Change Displays preferences on Mac
On your Mac, use Displays System Preferences to adjust resolution and brightness, and to set display options.
Note: Not all options described here appear for all display models, and some options appear only when your Mac is connected to a display.
To change these preferences, choose Apple menu 
. When your Mac is connected to a display, choose Apple menu , then click Display Settings.
Option | Description | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Use as | Set up your display to mirror or extend your desktop or to act as your main display. This option only appears when you have an external display connected to your Mac. See Use one or more external displays with your Mac. | ||||||||||
Resolution | Choose the amount of detail your display shows. Select “Default for display” to automatically use the best resolution for the display, or select Scaled to manually select a resolution. See Change your Mac display’s resolution. | ||||||||||
Brightness | Control how light or dark your screen appears. Move the slider to the right to make the screen brighter or to the left to make it darker. For instructions, see Change your Mac display’s brightness. | ||||||||||
Automatically adjust brightness or Ambient light compensation (depending on your display) | Adjust the display brightness automatically based on current ambient lighting conditions. This option is only available if your Mac has ambient light sensing | ||||||||||
True Tone | Automatically adjust the colors on the display based on current ambient lighting conditions. | ||||||||||
Color Profile | Change the color profile your display uses. Detailed information about all of the color profiles installed on your Mac (and used by connected cameras, printers, and displays) is provided in ColorSync Utility (in the Applications > Utilities folder). See ColorSync Utility User Guide. You can also create your own custom color profile by calibrating your display. | ||||||||||
Rotate or Rotation (depending on your display) | Rotate the image shown on your display by the chosen amount. See Rotate the image on your Mac display. This button only appears if an external display is connected to your Mac. | ||||||||||
Refresh Rate | Adjust how frequently your screen is redrawn. If the rate is too low, your screen may appear to flicker. If the rate is too high, the screen may be black because it doesn’t support that rate. Check the documentation that came with your display for the best rate. If you have a supported display, you can set your display to dynamically adjust its refresh rate, using Adaptive Sync. This option only appears if an external display that supports changing the refresh rate is connected to your Mac. | ||||||||||
Show Sidebar | Show the sidebar on your iPad, then choose a location from the pop-up menu. This option only appears if you’re using your iPad as a second display. | ||||||||||
Show Touch Bar | Show the Touch Bar on your iPad, then choose a location from the pop-up menu. When you use an app that supports the Touch Bar on your iPad, the Touch Bar is shown in the location you specified. The buttons available in the Touch Bar vary depending on the current app and task. This option only appears if you’re using your iPad as a second display. | ||||||||||
Enable double tap on Apple Pencil | Select the checkbox if you want to be able to double-tap the lower section of Apple Pencil to switch drawing tools in some apps (if your Apple Pencil supports it). See the Apple Support article Connect Apple Pencil with your iPad. This option only appears if you’re using your iPad as a second display. | ||||||||||
Overscan | If you’re using a TV as a display and you can’t see the menu bar, select this option. | ||||||||||
Night Shift | Shift your display to the warmer end of the color spectrum. Warmer screen colors are easier on your eyes when you use your Mac at night or in low-light conditions. See Use Night Shift. | ||||||||||
Detect Displays | Scan for all the displays connected to your Mac. Press and hold the Option key to make this button appear in place of the Night Shift button, then click Detect Displays if your Mac doesn’t recognize a display you just connected. | ||||||||||
Universal Control | Set Universal Control options for your display. See Use a keyboard and mouse or trackpad across devices with Universal Control on Mac. | ||||||||||
Tip: You can also use Control Center to adjust display brightness, manage screen mirroring, and access Display preferences. Click Control Center 
in the menu bar, then click Display or Screen Mirroring.