How to Disable Discord Overlay?

Disable Discord Overlay – Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging software that includes plenty of unique features. One such feature is Discord overlay. Discord overlay lets you voice/video chat and stream from your PC while playing the game.

Discord is the go-to Voice over IP platform for the gaming community. It provides the best text and chat system to facilitate communication with other online gamers through text, screenshots, voice notes, and voice calls. The overlay feature allows you to chat with other players while playing a game on full-screen mode.

But, when you are playing a solo game, you do not need the in-game overlay. It will be rather pointless and inconvenient for non-multiplayer games. Fortunately, Discord provides its users with the option to enable or disable the overlay feature with ease & convenience. This can be done either for all android games or a few selected games.

Turning Off Discord’s Overlay

For the people that can’t find any real use for this feature, we suggest turning it off completely. Here is a quick guide on how to disable the Discord overlay:

1. Start Discord.
2. Open User Settings by clicking the cogwheel icon near your username.
3. Scroll the left panel all the down until you see the Game Overlay tab (this feature/tab is only accessible via the desktop application).
4. If the Enable in-game overlay button is green, click it to disable it.

With that, the overlay is permanently disabled unless you enable it again.

Overlay Lock

If you want to continue using Discord’s overlay but to do so more efficiently, you should learn how to utilize the overlay lock shortcut.

By using this shortcut, you can unlock the overlay to interact with it. The default shortcut is Shift + ~. You can change it via the Game Overlay tab in User Settings. If you want to remove, pin or add certain elements to the overlay, simply use the shortcut.

Adjust Overlay Appearance

If you have been unable to optimize the overlay with the overlay lock, you can also adjust its appearance in User Settings – Game Overlay.

Here are some of the options:

• Avatar Size – Make the size of the avatars larger or smaller.
• Display Names – Choose whether to display names constantly, while the users are speaking, or never. For the cleanest UI, choose Never.
• Display Users – Choose whether avatars and names are displayed constantly or only while speaking.
• Notification position – Choose which of the four corners you want the overlay notifications to pop up in.

How to Turn off Discord Overlay

The process for turning off the overlay feature on Discord is similar for Windows OS, Mac OS, and Chromebook. You have two options: Disabling overlay for all the games at once or disabling it for particular games only. We shall go through each of these individually.

How to Disable Discord Overlay for All Games

Follow these steps to disable Discord overlay for all games:

1. Launch Discord via a desktop app installed on your PC or the Discord web version on your web browser.
2. Log in to your account and click on the gear icon from the bottom-left corner of the screen. The User settings window will appear. Refer to the given pic.
3. Scroll down to Activity settings from the left panel and click on the Game overlay.
4. Toggle off the option titled Enable in-game overlay, as shown here.
5. Launch any game while running Discord in the background and confirm that the chat overlay has disappeared from the screen.

How to Disable the Discord Overlay on a Windows 10, Mac, or Chromebook PC

You can disable the Discord Overlay either for particular games or for all games on your computer. Whether you are using a Windows 10 PC, a Mac, or a Chromebook Pc, the process is the same as the application itself is not dependent on the operating system. To disable the overlay on your computer, follow these steps:

1. Open your Discord app. If the Discord application window does not open, check to see if it has been minimized on your system tray.
2. Once on the Discord Home screen, click on the User Settings icon. This will be the gear icon to the bottom left of the screen. It will be lined up along with your username.
3. From the menu on the left, scroll down until you get to App Settings. Find and click on Overlay.
4. At the very top of the menu that appears, find the Enable in-game overlay toggle. Click this to toggle it on or off. If it is off the Toggle Overlay Lock option should be grayed out.
5. Navigate out of this window. While Discord is open, launch any game. If the overlay has been properly disabled then it should not appear any longer.

How to Disable Discord Overlay From Steam 

Most gamers use the Steam store to download and play games. Steam, too, has an overlay option. Hence, you don’t need to disable the overlay on Discord specifically. You can disable Discord overlay for the Steam platform from within the platform.

Here is how to disable Discord overlay on Steam:

1. Launch the Steam app on your PC and click on the Steam tab from the top of the window.
2. Go to Steam settings, as shown.
3. A new window will appear on your screen. Click on the in-game tab from the left panel.
4. Next, check the box marked Enable the Steam overlay while in-game to disable overlay. Refer to the given pic.
5. Finally, click on OK from the bottom of the screen to save the new changes.

How to Disable Discord Overlay for Selected Games

Here is how to disable Discord overlay for particular games:

1. Launch Discord and navigate to User settings, as explained above.
2. Click the Game overlay option under Activity settings in the left panel.
3. Check if the in-game overlay is enabled. If not, Toggle on the option titled Enable in-game overlay. Refer to pic below.
4. Next, switch to the Game activity tab from the left panel.
5. You will be able to see all your games here. Select the games for which you wish to disable the game overlay.
6. Note: If you don’t see the game you are looking for, click on Add it option to add that game to the games list.
7. Finally, turn off the Overlay option visible next to these games.
8. The overlay feature will not work for the specified games and will remain enabled for the rest.