How to switch your monitor from landscape to portrait

Most of us probably use monitors placed in a landscape or horizontal configuration – in other words, the top and bottom are wider than the sides. This works well for most people who use two or more windows side by side or watch videos. But if you’re working on a long document or spreadsheet, or want your Twitter or Slack feed to work on a secondary display, you can try using your monitor in a portrait or vertical configuration instead.

If you’re lucky enough to have a monitor on a stand or an arm that flips from landscape to portrait, you can have the best of both worlds. But when you flip that monitor, you can see you’re looking at your Twitter feed from the side. Rather than trying to wring your neck, you can tweak your Windows or macOS operating system so your content displays correctly. Here’s how.

(By the way, if you have Apple’s new Studio Display, you can skip this article – when you flip the screen, content rotation happens automatically.)

On a Windows 11 system

• Go to Settings
• To select System from the sidebar (if not the default)
• Go to View > View Orientation and select Portrait
• Your display will switch to portrait mode. You can choose to keep the changes or revert to your previous setting.

On a macOS system

• Go to System Preferences
• To select Attach and choose the display you want to rotate (if there are several)
• Depending on your specific screen, find the Spin adjustment and set it to 90 degrees
• The image on your screen should rotate at a vertical angle. You can confirm the setting or return to the previous setting.

Note: It’s possible that when you flip your screen, it can disrupt other factors, such as color calibration. In this case, try restarting your system.