Several screens
Every screen is a whole desk, and the one with the keyboard is live. Each carries the bar, the dock, widgets of its own, notes on its edges and spectra. The live one is where panels open and notifications arrive, and what the keys act on. Where the screens sit is set in Displays.
Workspaces
Section titled “Workspaces”The ten workspaces are shared by every screen, out of the box, and a number brings its workspace to the screen you are on rather than taking you to the screen it is on.
| Keys | What they do |
|---|---|
| SUPER 1 … 0 | Bring that workspace to this screen; if another screen is showing it, the two swap |
| The number of the workspace already here | Go back to the one this screen showed before |
| SUPER SHIFT 1 … 0 | Move the window to that workspace |
| SUPER and the wheel | Walk the workspaces on this screen |
| SUPER ALT ← → | Take the keyboard to the screen left or right |
| SUPER ALT SHIFT ← → | The two screens trade workspaces, and the keyboard goes with yours |
| SUPER SHIFT and an arrow | Move the window; with nothing that way, it crosses to the next screen |
These are the default keys; every profile carries its own, changed in Settings → Keys (Keybindings).
Each bar’s workspace strip has a dot for every workspace on the desk and lights the one its screen is showing; a click brings that workspace to that screen. The overview draws each workspace as the screen it is on, and Enter brings it to the screen the overview is on.
Ten for each screen
Section titled “Ten for each screen”Settings → Bar → Workspaces → With more screens → Per screen gives every screen ten workspaces of its own. The main screen has 1 to 10, the next 11 to 20, and so on from left to right. The number keys and SUPER SHIFT and a number go to the screen’s own: on the second screen SUPER 4 is workspace 14. Each bar and the overview show that screen’s ten, numbered from 1.
The two screens trading, on SUPER ALT SHIFT and an arrow, trade the windows instead, so every screen keeps its own numbers. A workspace left over from an unplugged screen shows on the main screen’s strip by its own number until the screen comes back. The choice belongs to the machine, so it stays the same across profiles, and switching it needs no reload.
The bar and the island
Section titled “The bar and the island”Every screen draws the whole bar, and one is live: the screen with the keyboard, which follows the pointer. The live bar opens panels, holds the keyboard and shows notifications and passing readings; the others show the island at rest, on the time. The island moves only while it is shut, so an open panel holds it where it is until it closes.
Settings → Bar → Style → On every screen is on by default: One on each, and the one you are on is the live one. Off, Only on the screen you are on, and the others keep the bar’s space empty, so no window moves as you cross.
The dock
Section titled “The dock”Settings → Dock → On every screen is on by default too: One on each, all showing the same. Off, Only on the screen you are on. Every dock shows the same shelf (every application on the desk, whichever screen its windows are on) and leaves only on the screen that has a full-screen window. See the dock.
Widgets, notes and spectra
Section titled “Widgets, notes and spectra”Every screen has a grid of its own, and a widget, a deck or a spectrum belongs to the screen it was put on. One whose screen is unplugged is drawn on the main screen until it comes back. Arranging happens on every screen at once, and the card of modules is on the screen the pointer is on. Nothing is dragged from one screen to another: take it off here and place it again there. See Screens and sizes.
Brightness
Section titled “Brightness”The brightness keys act on the screen you are on: the laptop’s panel through brightnessctl, and an external monitor over DDC/CI through ddcutil. When that screen cannot be dimmed, they act on the first one that can. The Brightness detail on the bar has a slider for each screen that can be dimmed.
A monitor answers only with DDC/CI switched on in its own menu. ddcutil
reaches monitors through the i2c-dev module, which setup loads so the
session after the install has it without a reboot.
Captures and recordings
Section titled “Captures and recordings”A capture or a recording takes the screen with the keyboard: the capture surface on SUPER SHIFT S opens there, and SUPER SHIFT R records it. To take another screen, move the keyboard to it first; two screens are never one picture. See Capture.
The lock covers every screen, and a key on any of them wakes them all.
What does not work across screens — one bar layout for all of them, the same dock items on each, nothing dragged from one to another — is listed under Limitations.