Rotating a Chromebook screen can be tricky, especially for first-time users, but there are some easy ways to do it. There are many reasons users might find it useful to rotate the screen, like when working with multiple monitors or using a touchscreen device with a tablet mode. Although Chromebooks have a familiar form factor (similar to a laptop), they run an entirely different operating system, Chrome OS. Hence, even basic tasks like changing the screen’s orientation might take some learning.
One of the most straightforward ways to rotate a Chromebook’s screen is via the keyboard shortcut. Like Windows, Chrome OS has a lot of keyboard shortcuts that can increase users’ productivity, but there’s one particular combination that rotates the screen 90 degrees to the left. Press ‘Ctrl + Shift + Reload’ (the button with a circular arrow at the top of the keys 2 and 3), hit ‘Continue‘ in the dialogue box that appears, and that should turn the screen successfully. Moreover, there are four orientations, and each time the keys are pressed, it’ll go to the next one.
The second way to rotate the screen is via the Settings menu. Open the quick settings menu by clicking the clock in the bottom right corner, then select the settings icon. On the following menu, hit ‘Device‘ in the pane on the left and then select ‘Displays‘ from the central menu. Under ‘Built-in Display,‘ select ‘Orientation,‘ click on the drop-down menu, and select the required orientation from the available options: Standard, 90-degree, 180-degree, and 280-degree. Upon choosing an option, the screen changes to that particular orientation and stays that way unless the user changes it back.
For those with a touchscreen Chromebook that doubles as a tablet, here’s another way to turn the screen. First, ensure that the Chromebook is in tablet mode, then proceed with the steps given here. Click on the clock in the bottom right corner to open the quick settings menu. Select the ‘Lock (Horizontal)‘ option and change it to ‘Auto-rotate.‘ Now, unless the user turns off tablet mode, the Chromebook keeps changing its orientation based on the direction it is held in.
Users with a secondary display connected to their Chromebook can set up different orientations for their primary and secondary screens. To do so, they should open the ‘Settings’ menu, click ‘Displays,‘ and select the monitor’s name. Under ‘Orientation,‘ then choose the required option. This should change the external monitor’s orientation while retaining that of the Chromebook’s screen. Users can also set different text sizes for the secondary screen from the same menu.
