%\system32\desk.cpl ,3. Here's how:

1. Right click the desktop
2. Select New > Shortcut
3. Type %windir%\system32\desk.cpl ,3 and press Next
4. Give it a name like Change Display Settings
5. Click Finish

Hey presto! You now have an icon which launches you straight to the Advanced tab of the Display Settings dialog

Tip: if %windir%\system32\desk.cpl ,3 takes you to the wrong tab, try changing the number 3 to something else. The " ,3" of the target determines the active tab but not all tab numbering sequences run in a logical numerical order as you might expect!

Comments

• Anonymous
  April 26, 2006
  how did you configured the SHIFT+CTRL+` shortcut. is this a feature of the display driver ?
• Anonymous
  April 28, 2006
  Yes, I configured CTRL+SHIFT+` using the display driver application.