Hotkeys

WinDisplayManager binds global hotkeys (they work even when the app isn’t focused) to actions. Each hotkey is a key combination plus a chain of one or more actions that all run when you press it. A single shortcut can, for example, dim every display, switch each monitor to a different input, and apply a profile all at once.

Hotkeys are managed on the Hotkeys page.

Anatomy of a hotkey

Each hotkey card shows:

• Its title: the optional Label you type, or a numbered fallback such as Hotkey (1) when the label is blank.
• Its key combination (the accelerator), e.g. Ctrl + Alt + F1.
• Its registration status: Active (registered with Windows), Inactive (global hotkeys are disabled, another application already owns the combination, or it duplicates an earlier hotkey), or Unbound (no key recorded yet).
• One or more actions, which run in order when the hotkey is pressed.

Action type

Type	What it does
Set	Sets the target to an absolute value (e.g. Brightness = 50).
Offset	Adds a signed value to the target’s current value (e.g. +10 to brighten, -10 to dim). Available for Brightness, Contrast and Custom VCP only.
Turn Off	Turns off the selected displays (see Turn-off behavior).

Action target

Target	Notes
Brightness	An absolute level (Set) or a signed delta (Offset), clamped to the monitor’s range.
Contrast	An absolute level (Set) or a signed delta (Offset), clamped to the monitor’s range.
Input Source	Switch to HDMI, DisplayPort or USB-C. Can switch a different input per monitor (see below).
Power Mode	On / Standby / Suspend / Off, via the DDC/CI power state.
Apply Profile	Applies a saved display profile.
Custom VCP Code	Write any raw DDC/CI VCP feature code (in hex). Set writes the value directly; Offset reads the monitor’s current value first and adds the delta.

Editing an action

Actions are edited vertically in four labeled sections:

• Actions: choose Set, Offset, or Turn Off.
• Commands: choose Brightness, Contrast, Input Source, Power Mode, Apply Profile, or Custom VCP Code.
• Value: type signed decimal values directly, from -200 to 200. Other commands show their appropriate dropdown. Custom VCP actions also provide a separate hexadecimal VCP code field (00–FF, with or without a 0x prefix).
• Displays: use switches for All displays and each detected monitor.

When an Input Source action targets several monitors, the dropdown only lists inputs that all of them advertise. If they share none, the editor says Selected displays do not share this option.

Turn Off actions only show Actions and Displays because they do not need a command or value.

Which monitors

Every action applies either to All displays or to a specific set of monitors selected with switches. Turning off one monitor while All displays is enabled changes the action to an explicit selection containing the other detected monitors. When every connected monitor is selected again, the All displays switch is shown as enabled. Turning that switch off clears the explicit monitor selection.

Input Source actions show an input dropdown for each selected monitor when All displays is off, so one hotkey can switch different monitors to different inputs. Selecting every monitor does not replace those distinct input choices. An unselected monitor is left unchanged. Saved monitor selections remain visible as unavailable if that display is temporarily disconnected.

Apply Profile always restores the entire saved display layout, so it does not show per-display switches.

Migrating monitor selections

Monitor selections now store the complete Windows monitor device-interface path, not an enumeration number. Display numbers in the UI are labels only. Two monitors with the same model name remain distinct when Windows gives them distinct paths.

Old numeric selections load as Legacy monitor N (rebind required) and are preserved on save. They are never assigned automatically to today’s Monitor N. In each action’s Displays section, choose Rebind to Monitor … or Remove for each unresolved entry, then save. Rebinding retains that entry’s input-source choice. If the destination already has an assignment, remove that assignment first; it is not silently overwritten. Disconnected saved selections can also be rebound or removed. Selecting All displays explicitly uses the currently identified monitors instead of the saved selection.

An explicit action with any unresolved, missing, or duplicate target is refused before dispatch, including Windows sleep. An empty selection never means all. The hotkey chain is validated before enqueueing. The first queued monitor operation (not a profile operation) checks the complete monitor selection again against live hardware. If this initial preflight fails, the batch’s remaining monitor operations are blocked. After it succeeds, each later operation checks only its own target; Windows sleep checks its selected group. A monitor that intentionally disconnects after switching inputs or powering off does not block an operation on a different, still-connected monitor.

This is not an atomic transaction: a later operation can still fail if its own target disappears, and earlier successful operations are not rolled back. Profile operations and their topology-change behavior are unchanged.

Identity is scoped to a Windows device instance, not an immutable physical serial number. Moving a monitor to another port/dock, reinstalling a driver, or replacing hardware may change its path and require rebinding. The app does not guess by model name, position, or enumeration order. Clone/tiled configurations with multiple physical handles or CCD targets for one GDI source, missing identity information, and duplicate paths are refused; detection/control may be unavailable for the whole snapshot until the ambiguity is removed. Refresh after changing topology.

Soft (Windows monitor sleep) remains a global Windows operation even after validating the selected targets; it cannot sleep just one selected monitor. Display-layout profile remapping is unchanged by this identity migration.

Creating a hotkey

1. Open the Hotkeys page and click Add Hotkey. The new hotkey has no key combination yet and starts with one action: Set Brightness to 10 on All displays. Change it to whatever you need.
2. Click Record and press the modifiers and key you want (Ctrl/Alt/Shift/Win + a key). The captured combination is shown back to you. Use Record again to change it, Cancel to stop recording, or Clear to unbind it. A combination already used by another hotkey is refused with That key combination is already assigned.
3. Optionally type a Label so the card is easy to find.
4. Configure the action (type, target, value, monitors). Click Add Action to chain additional actions onto the same hotkey.
5. Click the Save icon in the header to write everything to disk. The icon is highlighted while there are unsaved changes.

Recording, clearing, or deleting a binding updates the Windows registration immediately, so a new combination works before you save. It is only kept across restarts after you save. Action edits also take effect immediately for already registered hotkeys.

Remove a single action with Delete Action, or the entire hotkey with Delete (you are asked to confirm). All global hotkeys can be toggled on/off from Settings without deleting your bindings.

Turn-off behavior

The Turn Off action type follows the Power-off method in Settings. The default is None, so Turn Off actions do nothing until you choose a method.

Mode	Effect
None	Turn-off actions do nothing.
Soft (Windows monitor sleep)	Asks Windows to put the displays to sleep; they wake on input.
DDC/CI power off	Sends a DDC/CI power-off command to each selected monitor.
Both	Does both of the above.

Where hotkeys are stored

Hotkeys are saved as JSON alongside the rest of the app configuration at:

%APPDATA%\windisplaymanager\config.json

Each hotkey records its key combination and its list of actions (type, target, value, target monitors, input source(s), power mode, VCP code or profile name, as applicable). You normally never need to touch this file (the Hotkeys page manages it for you), but it’s plain, human-readable JSON if you ever want to back it up or inspect it. Older configuration shapes are read automatically; legacy numeric monitor selections require explicit rebinding as described above. If you edit the file by hand and two hotkeys share a combination, only the first one is registered. See Configuration & recovery for the full file layout and what happens if it cannot be read.