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Invert display colors on Windows

Invert display colors on Windows

Is it possible to invert display colors on Windows like Macs can?

Asked by: Guest | Views: 192
Total answers/comments: 5
Guest [Entry]

"Windows 7 maginifier glass tool supports color inversion and the magnification is not obligatory.

Note: You must have Aero enabled to invert colors for the whole screen."
Guest [Entry]

"The following won't work for everyone, but if you have XP and an NVIDIA graphics card then there is a proper color inversion that is equivalent to the Mac. I use this successfully with my work computer.

If you don't have an NVIDIA card, then as others have said you can use the Accessibility High Contrast features to approximate inverted colors and the magnifier glass gives some functionality on XP, but I found this unsatisfying (and I have to use XP for work). Instructions are in other answers and in the wikihow article that I adapted the NVIDIA instructions from

Go to NVIDIA control panel - I can do this by right clicking on the icon in my tray and selecting ""NVIDIA Control Panel"", but you can also:
Right-click on your screen and choose Properties.

Under Setting tab click on Advanced.
From the upper row of tabs select the one related to you graphic adapter (with on image icon).
Click Start the NVIDIA Control panel. (You need to have these NVIDIA utilities installed.)

Now you can invert colors - note that this is on a display-by-display basis. Also, there is a note that this is only inverting the basic display and that video will not be affected (unless inverted separately) - I have not explored this.

I recommend saving your profile before you start (and after you finish) so that you can more easily switch back and forth. At the top of the window select Profiles → Save... and save your regular color profile. I use names that identify normal or inverted and the display configuration (laptop, external home, external work) - if you only have one configuration this is not required.
Inside NVIDIA control panel, from the left side navigation bar, under Display select Adjust desktop color setting. Note: you need to view the Adjust desktop color setting item in the Advanced Settings. In the standard settings, you will not see the graph option below.
Under 2. Apply the following .... switch to graph tab.
There are three points already forming the graph, select the one on the upper right side of the graph and set the values In to 1, and Out to 0. (On my machine, I am not able to set the values and I have to do this by dragging the top right point to the bottom right. This is very frustrating, but if you play around with it you can get these reversed. Try not to set both Out values to the same number (1 or 0) or it is very difficult to see the points you need to drag on the graph - I drag the point to the middle right and then finish after dragging lower left to top left.)
Then Select the point on the lower left of the graph and set the values In to 0, and Out to 1. (Again, I have to drag the point with the mouse on my machine from lower left to top left.)
Apply the settings and you have successfully inverted your colors.
Finally, you will want to save this profile. Again, go to the Profiles menu and select Save...

Now you should be able to use Profiles → Load... to switch back and forth. I have to re-open this control panel to invert my colors, but I plan to set this to some shortcut, once I figure out how...

The following screen shot shows that Adjust desktop color setting does not have the graph option under standard options:

The following screen shot shows that Adjust desktop color setting does have the graph option under advanced options (it is the second - not the default - tab under 2. Apply the following...:

The graph after inverting the colors:"
Guest [Entry]

"Go to the appearance settings
(in vista this is through personalization > color and appearance > classic properties)

You can then customize your settings or pick one of the high contrast schemes."
Guest [Entry]

"You can use:

Notepad++ with VibrantInk theme
Stylish Firefox addon with ""NishtShift - eye care"" style
VibrantInk theme on Eclipse or another with black background
On PDF-XChange Viewer you can do it at Edit/Prefs:

[v] Override document colors;
Use Custom Color Scheme:
page background: black;
[v] text color: white(gray);
[v] Line Art: fill Color: black; Stroke color: black;

All these are solutions for a particular program, but with an inverter it can be done for any program."
Guest [Entry]

"This would be a pretty easy application to write. In fact, it would take more time hooking it up to a keyboard combo or some other hook than anything else. The best way I guess would be to make an application that just inverts the colors, and then add it as a shortcut, with a hot-key combo. Like Ctrl+Alt+I to Invert the colors, and again to switch them back.

If you need help with this let me know. This should only end up as an hour or less C++ application."