Setting up your hot desk

Connect to the hot desk setup

Use these steps when you arrive at a hot desk and need to connect your laptop to the monitors, keyboard, mouse and other desk equipment.

1. Place your laptop on the desk and make sure it is powered on.
2. Plug the USB-C cable from the desk into your laptop.
3. Wait a few moments for your laptop to detect the connected equipment.

• If your laptop does not start charging, check that the USB-C cable is fully connected.
• If the monitor does not turn on, check that the monitor is switched on and connected to power.
• If there is more than one USB-C cable at the desk, use the cable connected to the docking station or monitor.

Set up your screens

Use these steps to choose how your laptop and monitor screens behave.

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select System.
3. Scroll down the page and select Display.

4. Find the drop-down menu next to Identify to choose how your laptop and monitor screens work together.

5. Select the display option you want to use:
   • Choose Duplicate these displays if you want the same content to appear on your laptop and monitor.
   • Choose Extend these displays if you want to use your monitor as extra screen space.
6. Once you make the change, a window will appear asking if you want to Keep changes or Revert. Choose Keep changes.

For most hot desk setups, Extend these displays is usually the best option because it gives you more space to work across multiple screens.

Arrange your screens correctly

If your mouse does not move naturally between screens, you may need to rearrange the displays in Windows.

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select System.
3. Scroll down the page and select Display.
4. At the top of the page, you will see numbered screens representing your displays.
5. Select Identify to display the screen number on each monitor. Large numbers will appear on your screens to help you confirm them.
6. Drag and drop the numbered screens so they match the real layout on your desk. For example, if your laptop is on the left and your monitor is on the right, arrange the screens in that order.
7. Select Apply.
8. Move your mouse between screens again to check that it now moves in the expected direction.

Choose your main display

Your main display is where Windows usually shows the taskbar, Start menu and app notifications.

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select System.
3. Scroll down the page and select Display.
4. At the top of the page, you will see numbered screens representing your displays. Select the screen you want to use as your main display. For example, if your laptop is shown as Screen 1, select Screen 1 to make it your main display. The selected screen will be highlighted in blue.
5. If not already, tick Make this my main display from the check boxes below.

This is useful if you prefer your main work to appear on the larger monitor rather than your laptop screen.

Adjust the scale and text size

If text, apps or icons look too small or too large, you can adjust the display scale.

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select System.
3. Scroll down the page and select Display.
4. At the top of the page, you will see numbered screens representing your displays. Select the screen you want to adjust.
5. Scroll down to the Scale section and use the drop-down menu to make items on your screen appear larger or smaller. Options include 100%, 125%, 150% and 175%.
6. If needed, repeat this for the other screen.
7. Check that your apps still fit comfortably on the screen.

A larger scale can make the screen easier to read, especially on high-resolution monitors.

Change the screen resolution

If the display looks blurry, stretched or does not fit the monitor properly, check the resolution.

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select System.
3. Scroll down the page and select Display.
4. At the top of the page, you will see numbered screens representing your displays. Select the screen you want to adjust.
5. Scroll down to the Display resolution section and use the drop-down menu to choose your resolution.
6. Once you make the change, a window will appear asking if you want to Keep changes or Revert. Choose Keep changes.

Note: using the recommended resolution usually gives the clearest display.

Arrange windows using Snap layouts

Snap layouts help you organise multiple applications on your screen, making it easier to work with different windows side-by-side, reducing the need to switch between windows while you work.

1. Open the applications that you want to use (Teams, Outlook, Edge, Word etc).
2. Click and drag the window toward the top of the screen. A panel will appear showing a range of layout options. Each layout divides your screen into sections, allowing you to display multiple windows at once.
3. Select the layout that best suits the way you want to work.
4. The selected window will move into one of the sections of the layout.
5. Windows will then display your other open applications. Select the applications you want to place in the remaining sections of the layout.
6. Continue selecting applications until all sections of the layout are filled.

Make text easier to read

The Text size setting can help if text appears too small, is difficult to read, or causes eye strain when using your device.

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select Accessibility.
3. Scroll down the page, and choose Text size.
4. Use the slider to increase the size or decrease of the text. A preview will show how the text will appear before you apply the change.
5. Select Apply to save your changes.

This setting increases the size of text across supported Windows applications, making content easier to read without changing the overall display layout or the size of other items on your screen.

Use Magnifier

Magnifier is an accessibility feature that zooms in on parts of your screen, making text, images and other content easier to see.

