How to activate the overlay on Discord ?

Overlay is a popular option on gamer platforms like Twitch or Steam. This function allows you to play and chat simultaneously on the same screen. In concrete terms, your conversation will have an interface that will be superimposed on the main game window.

This will allow you to stay focused on the game at hand and have information about who you’re talking to online.

C’What is the’overlay Discord ?

On Discord, the overlay allows you to display the name and the avatar of the player who is talking. Online members’ profiles also appear on the interface overlaying the game. This new window can also display regular voice chat notifications, depending on your preferences on the Discord server.

Despite its success, this option is not always available on VoIP on Windows, Mac, iOs, etc. You also need a compatible game to be able to activate the overlay function. At the beginning, Discord listed the different works that support overlay. This whitelist included WoW, League of Legends, Minecraft, Guild Wars 2, DOTA 2, Diablo 3, Final Fantasy XIV..

Since then, developers have released a myriad of MMORPGs and multiplayer games that support this feature. This gives users the ability to conduct a smooth game and conversation. You can now take advantage of the full screen mode, without having to regularly activate and hide the instant messaging window.

How to disable the’overlay Discord ?

At full game, you can activate Discord’s overlay mode with the default keyboard shortcut Shift + ‘. This feature is sometimes inadvertently activated during a particularly intense campaign. Other players were also able to lock the option in your absence.

This inconvenience can occur especially when there are several of you using a single login.

In any case, use the previous shortcut to disable the overlay. You can also unlock it in the Settings. Click on the cogwheel icon at the bottom left of the screen. This image is located near your user account name and avatar. Then open the Overlay drop-down menu.

Finally, press the toggles near the Enable in-game overlay option.

More generally, Discord allows you to enable or disable overlay on particular games. Go to the Settings, then open Game activity. You will then discover a exhaustive list of your games.

Press the small screen displayed to the right of the title to deactivate the overlay.

How to’enable ?

By default, overlay activation on Discord is simply done via the keyboard shortcut Shift + ‘. However, this key combination only works in full game. If you have a QWERTY keyboard, you will have to press the key next to Tab and Shift.

However, you can manually change your keyboard shortcuts within the application.

To do this, open the menu Settings, then select the line Overlay. Then click on Activate the overlay in the game, if the option is not already locked. Your current shortcut will be displayed near the toggle. To edit it, press the small keyboard on the right of the screen.

Then enter another key combination to create a shortcut.

In this tab, you also have the possibility to customize interface features displayed as an overlay. You can change the size of avatars and the frequency of notifications. Scroll down the contextual menu to define their position.

The window will then be displayed on one of the grey corners chosen at this stage.