Tutorials

Follow a task from preparation to a working result, with numbered steps, checks and a way to undo the setup. Start with the tutorial closest to what you want to accomplish; the linked interface pages provide deeper details about individual settings.

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Separate articles that explore this topic in more detail.

Set up a fully scalable HiDPI desktop
Choose a comfortable desktop size without being limited to the few scaled resolutions macOS shows by default.
Increase desktop brightness on an XDR or HDR display
Use brightness upscaling to make ordinary desktop content brighter than the display's usual SDR range.
Enable Night Shift for a television
If macOS treats your television—or an HDMI-connected monitor—as a TV, changing its display role to Computer monitor can remove the classification that prevents Night Shift from affecting it.
Reduce PWM and temporal dithering
Keep hardware brightness out of a display-specific low-brightness range, or turn off exposed GPU dithering, when those settings help your preferred viewing setup.
Set up a flipped screen for a DIY teleprompter
Flip a virtual desktop before sending it to your teleprompter display, so text reads correctly through the reflecting glass.
Rotate Sidecar into portrait orientation
Use a portrait virtual desktop streamed to your Sidecar iPad for a taller workspace.
Use the working part of a damaged screen
Place a smaller virtual desktop inside a display's usable area when damaged pixels occupy an edge.
Make external monitors follow your MacBook’s automatic brightness
Make external monitors follow detected changes to your MacBook’s built-in brightness, including automatic adjustments by macOS.
Keep your monitor arrangement and main display consistent after wake
Protect a multi-monitor arrangement and preferred main display across supported wake, reconnect and resolution changes.
Create one-key Work and Evening display presets
Create repeatable macOS Shortcuts that apply named Work and Evening settings to several monitors.
Switch all your monitors between a Mac and PC with one shortcut
Create separate Mac and PC Shortcuts with verified per-monitor input destinations and a tested return plan.
Use external monitors with your MacBook open and its built-in screen disconnected
Use the MacBook keyboard and trackpad while supported external monitors provide the active desktops.
Find a sharp HiDPI setup without sacrificing more refresh rate than necessary
Compare complete display modes to find a working balance between HiDPI desktop size, refresh rate and HDR.
Configure a desk with both native and DisplayLink monitors
Identify each video path, choose desktop sizes and preserve a useful layout across native and DisplayLink monitors.
Give a headless Mac a comfortable virtual desktop for remote access
Create a readable virtual desktop on a headless Mac and check access through Apple Screen Sharing.
Match brightness across different monitors
Compare percentage and calculated nits synchronization to match brightness across different monitors.
Fix an output-range mismatch and keep a working color mode
Match the monitor’s input range, compare supported color formats and protect a physically checked result.
Make text and interface elements a similar size across different displays
Configure UI Scale Matching so different displays use suitable modes with similar physical interface size.
Get reliable hardware brightness and volume through your dock
Establish which hardware brightness and volume commands work through your dock and configure suitable controllers.
Create a dedicated 16:9 desktop for recording and screen sharing
Create a separate 16:9 virtual desktop for recording or sharing while keeping the ordinary workspace available.
Keep a desktop available while a KVM switches away from your Mac
Keep a virtual desktop connected while a KVM removes the physical monitor, then restore its presentation when the monitor returns.
Switch between laptop-only, home-desk, and office-desk setups
Combine explicit display connection presets with suitable layout and synchronization groups for different workplaces.
Restore brightness and display settings reliably after wake
Diagnose lost display settings after wake and apply targeted restoration or recovery where it is supported.
Use your Mac keyboard to control a TV’s volume, power, and input
Configure a supported TV controller and use verified keyboard actions for volume, power and input selection.
Make volume keys follow the device you are actually listening to
Make volume and mute keys follow your monitor audio output and headphones using separate listening and destination settings.
Build an Elgato Stream Deck control panel for your display setup
Assign tested brightness, input and display-mode requests to separate Elgato Stream Deck hotkeys, with explicit return choices.
Run desk setup actions automatically when a monitor connects
Request a tested hardware brightness setting when your remembered desk monitor reconnects, using one explicitly targeted script.
Schedule daytime and evening brightness across your monitors
Schedule tested daytime and evening brightness settings with explicit BetterDisplay actions and macOS Shortcuts time triggers.
Keep a chosen app window visible while working elsewhere
Use selected-content streaming to keep a live copy of a chosen app window above your other work.
Build a floating dashboard from several live screen regions
Arrange independent cropped PIP views of useful source regions into a compact live dashboard.
Present a desktop and freeze the audience’s view while preparing the next step
Rehearse Pause, Unpause, Hide and Stop on a separate audience-display stream, with physical result checks and targeted cleanup.
Show two virtual desktops on one ultrawide or portrait monitor
Show two independent virtual desktops through positioned PIP views on one physical monitor.
Control your monitor setup from Home Assistant
Request a verified hardware-brightness setting from Home Assistant through BetterDisplay’s authenticated HTTP interface.
Display pixel art or a low-resolution game with crisp enlarged pixels
Enlarge a verified LoDPI source with nearest-neighbor sampling and compare whole-number and fractional output sizes.
Apply a custom 3D LUT to a display or a live preview
Apply a custom 3D LUT to a whole display or a separate live preview, compare its own bypassed view, and restore the original selections.
Fix mute and unmute on an external display
Get reliable mute and unmute behavior from your display’s speakers by choosing a method the display understands.

Using these tutorials

Check Before you begin for the required display, connection and permissions. Each tutorial separates the main procedure from troubleshooting, optional refinements and feature availability.

The media carried over from the earlier wiki is labeled as legacy and awaiting recapture. The written instructions use the current app's terminology; new screenshots and videos will be added in a separate capture task.