Microsoft PowerToys adds monitor control to taskbar with new Power Display tool

One click away instead of hunting through settings
Power Display puts monitor adjustments in the system tray, eliminating the need to find physical buttons or navigate Windows menus.

There is a quiet tradition in computing of tools that should have always existed finally arriving — not with fanfare, but with the modest relief of a long-overdue correction. Microsoft's PowerToys suite, version 0.99.1, continues that tradition in May 2026, offering Windows users direct control over monitor settings from the taskbar and more intuitive window management through keyboard shortcuts. These are not grand innovations but rather small acts of ergonomic mercy, filling the gaps between what an operating system provides and what daily work actually demands.

  • The friction is familiar: a screen too bright, colors off, and the only remedies are fumbling for hidden monitor buttons or navigating layers of settings menus.
  • Power Display cuts through that friction entirely, placing brightness, contrast, color temperature, and more behind a single taskbar click — with separate controls for each connected monitor.
  • A second new tool, Grab And Move, eliminates the precision gymnastics of window management, letting users reposition or resize any window with a simple Alt-click from anywhere on its surface.
  • Existing PowerToys utilities are also sharpened: Command Palette gains pinnable shortcuts, Keyboard Manager becomes easier to edit, and ZoomIt can now capture scrolling screenshots beyond a single screen.
  • The update lands as a quiet but meaningful quality-of-life upgrade for anyone spending long hours in front of a Windows machine — available now via the Microsoft Store or GitHub.

Microsoft's PowerToys suite has always occupied a particular niche: the home for small utilities that feel like they should have been part of Windows all along. Version 0.99.1 adds another to that collection with Power Display, a tool that places monitor controls — brightness, contrast, color temperature, even volume — directly in the system tray. No more reaching behind the monitor for invisible buttons, no more navigating through nested settings menus. For multi-monitor setups, each display gets its own controls, and users can save profiles for different scenarios.

The same update introduces Grab And Move, which quietly solves one of desktop computing's minor daily annoyances. Rather than hunting for a window's title bar or its precise edge, users can hold Alt and click anywhere on a window to move it, or Alt-right-click to resize it in any direction. It's especially welcome on large monitors where windows drift into awkward positions — or disappear off-screen entirely.

Beyond these two additions, the update refines several existing tools. Command Palette now supports pinned commands for faster access. The Keyboard Manager Editor is simpler to use when modifying remapped keys. And ZoomIt gains scrolling screenshot support, allowing captures that extend beyond what's visible on screen at once.

PowerToys 0.99.1 is available now for Windows 10 and 11 through the Microsoft Store or GitHub. Each tool can be enabled or disabled individually, and most offer keyboard shortcut customization. These are the kinds of utilities that reveal their value slowly — until one day you can't imagine working without them.

Microsoft's PowerToys suite has long been the place where Windows users go to find the small utilities that should probably have been built into the operating system in the first place. The latest update, version 0.99.1, adds another one to that collection: a tool called Power Display that lets you adjust your monitor's brightness, contrast, and other settings directly from the system tray instead of hunting for physical buttons on the monitor itself or burrowing into Windows settings menus.

The frustration it solves is real enough. You're sitting at your desktop and the screen feels too bright, or the colors seem off. Your options have always been limited: reach around to the back of the monitor and feel for buttons you can't see, or open Windows settings and navigate through several layers of menus to find display controls. Power Display puts those adjustments one click away, accessible from the taskbar like any other system utility.

What you can actually control depends on your monitor's capabilities. Every supported monitor will let you adjust brightness with a slider. Many will also offer contrast, color temperature, rotation settings, and even volume control if your monitor has speakers. If you have multiple monitors connected, Power Display displays separate controls for each one. You can customize which settings appear, create and save profiles for different scenarios, and change the keyboard shortcut that activates the tool.

The same update introduces another window management tool called Grab And Move, which addresses a different small friction point in daily computing. Moving a window normally requires grabbing its title bar; resizing requires positioning your cursor at the exact edge. With Grab And Move enabled, you hold Alt and click anywhere on a window to move it, or Alt-right-click to resize it in any direction. The feature is particularly useful on large monitors where windows can end up in inconvenient positions, or when a window has somehow moved off-screen entirely. Users can swap the Alt key for the Windows key if they prefer, disable the feature during gaming, or exclude specific applications from being moved this way.

Beyond these two new tools, PowerToys 0.99.1 refines several existing utilities. The Command Palette, which surfaces common Windows commands when you press its activation shortcut, now lets you pin your most-used commands for faster access. The Keyboard Manager Editor, which lets you remap keys to different functions, has been updated to make editing recorded keys simpler. And ZoomIt, the screenshot tool, now supports scrolling captures so you can grab long screenshots that extend beyond a single screen.

If you already have PowerToys installed on Windows 10 or 11, you can check for updates within the application itself. New users can download it from the Microsoft Store or from its GitHub repository. Once installed, each tool can be toggled on or off individually through the settings panel, and most offer customization options for keyboard shortcuts and behavior. For anyone who spends hours in front of a Windows machine, these small utilities often become indispensable—the kind of thing you don't realize you needed until you have it, and then you wonder how you ever worked without it.

Power Display can display individual slider settings for multiple monitors, with controls varying based on monitor capabilities
— Microsoft PowerToys documentation
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Inventor

Why does monitor control matter enough to build a tool around it? Isn't this something you just do once and forget about?

Model

You'd think so, but brightness and contrast aren't one-time settings. Lighting changes throughout the day. You move between different rooms. Your eyes get tired. Most people adjust these things multiple times a day, and right now that means either fumbling with physical buttons or opening settings. It's a small friction point that adds up.

Inventor

And the Grab And Move feature—that seems like it's solving a problem that shouldn't exist. Why can't Windows just let you move windows easily?

Model

It can, but only if you grab the title bar precisely. On a 4K monitor or an ultrawide, that title bar can be far from where your cursor is. And if a window somehow ends up off-screen, you're stuck. This tool lets you move or resize from anywhere on the window, which sounds minor until you've spent five minutes trying to recover a window that's partially hidden.

Inventor

These feel like they're addressing the gap between what Windows does and what power users actually need.

Model

Exactly. PowerToys has always been that space—the utilities that Microsoft knows people want but hasn't prioritized for the main OS. It's where experimental features live before they might graduate to Windows itself, or where they stay because they're niche enough that not everyone needs them.

Inventor

Do you have to be technical to use these tools?

Model

Not at all. Power Display is literally a slider in the system tray. Grab And Move is just Alt-click. The customization is there if you want it, but the defaults work fine for most people. That's the design philosophy—simple to use, powerful if you dig deeper.

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