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In this article we will show you how to Turn Off MacBook Screen. There are times when you might want your Mac to be awake and doing something, but you’d rather turn off the screen. For instance, you might be downloading a lot of software overnight and don’t want the brightness of your computer to keep you up. You could also be mirroring your Mac’s display to a TV but don’t want to see the same pictures on the small screen in the corner of the room.
Even though shutting down or closing the lid of your MacBook might be the easiest way to put it to sleep or end your session, there are ways to idlely increase your productivity by keeping your laptop running with the screen off. Sometimes, you need more than one screen. Sometimes, the screen on your MacBook might be too small for what you want to do.
No matter what the reason, you may need to use an external monitor with your MacBook at some point. It’s easy to hook up an external computer to your MacBook, which is a good thing. Here, we’ll show you how to turn off the screen on your MacBook without putting the computer to sleep. But first, let’s talk about why you might want to Turn Off MacBook Screen.
Using a Keyboard Shortcut
- Hit Control, Shift, and Eject.
- If your Mac doesn’t have an Eject key, you can use the On/Off button () instead. To turn off your Mac’s screen without putting it to sleep, press Control Shift On/Off.
- You can also set up a unique keyboard shortcut or use “hot corners” to black out the screen.
- To turn the screen back on, press a key, click a mouse button, or tap on a keypad.
- The screen won’t turn on if you just move the mouse pointer or hit the trackpad.
Use a Hot Mouse Corner to Turn Off a Mac’s Screen
- From the Apple () menu, choose System Settings… or System Preferences…
- Go to the area called Desktop & Dock.
- Before and on macOS 12 Monterey: Go to the Screen Saver tab in the Desktop & Screen Saver group.
- Click on Hot Corner.
- Now, choose a corner of the screen where you want to turn it off and choose Put Display to Sleep for that corner.
- Select OK.
Set up a Custom Keyboard Shortcut
- Open Automator.
- Click on “New Document.”
- Choose Fast Action.
- Click Pick.
- Choose “no input” at the top where it says “Workflow receives.”
- If you don’t see the command library, click Library.
- Move the Run Sheet Script step to the workflow by dragging and dropping it.
- Look for shell in the library to find the move quickly.
- For the bash script, you need to type pmset displaysleepnow.
- From the menu, choose File | Save.
- Enter the name you want for the new quick action (for example, “turn off screen”).
- Choose Save.
- Now, from the menu, choose | System Settings… or | System Preferences…
- Go to the group called “Keyboard.”
- Click Keyboard Shortcuts… or click the Shortcuts tab.
- Choose the Services.
- Under General, click on the “turn off screen” quick action that you just made.
- Click on Add Shortcut.
- Type the key combination you want to use to turn off the device.
Turn Off the Screen on a Mac When Using an External Monitor
- Plug the Mac laptop into an outlet.
- Use a touchscreen or mouse and keyboard that are not built into the laptop to control it.
- Now hook up the Mac laptop to a separate screen.
- Close the lid of the laptop to use the clamshell mode in macOS.
- To turn on the external screen, press a key or click with the mouse.
Why Would You Need to Turn Off Your MacBook’s Screen?
The main reason you might need to turn off the screen on your MacBook is to protect your privacy. Get up from a shared table to go to the bathroom? Turn off your screen and let the programs run in the background so that no one can see your private information. The most important reason is to protect your privacy, but the second most important is to save your battery life. If you want to know more information about this Visit Official Apple Support site.
Dimming your screen is definitely one of the many ways to make your MacBook’s battery last longer. Imagine how much you can save by turning off your screen when you’re not using it. Also, you might want to turn off your screen when getting or updating something that will take a while. Do you need a quick nap? At a coffee shop with no place to plug in your phone? Then, if you don’t need your computer, turn it off.