It wasn’t long ago that workstations consisted of single monitors, whether at work or home. Now you’ll find people using two or even three monitors and touting a rise in productivity.
You probably have a limited amount of space on your desk, especially if you’re working at home. Multiple monitors might seem like an impossibility, but you do have options. Tap or click here to check out a portable monitor that can be placed or taken along just about anywhere.
You can fit a second full-fledged monitor with a neat little trick. Simply turn it sideways. There are more benefits to a vertical monitor than simply saving space. Keep reading for a clever way to save some space.
The flipside
Monitors are growing in size, and you don’t need to spend a fortune to get a nice big one. Your desk space probably hasn’t changed in a while or maybe shrunk transitioning to working from home.
A vertically oriented monitor will save you space. Put it next to your horizontal monitor and have the best of both worlds.
Improved readability
A widescreen monitor is good for gaming, watching movies, graphic design, photo editing and other applications. But you don’t need all that horizontal space when using a word processor or content management system or reading emails and Google Docs. When browsing a scroll-down website, you’ll see a lot of blank space along the sides.
A vertical monitor is ideal for scrolling through text. You don’t have to keep turning your head from side to side to read, and you can focus better on the content. You’ll see more text on the screen at once. Coders prefer portrait orientations for this reason.
Do you turn your phone sideways when reading texts, emails or browsing a site like komando.com? Probably not. This should give you a taste of how a vertical monitor works.
More monitors equal more efficiency
Nobody likes having to switch between tabs and applications constantly. Having a second monitor means you can keep email, chat or any commonly used programs open on one monitor while working on the other.
You can stack multiple open windows with a vertical monitor and use them simultaneously. For example, you can have a video conference open on top of a word processor so you can take notes without shifting focus.
No matter the orientation, your monitor consumes energy when you may not realize it. Tap or click here for tips on cutting down on your power bills.
How to get started
The first step is to rotate your monitor. If yours has a stand, you can turn it into portrait mode without much trouble. The exact method will depend on your manufacturer, and you may have to fiddle with a lock or button on the back.
Consult your owner’s manual or search YouTube for an instructional video. Note: not all monitors are vertical mode compatible.
Desk mounts or monitor arms can attach a monitor in virtually any position or angle. It can also save you even more space since the second monitor doesn’t need to sit on the desk.
Once you have your monitor set up vertically, it’s time to deal with the software side. You need only change a few settings in your operating system.
To change the screen orientation in Windows:
- Go to Start  > Settings  > System > Display.
- Under Orientation change the setting to Portrait.
To change the screen orientation in macOS:
- Go to the Apple menu and then System Preferences > Displays.
- Click the Rotate or Rotation pop-up menu and choose 90 degrees.
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