Steam's overlay hides several useful tools beyond its familiar chat window, including features that can help you play, stay organized, and connect with friends. The redesigned overlay, updated by Valve in 2023, offers a breadth of options that many publishers and storefronts now offer in their games and launchers. If you are a Steam user and don't use the built-in overlay frequently or at all, you might be surprised by all the things it can do.
You can open the overlay in-game by pressing Shift and Tab on your keyboard at the same time. If you want to change the shortcut, you can do so from Steam's options menu, which you can access by clicking Steam at the top left of the interface, followed by Settings and then In-Game. You'll also find other handy settings here, such as the option to disable the overlay altogether.
Steam will remember how you've configured your overlay for each individual game, so there's no need to activate, arrange and resize parts of the interface every time you go play your favorite titles. The Steam overlay is great for single-player games. When you bring up the overlay, you'll find shortcuts for all the features along the bottom of the interface.
Simply press one of them to bring up the feature you want to use. Surf the web without leaving your game. I know what you're thinking: can't you just Alt-Tab out of a game to open your browser? While you certainly could do that, I find switching to Steam's built-in browser is a lot smoother since it's integrated directly into Valve's client.
It's a great way to check something, such as how to tackle a quest you're having trouble with, without taking yourself out of a game completely. I'll also mention here that you can access Steam's often excellent community guides directly from the overlay, making them easy to reference, especially if you favorite one. Write a note.
If you're playing a puzzle game like Blue Prince or Tunic, being able to jot down notes as you try to piece together clues can make things so much easier. Steam's built-in text editor is fairly robust, allowing you to format text and write code blocks. Set yourself a timer.
I don't know about you, but my gaming time is limited most days. I try to get around that by sneaking in gaming sessions whenever I can, which means I often only have 45 minutes or an hour before I need to be doing something else. For that reason, I find using the overlay to keep track of time and set timers really helpful.
Again, you could just use your smartphone to do that, but the beauty of doing things this way is you don't need to look at your phone. Bonus tip: you can pin any element of the overlay so that it appears in-game. This is particularly handy to do with the timer.
And don't worry, if you do pin something, it won't appear in any screenshots you take directly through Steam. It's also great when playing with friends. Browse and share your screenshots.
I mentioned screenshots before. You can view any images or recordings you've made through the overlay, even ones you've captured in other games. If you click on a screenshot and select Share, you can save it to a folder on your computer or send it to one of your Steam friends over chat.
You can even send your screenshots and recordings directly to your phone via the Steam Mobile app (Android and iOS).
Source: Engadget · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing