Dim Display Automatically - Turn On or Off in Windows 8

How to Turn On or Off Automatic Dim Display Brightness in Windows 8 and 8.1​

   Information

The display can use more power than any other part of a PC. Reducing the display brightness level can help extend your battery life before needing to recharge.

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off to automatically dim display brightness after X amount of inactive minutes and by what percentage in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1.

This will affect all users on the PC.

This setting does not apply to desktops. It's only available on PCs (ex: laptop or tablet) that use battery power.

   Note

If you did not originally have the Dim the display and Dim display after options available, then it means that it is not supported on your PC.

Instead, your display(s) will automatically dim by the percentage set in "Dimmed display brightness" exactly 15 seconds before what is set in "Turn off display after".

OPTION ONE

To Turn On or Off Dim Display in Power Plan Settings

NOTE: This option is good to quickly turn off or set how many inactive minutes to dim display brightness.

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1. Open your Power Plan Settings, and do step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do.​

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2. To Turn Off Dim Display​

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A) Set Dim the display to Never for when you are On battery and/or Plugged in for what you want, click/tap on Save changes, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)​

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3. To Turn On Dim Display​

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A) Set Dim the display to how many minutes you want the PC to be inactive when On battery and/or Plugged in before the display brightness is automatically dimmed, click/tap on Save changes, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)​

NOTE: To specify the brightness percentage level for when the display dims, you will need to use step 3B in OPTION TWO below.​

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4. You may also wish to turn on or off adaptive brightness if applicable.​

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5. When finished, you can close the Edit Plan Settings window if you like.​

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OPTION TWO

To Turn On or Off Dim Display in Advanced Power Settings

NOTE: This option is good to quickly turn off dim display, or set how many inactive minutes to dim display brightness and by what percentage to dim the display by.

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1. Open the Advanced Power Settings for your power plan, and do step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do.​

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2. To Turn Off and Adjust Dim Display Brightness​

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A) Expand Display and Dim display after, set On battery and/or Plugged in to 0 Minutes, click/tap on OK, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)​

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3. To Turn On and Adjust Dim Display Brightness​

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A) Expand Display and Dim display after, and set On battery and/or Plugged in to how many Minutes you want the PC to be inactive before the display brightness is automatically dimmed. (see screenshot above)​

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B) Under Dimmed display brightness, set On battery and/or Plugged in to specify what brightness percentage level you want for when the display dims, click/tap on OK, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)​

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4. You may also wish to turn on or off adaptive brightness if applicable.​

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5. When finished, you can close the Edit Plan Settings window if you like.​

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Add or Remove "Dim display after" in Power Options in Windows
• How to Adjust Display Screen Brightness in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Turn On or Off Adaptive Brightness in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Change Power Plan Settings in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Set to Turn Off the Display after Specified Time in Windows
• How to Restore Default Power Plan Settings in Windows 7 and Windows 8

 

[Brink]

I'm not sure why the "Dim the Display" is missing since this is for a laptop. Do you have the battery connected to it? Could be what your drivers dictate as well.

By default, it's set to dim 5 minutes "On battery" and 10 minutes "Plugged on". So I would imagine that is what the "Dimmed display brightness" option would use.

I'm looking into this to see if there may be a way to manually add the "Dim the Display" option back. Hopefully, there will be.

 

[TBolt]

Thank you for looking into it.

I always have my battery connected to the laptop. My screen has always been set to turn off at 10 minutes ... will disable that and see if the screen dims after 10 minutes -- I could live with that (while plugged in).

Update: ... nope ... the laptop screen did not dim even after 10+ minutes. I guess someone left the feature out of Win 8.1.

 

[Brink]

Ok TBolt.

I couldn't find the entry to add back Dim the display to Edit Plan Settings, but here's the new tutorial to add back the Dim display after setting under Display in Power Options like below. It the same setting.


http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/36244-power-options-add-remove-dim-display-after.html

 

[TBolt]

Thank you, Brink! Worked like a charm in Windows 8.1.

You rock!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome TBolt.

 

[leroygood3]

Hey guy i over looked this thread and i found out what it was that kept changing the brightness on is own.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/6042-adaptive-brightness-turn-off-windows-8-a.html


Step One

Step 2

Step 3


And Boom It Should Work

 

[mochakaboom]

I couldn't get it to work. I successfully downloaded and opened the .reg file but it didn't dim the screen at all. I've downloaded the latest video driver and still nothing. Also I use to have this feature on windows 8 so it should be working. Not sure what's going on

 

[Brink]

Hello Mochakaboom, and welcome to Eight Forums.

   Note

If you did not originally have the Dim the display and Dim display after options available, then it means that it is not supported on your PC.

Instead, your display(s) will automatically dim by the percentage set in "Dimmed display brightness" exactly 15 seconds before what is set in "Turn off display after".

If your PC is an OEM PC that came with Windows 8.1 preinstalled, then the OEM may have it's own power management type program installed that is overriding Windows. If so, then you might check to see if you may have such a program.