What is the side toolbar?
The side toolbar lets you access various features like toggle full screen, volume controls, lock cursor, keyboard controls, screenshot and recording and many more with ease.
This article will acquaint you with all of these different features.
What can I do with the side toolbar?
Each toolbar button is designated to perform a certain task which is explained in detail below. You can hover your mouse cursor over each button to see the task it can perform.
The toolbar can be accessed on the right side of the BlueStacks player. You may choose to hide or unhide it using the arrow buttons available at the top-right corner.
1. Toggle full-screen: This button lets you play games in full-screen mode. To exit full-screen mode you can click again on the same icon as mentioned below or press the F11 key.
2. Manage volume: You can increase, decrease, and mute the volume of the game with this button.
3. Lock cursor in-game: This button will lock your cursor movement only to the game-play screen. You can use the F8 key to disable the cursor lock.
4. Change the transparency of keyboard controls: This button will let you see the key overlay available for the game. You can also set the opacity for the key overlay by using the slider.
5. Open keyboard control UI: This button will let you access keyboard controls for the game you are playing.
6. Keyboard control: Disable or enable keyboard control while playing any game.
7. Open gamepad controls: This button will let you use to open the gamepad controls of all those game which support gamepad on BlueStacks.
8. Macro recorder: This icon helps you to record a new macro in order to enhance the gameplay. You may also refer to our help article How can I use a macro recorder?
9. Take a screenshot: You can take a screenshot of an instance in your game or app.
10. Record screen: You can now record your gameplay and save it on your computer for viewing it later. This also works in the fullscreen mode. Please visit the following link for more information: How to use screen recording on BlueStacks?
11. Open media folder: Your stored screenshots and recorded videos will be available in the default folder. You can access them using this icon.
12. Open multi-instance manager: Open multi-instance manager directly to create and manage multiple instances of BlueStacks. Please visit the following link for more information: Introducing new multi-instance manager on BlueStacks 4.
13. Set location: This button helps you set or change your location based on the application requirement. Please visit the following link for more information: How to use location provider on BlueStacks?
14. Shake: You can shake your BlueStacks player with this option and use it in games that require this feature.
15. Rotate BlueStacks screen: This button will help you to rotate an application on BlueStacks from landscape mode to portrait mode and vice-versa. Please visit the following link for more information: How can I use rotation control on BlueStacks?
16. Open Game Guide: This icon allows you to open the 'Game Guide' window in order to make changes to the game controls. Please visit the following link for more information: Introducing Game Guide in BlueStacks.
17. Open Settings menu: This option will allow you to open the settings menu. Please visit the following link to check the different settings options How can I customize BlueStacks 4 settings.
18. Back: With the Back button, you can go back a step on the current app you are using or exit out of a game.
Thank you for choosing BlueStacks. We hope you enjoy using it. If you have any further questions, please contact us at support@bluestacks.com. Happy Gaming!
Last updated on Sept 2, 2020.