1. Open Windows Settings.

2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select Accessibility.

3. Scroll down the page, and choose Text size.

4. At the top of the Magnifier page, turn on the Magnifier toggle.

5. A Magnifier toolbar will appear. This toolbar shows your current zoom level and provides controls to zoom in, zoom out and customise how Magnifier works.

You can also use the following keyboard shortcuts:

• Press Windows key + Plus (+) to turn Magnifier on or zoom in.

• Press Windows key + Minus (-) to zoom out.

• Press Windows key + Esc to close Magnifier.

Use colour filters

Colour filters are an accessibility feature that change the way colours appear on your screen. They do not change the content itself, but adjust the colour palette so that text, images, buttons and other items may be easier to tell apart.

This can be helpful if certain colours are difficult to distinguish, if you have a form of colour blindness, or if changing the screen colours makes content more comfortable to view.

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select Accessibility.
3. Scroll down the page and select Colour filters.
4. Turn on the Colour filters toggle.
5. Choose the filter that works best for your needs. The preview area will show how colours will appear before you use the filter.

You can return to this page at any time to change the filter or turn Colour filters off.

Use contrast themes

Contrast themes are an accessibility feature that changes the colours used across Windows, including text, backgrounds, buttons and other screen elements. They use stronger colour combinations to make items on screen easier to see and distinguish. This can be helpful if text blends into the background, buttons are difficult to identify, or stronger contrast makes the screen more comfortable to use.

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select Accessibility.
3. Scroll down the page and select Contrast themes.
4. Select the drop-down menu and choose one of the available themes. You can see a preview of these at the top of he page.

5. You can customise the theme by selecting Edit. This lets you change specific colours, such as text, buttons, backgrounds and other screen elements.

6. Once you are happy with your changes, select Apply.

Make the mouse pointer easier to see

Use these settings if the mouse pointer is difficult to find across multiple screens.

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select Accessibility.
3. Scroll down the page and select Mouse pointer and touch.
4. Use the slider to increase the size or decrease of the pointer. When you move the slider, your mouse will change in size immediately.
5. You can also choose the pointer style, by selecting the options at the op of the page.

Make the text cursor easier to see

The text cursor is the blinking vertical line that shows where text will appear when you start typing. It can sometimes be difficult to see, especially in long documents, emails, forms or when working across multiple windows. You can turn on the text cursor indicator to make the cursor stand out more clearly. This adds a coloured marker above and below the cursor, helping you quickly find where you are typing.

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select Accessibility.
3. Scroll down the page and select Text cursor.
4. Turn on the Text cursor indicator toggle.
5. Use the slider to increase or decrease the size of the text. You can also choose the indicator colour.

Use Night light

Night light is a display setting that reduces the amount of blue light shown on your screen. When it is turned on, your screen will use warmer colours, which can make it feel softer and more comfortable to look at, especially in the evening or when working for long periods.

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select System.
3. Scroll down the page and select Display.
4. Turn on the Night light toggle.
5. Select the arrow next to the toggle to amend the strength.

Adjust brightness

You can adjust your screen brightness if the display looks too bright, too dim or uncomfortable to view. This can help make your screen easier to read, especially when working in different lighting conditions.

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select System.
3. Scroll down the page and select Display.
4. Find Brightness and use the slider to make the screen brighter or dimmer.

If the monitor does not display your laptop

1. Check that the USB-C cable is fully connected.
2. Check that the monitor is switched on.
3. Open Windows Settings.
4. From the left-hand navigation panel, select System.
5. Scroll down the page and select Display.
6. Select Detect under the display options.
7. Try unplugging and reconnecting the USB-C cable.
8. If there is still no display, try another available hot desk or contact IT Support.

If your mouse does not move to the correct screen

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. From the left-hand navigation panel, select System.
3. Scroll down the page and select Display.
4. Select Identify.
5. Drag the numbered screens so they match the real desk layout.
6. Select Apply.

If everything looks too small

1. Right-click your desktop.
2. Select Display settings.
3. Select the screen you want to adjust.
4. Increase the Scale setting.
5. Open Accessibility settings if you also want to increase text size.

If windows open on the wrong screen

1. Move the window to the screen you want to use.
2. Close the window while it is on that screen.
3. Reopen the app.
4. Check whether it opens on the same screen next time.
5. In Display settings, check that Remember window locations based on monitor connection is switched on, if available.