EaseView

A lightweight Windows screen colour overlay application designed to improve on-screen readability and visual comfort.

EaseView provides a fullscreen, click-through colour overlay with adjustable strength and density, making it ideal for accessibility support, exam arrangements, and prolonged screen use. The application runs quietly in the background, integrates with the system tray, and automatically restores user settings between sessions.

Features

Core

• Multi-monitor support across all displays
• Fullscreen, click-through colour overlay
• Preset and custom overlay colours
• Adjustable overlay strength (opacity) and colour density
• Keyboard shortcuts for quick access
• System tray integration with persistent settings
• Keyboard-accessible, Windows-native interface

Advanced

• Single instance enforcement
• Settings profiles with export/import functionality
• Windows startup integration
• Scheduled overlay (auto enable/disable)
• Customisable hotkeys (requires keyboard library)
• Dark mode support (adapts to Windows theme)
• Portable mode (store settings in application directory)
• Accessibility options (high contrast, font scaling)
• Update checker
• Window position persistence
• Overlay monitoring with auto-recovery
• Asynchronous logging

System Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11
• Python 3.9+

Installation

Required Dependencies

pip install pystray pillow

Optional Dependencies

pip install pywin32 keyboard requests

Package	Purpose
pystray	System tray integration
pillow	Image processing for tray icon
pywin32	Windows API (multi-monitor, startup, dark mode)
keyboard	Global hotkey support
requests	Update checking

Note: tkinter is included with standard Python installations on Windows.

Usage

python screen_overlay.py

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + Shift + O	Toggle overlay on/off
Ctrl + Shift + ↑	Increase overlay strength
Ctrl + Shift + ↓	Decrease overlay strength
Ctrl + Shift + →	Increase colour density
Ctrl + Shift + ←	Decrease colour density
Escape	Hide overlay (emergency)

Custom hotkeys can be configured in Settings → Hotkey Settings (requires keyboard library).

Project Structure

EaseView/
├── screen_overlay.py
├── .easeview_settings.json
├── .easeview.log
└── .easeview_profiles/

Building an Executable

pyinstaller --onefile --windowed screen_overlay.py

Optional icon files:

• app_icon.ico
• tray_icon.png

Settings Profiles

EaseView supports saving and loading configuration profiles via the File menu:

• Save Current as Profile – Save current settings as a named profile
• Load Profile – Load a previously saved profile
• Manage Profiles – View and delete saved profiles

Profiles are stored in the .easeview_profiles/ directory.

Portable Mode

Create a file named portable.ini in the same directory as the executable. In portable mode, all settings and profiles are stored in the application directory instead of the user home directory.

Known Limitations

• Windows only
• Some fullscreen applications may override the overlay
• Global hotkeys require administrator privileges (keyboard library limitation)
• Multi-monitor support requires pywin32 for optimal detection

License

MIT License © 2026 Ross Paxton

See LICENSE for full details.

Author

Ross Paxton