How To Rotate Your Screen in Windows

Maybe you’re trying to get a bird’s eye view of a vertical infographic rather than reading it section by section, or maybe you plugged in a second screen and the first one went wonky. A poorly configured screen can slow you down and make it harder to get things done. How do you change the screen orientation in Windows?

Read on to find out how to flip your computer’s display using the keyboard shortcuts, whether the auto-rotation feature can be turned on or off, and much more. You’ll soon be able to rotate to portrait mode and flip screens like a pro.

For what reason would you want to flip your screen?

Whether you’re at the office or at home, you may find that a vertical view of your projects or other digital data is more helpful than a horizontal one. Perhaps you’re a poster’s graphic designer who needs to see what the subject looks like in profile. Or perhaps you frequently make spreadsheets that can only make sense in a vertical layout.

Web browsing, general navigation, and other common tasks all assume a horizontal orientation, so this is the default setting. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to see things from a different angle, though, we’ve laid out the steps below to show you how to flip your screen [1].

Windows 7, 8, and 10: Horizontal and Reverse Screen Rotation

• For starters, hit the Windows key, then enter “Display settings.”
• Second, you’ll see a pop-up with various screen-altering options.
• Decide which orientation (vertical or horizontal) you’d like to use.
• Screen 1 is your primary monitor and will likely be the only monitor you use unless you have a multi-monitor or dual-monitor setup. If there are more than one display, the one you’re currently using will be labeled “1,” the next “2,” and so on.
• Select Landscape or Portrait from the drop-down menu under Orientation.
• Select the desired orientation, then click Apply, followed by OK.

If you’ve already followed these instructions to switch to portrait mode, you can easily switch back to landscape by doing so again.

Tips for adjusting and modernizing your device’s automatic screen rotation

Some convertible PCs and tablets are similar to your mobile device in that they can flip or change your screen orientation automatically as you turn them. On occasion, however, this trait can be annoying. It’s not perfect, but it’s not terrible either. The auto-rotation feature can be easily adjusted, updated, or turned off. In fact, there are several approaches [2] that can be taken.

Keep in mind that only computers with in-built sensors like an accelerometer and gyroscope have the ability to automatically rotate their screens. This hardware is used by Windows to determine the screen’s current orientation.

Turn on/off screen rotation with the action center

1. Launch the Action Center by pressing the Windows key plus the letter “A” on your keyboard.

2. Toggle “Rotation lock” on and off by clicking the corresponding button.

Can’t find the on/off switch, a. To do so, go to the top left of the Quick actions area and click the Expand button.

If you still don’t see the option in the Action Center, either your PC doesn’t support the feature or you need to manually add the Rotation lock switch button in Settings > System > Notifications & actions > Add or remove quick actions.

c. If you can’t see the Rotation lock, you may have an external device connected, such as a keyboard, or be using your convertible PC in laptop mode. Remove the keyboard or switch to tablet mode on the convertible to remedy this.

SCREEN ROTATION CAN BE ENABLED OR DISABLED IN THE SETTINGS.

• Activate Preferences
• Select the Show option
• Toggle Rotation lock under Scale and Layout.
• Rotation lock is not supported by your device if you do not see a toggle for it.
• Registry key for rotating the display on/off
• If you’re worried about losing data on your computer, it’s smart to create a full backup before attempting this method.
• Open Beginnings 1.
• To access the Registry, type “regedit” into a search engine and select the top result.
• To do this, open a registry editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersion.AutoRotation
• Click Enable DWORD twice, and then reduce the value from 1 to 0.
• Select OK to continue
• Reboot your device, number 6.

Using a keyboard shortcut or hotkey is another option for rotating the screen.

The following keyboard shortcut should be able to be used to rotate the screen on Windows 10 devices.

While holding down CTRL and ALT, press the Up Arrow key. 3. Keep holding down CTRL and ALT. [3]

Third, a custom hotkey can be especially useful if you frequently change your screen’s orientation.

It’s important to remember that only devices with Intel HD Graphics can use hotkeys. If it does, consider yourself lucky. The “hotkeys” button must be enabled first.

Solutions for your work and personal life, including Windows’ built-in support for screen rotation

You probably don’t give much thought to the fact that every time you shift the position of your smartphone, the screen flips or rotates. It’s possible, though, that your laptop or tablet won’t make the orientation change on its own.

The ability to rotate the screen is a useful trick to have in your toolkit. It’s also a good idea to know how to auto-lock your rotation in case you need to flip the screen for a presentation or are watching a video from an unusual angle.