How can I rotate the screen of a MacBook Pro 90 degrees?

How can I rotate the screen of a MacBook Pro 90 degrees to read content like books?

pupeno

Posted 2009-05-14T16:41:18.273

Reputation: 8 223

EasyPivot is not available any longer... – None – 2011-11-03T18:08:18.793

You're planning to rotate the screen and then tip the MBP on its side? – Doug Chase – 2009-05-14T16:44:34.833

3What software are you using to view these books? Perhaps one solution is to find software that lets you rotate the content (like PDF readers). – Andy May – 2009-05-14T16:58:22.767

Bah, @Doug Chase beat me to it! – squillman – 2009-05-14T17:07:20.180

Yes, I plan to put the MBP on its side. – pupeno – 2009-05-14T17:10:27.337

I'm using the built in PDF viewer. – pupeno – 2009-05-14T17:11:04.853

So the built in PDF viewer does not support rotation? – Andy May – 2009-05-14T17:12:48.547

Yes it does. So it wouldbe easier to just rotate the entire document and, if you like, putit into fullscreen and have a whole page fill the screen. That would be the best option in your case. – alex – 2009-10-25T05:46:05.687

Answers

If System preferences is open, close it (this only work once after opening system preferences. I have no idea why)
press and hold option/alt + cmd + left click 'Display'
Now there should be a button that says 'Rotation: Standard', click it and choose your rotation

Word of caution - it may be tricky to navigate the mousepad with a rotated screen. You feel drunk.

Johan

Posted 2009-05-14T16:41:18.273

Reputation: 521

Why is it like this? And where is this secret book of unknown shortcuts? – ffledgling – 2014-09-12T14:51:21.823

It's a good thing Apple hides these kinds of things ಠ_ಠ – billynoah – 2014-12-14T15:25:13.333

Ｗorks like a charm! Thanks and wonder how you know this trick! – Jeff Tian – 2015-12-01T02:40:39.083

1awesome trick - where do u ppl get this s.. :) ? – Devrim – 2010-11-30T00:27:37.683

1helped me a lot.Thanx – Radek – 2011-02-07T00:55:57.990

3This should have been the accepted answer! – AlcubierreDrive – 2011-03-13T04:29:37.163

2There's a driver patch for linux that rotates the touchpad, too. :D – Rob – 2011-11-03T18:28:53.390

Hold the Option and Command, click on Preferences and then on Display while holding the Option + Command. Only than you'll be given the option to change the rotation of the screen.

Slobodan

Posted 2009-05-14T16:41:18.273

Reputation: 81

I am running Windows XP on a MacBook and have found while holding the ctrl and option keys together and pressing the cursor move keys (home pgup pgdn end) orients the screen in the direction of the cursor key.

Tom

Posted 2009-05-14T16:41:18.273

Reputation: 21

On Mac OS X 10.6.8:

System Preferences -> Displays -> Rotation is a hidden setting:

Go to System Preferences (in the Apple menu).
While holding the alt/option and command keys, click 'Displays'.
Adjust the Rotation setting. (If you don't see it, close System Preferences and start over.)
A popup entitled "Confirm new display setting" appears.
Rotate the physical screen.
In the popup, click "Confirm" or "Revert".

John Pick

Posted 2009-05-14T16:41:18.273

Reputation: 111

Doesn't work for me on 10.7.5 – Niels Bom – 2013-02-22T09:00:52.317

edited to emphasize that this answer is for Mac OS X 10.6.8 – John Pick – 2013-11-26T19:10:22.973

To rotate the screen when reading a PDF or word file, simply hold control and right click the mouse. You can rotate the screen, and your mouse, etc. still runs the same, so you won't get disoriented.

ggirl

Posted 2009-05-14T16:41:18.273

Reputation: 1

According to http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9290419 the hardware supports the act of displaying sideways, but it appears that only SMSRotateD makes use of this.

Adam

Posted 2009-05-14T16:41:18.273

Reputation: 251

-2

On MBP's with multi-touch, you can rotate content in Preview.app using the 'two finger swirl' ;) or you can use cmd-L or cmd-R. This works in OX 10.5.x, but I don't know about earlier versions.

Dana the Sane

Posted 2009-05-14T16:41:18.273

Reputation: 536

2It really only rotates the current page, am I wrong? And then it can even be saved, destroying the PDF. – pupeno – 2009-05-15T08:23:57.967

cmd-L gives you the option to rotate the entire document and there's no reason you can rotate it back later, or not save the doc after you rotate it. – Dana the Sane – 2009-05-15T18:52:51.690