What is Dell Display and Peripheral Manager?

If you buy a new Dell keyboard, mouse or monitor, chances are that a pop-up will appear inviting you to install Dell Display and Peripheral Manager. So what is this app? What can it do? And should you install it?

In this explainer, we’ll answer all these questions and more. (But the short answer to the last one is yes, if you own Dell peripherals or monitors, install it.)

What does Dell Display and Peripheral Manager do?

The app is dedicated to controlling any Dell monitors and peripherals connected to your computer. In the case of a display, that means it can control settings such as brightness and colour profiles; for a keyboard, you get control over programmable buttons. Likewise for Dell mice.

For the Dell Display and Peripheral Manager to work with keyboards and mice, you simply need to plug them in. It will detect them the moment you launch the app.

However, the app will only detect your monitor if it’s connected over USB. In most cases, that means USB-C, but it will also work over an old-fashioned USB-B port.

What kind of options does is it give for keyboards?

The Dell Display and Peripheral Manager is primarily here to apply shortcuts to your keys. These are split into four different actions: Suggested Actions; Productivity Actions; Windows Actions; and Multimedia Actions.

Suggested Actions are basically what Dell considers the most common. First, assigning a keystroke. Second, opening a file – so if there’s a doc hiding somewhere on your PC it will jump straight to it. Third, open a folder, similarly to the file.

Then there are Productivity Actions. Let’s say that you’re constantly zooming in to documents; if you choose the “Zoom in” option for a key then it will… well, you can guess.

There are also Windows Actions as shown in the screenshot above, while Multimedia Actions let you skip tracks, pause music and adjust the volume.

I’m currently using the Dell Pro Wired Collaboration Keyboard, which includes additional keys for video calls on Teams and Zoom. As you can see from the screenshot, Dell Display and Peripheral Manager offers extra options as it knows this.

What options does Dell Display and Peripheral Manager give for mice?

There aren’t as many options for mice, but there are a couple of handy features. First, if you’re left-handed and want to switch the primary mouse button round then you have that control.

If your mouse offers different dpi settings (the higher a mouse dpi setting is the more sensitive it is to movement) and polling rates.

Then we come to shortcuts, similar to keyboards. In fact, the options are very similar, with one key difference being that you can adjust actions for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

What options does Dell Display and Peripheral Manager give for monitors?

So long as you’re connected over USB-C, the Dell Display and Peripheral Manager replicates and even enhances the options you find in the monitor’s OSD (on-screen display). I find it far easier to adjust monitor settings this way, and depending on the monitor you’ll have a high level of control.

In the above two images, you can see that you can quickly adjust the brightness, contrast and colour settings of the monitor. In this case, the Dell Pro 32 Plus QHD. This monitor is designed for business use, so you don’t get many picture settings.

But the control doesn’t stop there. For instance, you’ll spot icons sitting in the middle of the above images. These are for Display Settings, Input Source, Easy Arrange and Others. The latter lets you choose when to activate the screensaver, for instance.

Easy Arrange is more interesting. Let’s say you frequently work with Word in the central area, with Chrome on the left-hand side and Outlook on the right. You can configure a setup to automatically launch on startup or at a certain time – or manually select it in the software.

What kind of peripherals does it work with?

So far, there are seven different categories:

• Active pens
• Keyboards & mice
• Docking stations
• Headsets
• Soundbars
• Speakerphones
• Webcams

Dell lists all the products supported by the Dell Display and Peripheral Manager on its website. The good news is that these include old products.

Is the Dell Display and Peripheral Manager free?

Yes, this is a freebie. This is to be expected, because no vendor that I’m aware of charges for the management software it provides.

How often does the Dell Display and Peripheral Manager update?

In my experience, pretty often. Something like once a week. This primarily happens, I believe, because Dell needs to update the roster of supported products. So if it brings out a new speakerphone, for example, it needs to add to the details.

Typically the download and install process takes around five minutes, but you can just keep working as it goes about its business and it probably won’t need to reboot afterwards.

UPDATE 4 AUGUST 2025: This article was updated to include details of how the Dell Display and Peripheral Manager could be used to manage Dell monitors.

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