Dell 34 Monitor - P3421W Dell Display Manager User’s Guide Model: P3421W Regulatory model: P3421Wb
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates potential damage to hardware or loss of data if instructions are not followed. WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. Copyright © 2020 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Contents Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Using the Quick Settings Dialog 5 Setting Basic Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Assigning Preset Modes to Applications . . . . . . . . . 7 Organizing Windows with Easy Arrange . . . . . . . . . . 8 Managing Multiple Video Inputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Restoring Application Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Attaching DDM to active windows (only Windows 10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Overview Dell Display Manager (DDM) is a Microsoft Windows application used to manage a monitor or a group of monitors. It allows manual adjustment of the displayed image, assignment of automatic settings, energy management, window organization, image rotation, and other features on select Dell monitors. Once installed, Dell Display Manager runs each time the system starts and places its icon in the notification tray.
Using the Quick Settings Dialog Clicking Dell Display Manager's notification tray icon opens the Quick Settings dialog box. When more than one supported Dell monitors are connected to the computer, a specific target monitor can be selected using the menu. The Quick Settings dialog box enables you to easily adjust the brightness, contrast, resolution, window layout, and so on. You can select Manual Mode or Auto Mode, and the screen resolution can be changed.
NOTE: Feature Quick DDM Access Function Description Quick key to • Ctrl+Shift+D call up DDM UI • Use Page Up/Page Down key or click on “>” to flip through all Easy Arrange layouts. Control individual monitor in multiple monitor setup • From dropdown box to select monitor, selected monitor has Dell logo shown. • Perform monitor self-test feature check. • Move DDM UI to the monitor to be controlled. • Press Ctrl+Shift+D to bring up the miniUI under the mouse pointer.
Assigning Preset Modes to Applications The Auto Mode tab allows you to associate a specific Preset Mode with a specific application, and apply it automatically. When Auto Mode is enabled, Dell Display Manager automatically switches to the corresponding Preset Mode whenever the associated application is activated. The Preset Mode assigned to a particular application may be the same on each connected monitor, or it can vary from one monitor to another.
Organizing Windows with Easy Arrange Easy Arrange helps you to effectively organize your application windows on the desktop. You first choose a pre-defined layout pattern which suits your work, then you just need to drag the application windows into the defined zones. Press “>” or use Page Up/Page Down key to find more layouts.
For Windows 10, you can apply different window layouts for each of the virtual desktops. If you often use Windows snap feature, you can select “Hold down the SHIFT key to enable zone positioning”. This gives Windows snap priority over Easy Arrange. You will then need to press the Shift key to use Easy Arrange positioning. If you are using multiple monitors in an array or matrix, Easy Arrange layout can be applied across to all the monitors as one desktop.
There are other advanced ways for the usage of Easy Arrange. Refer to table below. Feature Function Enhanced Easy Custom layouts Arrange 5 MRU (mostrecently- Description • Save and name 5 customized Easy Arrange patterns. • Configure x*y patterns. • Press Ctrl+Shift+Home to cycle among the last 5 MRU layouts. used) layouts On the fly partition resizing • Hold down Ctrl while resizing current Easy Arrange layout to adjust the size and numbers of cells in a layout.
You can use the dropdown list to switch to any input source. NOTE: DDM communicates with your monitor even when the monitor is displaying video from another computer. You can install DDM on the PC you frequently use and control input switching from it. You may also install DDM on other PCs connected to the monitor.
Click the PIP/PBP mode selection button to set the preferred configuration. The available modes are Off, PIP Small, PIP Large, and PBP. You can select video inputs for your main window and sub window. Please save your change after your selection. You can define a shortcut key to quickly swap the video inputs between main window and sub window. Click Video swap or use the defined Video swap shortcut key to swap the video inputs between main window and sub window.
It is particularly useful when you share mouse or keyboard which is connected to the monitor between two computers. You can define a shortcut key to quickly switch the device between the two computers. You can also use KVM wizard to assign the USB upstream ports for the video inputs and select display partition for multiple devices. NOTE: Make sure you have assigned a USB upstream port for each of the connected devices.
When PIP/PBP is on, if you share a device (e.g. a mouse) between the two computers, you can click USB switch or use the defined USB switch shortcut key to quickly switch the device between the two computers. NOTE: Make sure you have assigned a USB upstream port for each of the two computers. NOTE: Make sure the USB device is properly stopped before you switch it to another computer. Failing to do so may cause problems such as data corruption on a thumb drive.
Restoring Application Positions DDM can help you restore application windows into their positions when you reconnect your PC to the monitor(s). You can quickly access this feature by rightclicking on DDM icon in the notification tray. If you choose “Auto-restore window layout”, your application windows' positions are tracked and remembered by DDM. DDM automatically puts the application windows into their original positions when you reconnect your PC to your monitor(s).
Attaching DDM to active windows (only Windows 10) For Windows 10, you can add the DDM shortcut icon to the toolbar region of active windows. To activate this feature, right-click on the DDM icon in the notification tray and choose Attach to active window from the opened menu. Once you right-click the icon in the toolbar, a quick menu of DDM appears, displaying options under Auto Mode and Easy Arrange for you to easily make adjustments.
Applying Energy Conservation Features The Options tab provides PowerNap energy conservation options and allows you to customize keyboard shortcuts. In the upper pane, you can choose to set the monitor's brightness to the minimum level, or to put the monitor to sleep when the screensaver is activated. Other Shortcut Keys You can define the shortcut keys for quick access to the following DDM functions: • Program shortcut key: to quickly open the Quick Settings dialog box.
Troubleshooting If DDM cannot work with your monitor, DDM will show below icon in your notification tray. Click on the icon, DDM shows a more detailed error message. Please note that DDM only works with Dell branded monitors. If you are using monitors from other manufacturers, DDM doesn't support them. If DDM is unable to detect and/or communicate with a supported Dell monitor, please take below actions to troubleshoot: 1.
DDM may not work with below monitors: • Dell monitor models earlier than year 2013 and D-series of Dell monitors. You can refer to Dell Product Support websites for more information • Gaming monitors using NVIDIA-based G-sync technology • Virtual and wireless displays do not support DDC/CI • Some early models of DP 1.2 monitors, it may be necessary to disable MST/ DP 1.
