How to Change Brightness on Windows 10 Computers

Dial settings up or down to reach the light level you need

What to Know

  • Open the Action Center > Expand > move the brightness slider right or left to achieve desired brightness.
  • To turn down brightness in Windows 10, move the slider left. To increase it, move the slider right.
  • Exiting the Action Center saves the brightness setting.

This article explains how to increase and decrease the screen brightness on a Windows 10 device, fine-tune the brightness levels exactly to your liking, enable dynamic lighting, and reduce the blue light levels before you go to bed.

How to Adjust Brightness (Turn It Up or Down)

Adjusting the brightness on your Windows 10 computer is fairly easy and can be replicated quickly should you need to change the settings again.

  1. Select the Notifications icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen on your Windows 10 computer or tablet to open the Action Center.

    Notification icon in Windows 10

    If you own a Windows 10 device with a touchscreen, such as a Surface Book or Surface Laptop, you can also open the Action Center by swiping in from the right side of the screen with your finger.

  2. Select Expand in the Action Center.

    Action Center in Windows 10 showing Expand option
  3. Press the brightness button with the sun icon on it to cycle through five preset screen brightness levels or drag the slider next to the sun icon. The lowest possible brightness setting is 0 percent, while 100 percent is the highest.

    Brightness slider in Windows 10 action center
  4. Exit the Action Center to save the setting.

More Brightness Settings: Night Light and Schedule

The display settings in Windows 10 System Settings includes other options.

  1. Right-click the brightness button in the Action Center with your mouse to open a pop-up menu. Select Go to Settings with the left mouse button.

    Go to Settings in brightness pop-up menu

    Alternatively, on a touch device, perform a long press on the button with your finger. The Go to Settings option appears when you release your finger from the button.

  2. Drag the slider under Brightness and Color to adjust the screen brightness.

    Brightness and color settings with slider for brightness
  3. Toggle the Night Light button to On, if desired. This feature reduces the amount of blue light emitted from your device's screen, making everything appear more orange. It's commonly believed blue light can keep you awake at night so you should reduce your exposure to it in the hours leading up to bedtime.

    Night light slider in brightness and color settings
  4. Select Night Light Settings to customize this feature.

    Night light customization option in Windows 10
  5. In the Schedule section, set a personalized schedule or opt to turn the feature on from sunset to sunrise.

    Night light settings in Windows 10
  6. Close the window when finished to apply the settings

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