How to add a system wide theater mode on Windows 10
Websites that primarily play video often have a neat mode called ‘Theater mode’. When enabled, this mode will focus the video player and dim everything else on the page. If you prefer to watch videos outside of full screen mode, the theater mode is something you should try. If you’d like to use this particular feature for all apps on your desktop, you can use DimmerPro to add a system wide theater mode on Windows 10.
System wide theater mode
Download, install, and run DimmerPro. I couldn’t find the download link on the publisher’s page so the link takes you to Softpedia which is a reliable software repository. The app is also clean per a VirusTotal scan.
Once you’ve installed DimmerPro, you can activate it with the Alt+Shift+G keyboard shortcut. It will otherwise run in the system tray. The first time you run it, you will have to set the ‘dim’ level. The dim level is how dark everything in the background will get when you enable the app.
Once you select the dim level, the current window will be focused and everything else will be dimmed. The app works proactively so that when you switch to a different app or window, its focus will switch as well. The newly selected app will be in focus and everything else will be dimmed.
The app doesn’t have much under settings. You can change the dim level any time you want and if you want, you can set it to turn completely black though it might make it difficult to switch over to other apps.
If the app’s default hotkey isn’t suitable for you, you can change it from the app’s settings. You want to be careful not to use a hotkey that’s already used by another app or that is used globally by Windows 10.
The app is great if you’re trying to concentrate on something but know you will need to switch between various apps or files during the course of a normal day. If the app you’re using doesn’t offer a full screen mode that lets you concentrate, this app might be a good alternative. You can combine it with Focus Assist on Windows 10. The app is limited to focusing on just one app/window at a time so even if you do need to use two apps side by side, it won’t let you. You can call it a limitation of the app, or just something that’s outside its main functionality but it nevertheless does what it claims to do, flawlessly.
I tested this app with a multi-monitor set up and it left about a third of my second screen undimmed. This might have to do with the scaling I’ve applied so if you experience the same thing, try setting scaling to 100% for all your screens.
