You can never have too many screens, can you?

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes struggle, when using my laptop in the booth, to squeeze the agenda, list of participants,  glossary, dictionary, web browser and meeting documents/presentations onto one screen. Not to mention email, messenger or shared notepad when working in separate booths in times of COVID-19 … Or even the soft console of your RSI provider?

Well, I have more than once found myself wondering if anybody would mind me bringing my 24 inch desktop monitor to the booth to add some additional screenspace to this tiny 12 inch laptop screen – until, finally, I came across a very useful little freeware application called spacedesk. It lets you use your Android, iOS or Windows tablet as an external monitor to complement your Windows computer quite easily (to all tablet aficionados: unfortunately it does not work the other way around). You simply install it on both your main Windows device, the “server” or “Primary Machine”, and the tablet as a “client” or “secondary device”, and you can connect both devices via USB, ethernet or WiFi and then  use your tablet to either extend or duplicate your computer screen just like you do it with any external monitor on your desk.

There is just a tiny delay when moving the mouse (if that’s not due to my low-end tablet’s poor performance), so it might be better to move the more static elements, like the agenda, to it rather than your terminology database, which you might want to handle very swiftly.

So if ever you feel like going back to printing your documents for lack of screen space, bringing your tablet as a screen extension might be a good alternative.