Guides
How to set up multiple monitors for video editing
Video editing apps have more panels than any single screen can hold: timeline, viewer, bins, effects, scopes and audio meters. A second or third monitor gives the timeline room to breathe and frees a screen for a full-size preview. But editing software is picky about windows and color, and some window tools can get in the way. This guide covers a sensible monitor arrangement, how editors use extra screens, and how WindowLayout helps without touching your color.
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Choose the role of each screen
A typical two-screen setup puts the timeline and tools on the main display and the viewer or a full-screen preview on the second. With three screens, add one for bins, scopes or reference material. If one monitor is color-accurate, make it the preview screen and keep everything else on the others. Matching resolution and scaling on the editing screens keeps panels at a predictable size when you move them.
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Use your editor's own multi-screen options
Most editors have built-in multi-monitor support. DaVinci Resolve has a dual screen layout under Workspace, Dual Screen, and can show a full-screen viewer on another display. Premiere Pro lets you undock panels into floating windows and save workspaces, and can send playback to a second monitor through its playback preferences. Use these first: they manage the panels inside the app, while a window tool manages the app windows themselves.
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Match refresh rate to your footage
Playback looks smoothest when the preview monitor's refresh rate is a multiple of the frame rate. For 24 or 30 frame footage, 60 Hz or 120 Hz works well; for 25 and 50 frame footage some editors prefer 50 Hz if the monitor offers it. Change the rate on WindowLayout's Monitors page and save the result as a display profile, so you can switch the preview monitor between rates from the tray when projects change.
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Keep color work safe from dimming
Software dimming and Focus fade lay a dark layer over the screen, which changes what you see and is not suitable for grading. Turn them off for the preview monitor while you grade. DDC/CI brightness changes the monitor's actual backlight, which also changes how bright the picture looks, so set it once for your grading environment and leave it there. The Brightness schedule applies to every DDC/CI monitor, so keep it switched off while you grade.
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Save and restore the editing layout
Arrange the editor, file browser, reference player and notes across the screens and click Save current in Window Profiles, for example as Edit. Give it a Hotkey. After a crash or restart, open your editor and press the hotkey to put the application windows back in place; your editor's own workspace takes care of the panels inside. If you also edit audio or design thumbnails in other apps, save a profile for each task.
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Leave editor windows alone when needed
Some editors manage their full-screen preview windows themselves and do not like being moved. Add their program name to Never reposition in Window Profiles if automatic restores or remembered positions interfere. Blackout this monitor is useful for a side screen you do not need during review, so stray light does not distract you, and it is removed with one click.
Frequently asked questions
Will WindowLayout change colors on my grading monitor?
No, unless you use Software dimming, Focus fade or Blackout on it, which are overlays you control. Window actions and profiles only move windows.
Can WindowLayout save the panel layout inside my editor?
No. Panels inside an app are saved by the app's own workspaces. WindowLayout saves where the app windows themselves are, including floating panels that are separate windows.
Should my preview monitor be the main display?
Usually not. Keep the main display on the screen with the timeline, where dialogs and notifications should appear, so they never pop up over the preview.