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emoacht/monitorian

4,510C#Audience · generalComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

TLDR

A free Windows system-tray app that lets you adjust the brightness and contrast of multiple external monitors using your mouse or keyboard, instead of pressing physical buttons on each monitor.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Monitorian))
    What it does
      Brightness control
      Contrast control
      Multi-monitor support
    Features
      Adjust all at once
      Ambient light sensor
      Up to four monitors
    Requirements
      Windows 7 or newer
      DDC/CI enabled
    Install options
      Microsoft Store
      Windows Package Manager
    Paid add-ons
      Keyboard hotkeys
      Command-line control
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Code map

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Control the brightness of multiple external monitors from a single tray icon instead of pressing buttons on each monitor

USE CASE 2

Adjust all connected monitors to the same brightness level at once for a consistent look

USE CASE 3

Use command-line options to set or get monitor brightness from scripts or scheduled tasks

USE CASE 4

Assign keyboard shortcuts to quickly change brightness and contrast without touching your mouse

Tech stack

C#.NETWindows

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

External monitors must have DDC/CI enabled in their own settings menu, this option may be off by default.

In plain English

Monitorian is a free Windows desktop application that lets you control the brightness of multiple monitors from a single place. Without it, adjusting the brightness of external monitors typically requires pressing physical buttons on the monitor itself, which can be awkward. Monitorian puts that control into a small system tray app so you can change brightness using your mouse or keyboard instead. The app supports adjusting monitors individually or all at once in unison, which is handy when you want everything to match. You can also adjust contrast and change the adjustable range for each monitor. If your computer has an ambient light sensor, the app can display both the system-configured brightness and the adjusted one side by side. Up to four monitors can be shown at one time. For an external monitor to work with Monitorian, it needs to have DDC/CI enabled, which is a standard that allows software to communicate with monitors over the cable connection. Most modern monitors support this, but it may need to be turned on in the monitor's own settings menu. The app works on Windows 7 and newer and can be installed from the Microsoft Store or via the Windows Package Manager. Some features are available only through a paid add-on subscription in the Microsoft Store version. These include keyboard hot keys for changing brightness and contrast on the fly, and command-line options that let you get or set brightness levels from scripts, scheduled tasks, or desktop shortcuts. The command-line interface lets you target a single monitor, all monitors at once, or specific ones by ID, and you can set an absolute value or increment and decrement from the current level. The app has been translated into more than 20 languages by community contributors, covering Arabic, German, French, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and many others. The README is longer than what was shown here.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I installed Monitorian but my external monitor brightness slider is greyed out. What does that mean and how do I fix it?
Prompt 2
How do I use the Monitorian command-line interface to set all monitors to 70 percent brightness from a script?
Prompt 3
I have four monitors and want Monitorian to adjust them all together when I move one slider. How do I set that up?
Prompt 4
What is DDC/CI and how do I enable it on my monitor so Monitorian can control it?
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