Support

Product: Screen Blackout for Windows (Stream Deck plugin for Windows) · Provider: GRAMSHIFT (Tokyo, Japan)

Contact

Email contact@gramshift.com in English or Japanese. We reply within 7 business days, usually sooner. Please include your Windows version, your Stream Deck app version, how many monitors you use, and the text of the "Now" line in the key's settings.

Blackout Monitor

  1. Install the plugin from the Elgato Marketplace. In the Stream Deck app, find Screen Blackout for Windows in the action list and drag Blackout Monitor onto a key.
  2. In Monitor, choose a monitor (by number, name, size and position) or Every screen except the main one. Press Refresh the list after you connect a monitor.
  3. Press the key: a black window covers that monitor and the key shows BLACK. Press again to uncover it.
  4. Other ways to uncover: hold any Blackout Monitor key (about 1 second) to uncover every black screen, or double-click the black area (this works even without the Stream Deck). The black window also goes away when its key is no longer shown: when you switch to another page or profile, remove the key or unplug the Stream Deck.
  5. The black window is made not to take the keyboard focus, so the game or app you were using should stay in front and keep your keyboard. Clicks on the black area do nothing. It is not in the taskbar or in Alt+Tab.
  6. Optional: Uncover while the mouse is on it. Move the mouse onto the black monitor to see it; it turns black again when the mouse leaves.
  7. When a monitor is unplugged the key shows WAITING; it is covered again when it comes back. When monitors move or change resolution, the black window follows.

Screens Off

  1. Drag Screens Off onto a key. Optional: Lock the PC first.
  2. Press the key: Windows turns every monitor off, the same as after the screen timeout in the power settings. Move the mouse or press a key to turn them on again; some monitors take a few seconds.

Sleep Timer

  1. Drag Sleep Timer onto a key. Choose what happens At zero: sleep, hibernate, shut down, turn the screens off or lock the PC.
  2. Each press adds time (5 minutes to 1 hour per press, up to 1 to 12 hours), or starts a fixed time (15 minutes to 4 hours; a press while it runs starts it again).
  3. The key counts down: 14:59 (minutes:seconds) under an hour, 1:05 (hours:minutes) from an hour. It blinks in the last minute.
  4. Hold the key (about a second) to cancel. Nothing happens at zero then.
  5. The timer runs only while its key is shown. Switching to another page or profile, removing the key or unplugging the Stream Deck cancels it, so no hidden timer can turn the PC off.
  6. If the PC sleeps for another reason (or the clock is changed) while the timer runs, the timer is cancelled and the key says why (the PC slept / the clock changed), instead of acting right after the PC wakes up.
  7. The timer is not saved. When the Stream Deck app or the plugin restarts (or the PC restarts), a running timer is cancelled and the PC is not turned off later.

Common questions

The key showsWhat to do
LAST SCREENCovering that monitor would make every screen black, so the plugin leaves it visible. To turn every screen off, use Screens Off.
NO 2ND SCREEN"Every screen except the main one" was chosen, but only the main monitor is connected.
WAITINGThe chosen monitor is not connected. It is covered again when it is back.
STOPPEDThe helper (Windows PowerShell) that shows the black windows ended, so they are gone. Press the key to try again.
ERRORThe helper could not start or answer. The "Now" line in the key's settings says why. Some company PCs block Windows PowerShell or its Add-Type command; then the plugin can not work there.
NO SLEEPThis PC has no classic sleep (S3); many newer laptops use Modern Standby instead, which a program can not start. The timer does not start. Choose hibernate, turn the screens off or lock.
NO HIBERNATEHibernation is turned off on this PC. An administrator can turn it on with powercfg /hibernate on.
The PC did not shut downAn app with unsaved work can stop a shutdown, as with Start > Shut down. Save your work before you leave.

Things to know