How to disable steam overlay

How to disable steam overlay

The Steam Overlay weirdly interacts with the different windows of RPG Maker MV, sometimes blocking buttons for a short period of time. It gets worse when running a different Steam application in fullscreen at the same time.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Steam Overlay doesn’t even seem to function for RPG Maker MV itself (Shift-Tab does not open the Overlay) so personally I see no point in having it active.

In case this is fixed sometime in the future, you can just re-enable with a few clicks. No big deal.

Note that you can still use the Overlay for your published RPG Maker MV games, there is a separate guide on how to do that. The setting can be different for every Game & Software on Steam.

1. Navigate to LIBRARY
2. Make sure to have SOFTWARE selected (as opposed to GAMES)
3. Right-click RPG Maker MV
4. Select Properties

5. The setting you want to disable is on the first tab, it is called Enable the Steam Overlay while in-Game

How to disable steam overlay

I like to have all my games in steam big picture to play on TV with a quick access, but some games that i have on retail disk and added to my library won’t work well if steam overlay is enabled, i don’t want to disable the overlay globally everytime i want to run a certain game, and there’s no option to disable this for specific non-steam games, i found old threads of the past 4 years with people complaining about this issue and never found a solution.

Yes you can set this on a per game basis. Right click the game in the steam games list and check the options.

properties/general/enable steam overlay for this game. Untick it.

Yes you can set this on a per game basis. Right click the game in the steam games list and check the options.

properties/general/enable steam overlay for this game. Untick it.

This doesn’t apply for non-Steam games though.

You could just add a 3rd party application and rename it your game’s title. Use it to show off you’re playing the game while you’re playing the actual game without the GUI.

I don’t see why else you’d add a non-Steam game and not want the GUI.

Oh ok, sorry i thought i checked this with a non steam game i had, obviously not.

Yes you can set this on a per game basis. Right click the game in the steam games list and check the options.

properties/general/enable steam overlay for this game. Untick it.

This doesn’t apply for non-Steam games though.

You could just add a 3rd party application and rename it your game’s title. Use it to show off you’re playing the game while you’re playing the actual game without the GUI.

I don’t see why else you’d add a non-Steam game and not want the GUI.

Bump. This needs to be an option for NON STEAM GAMES.

Surprising how many times this gets bumped and all the features that have been added in the past 14months but not this one.

edit; unsubscribing from this because it’s too depressing to see it not be implemented after all this time.

I have non-Steam FFXIV, and the overlay causes problems with tab targeting. Need an option to disable. I guess I’ll have to change the key combo globally.

I’ve been setting up my own personal steam box with big picture mode. I’m using xpadder to assign controller profiles on a per application basis and everything is working great, except PowerDVD for watching blu-rays. Problem is, xpadder switches to the PowerDVD profile as it is launched, but as soon as the steam overlay appears, it steals focus from PowerDVD, resulting in xpadder removing the controller profile and being unable to operate the software. If I could disable the steam overlay for this title, there would be no problem. But I can’t.

Doing some research, this particular feature request has been active since at least 2011. I don’t see why this is such a big problem for valve to be able to fix. The functionality is already there for native steam games. Can we not just add a tick box in the settings for a non-steam shortcut?

EDIT: Actually, my problem isn’t the overlay, its big picture mode itself. Its stealing the focus. So disregard this post.

How to Enable or Disable Steam Overlay on Windows PC

Steam Overlay allows users to use the Steam feature from the game itself without opening the launcher. However, this has been a blessing in disguise for some gamers. That is why we are going to see how to enable or disable Steam Overlay on Windows PC so that you can change the settings if your game starts crashing or freezing because of the feature.

What is Steam Overlay?

Steam Overlay is a component of Steam that allows the user to use it on top of any game that you are playing. This won’t work for all the games, it can be only be used for Steam games. With Overlay enabled, you can chat with your friends, browse, and do a whole lot of things. To trigger Steam Overlay, just hit Shift + Tab, which is its default key. However, they can be changed by the user. Later in this article, we are going to see how you can change the default key of Steam Overlay and use a combination of your choice.

How do I change Steam Overlay shortcut?

To change the default key to trigger Steam Overlay, you need to go to Steam > Settings > In-game. Then select the Overlay shortcut keys box, and hit a set of keys to register them as the keys to trigger Overlay. It is recommended to not pick a combination that you usually use, Because, in that case, you will end up triggering Steam Overlay all the time, even when you don’t want to.

Enable or Disable Steam Overlay on Windows PC

To enable or disable Steam Overlay you need to configure the Steam client application. Since it is exclusively for Steam, it doesn’t matter which Windows version you are on, the steps to do the same will be the same.

Should I disable Steam Overlay?

Steam Overlay as mentioned earlier is a feature and not a bug. But because it works for a wide range of games, it is not possible that it will be perfectly optimized to work on all of them. That’s why it can make the game freeze often, sometimes, even make it crash. Therefore, if you are noticing a significant drop in performance, you should turn Steam Overlay off and if that is to no avail, you can always turn it back on.

How do I turn off Steam Overlay?

That’s how you can turn off Steam Overlay.

So, if there is a particular game that’s giving you trouble, you can disable its Overlay and hopefully, your issue will be resolved.

How do I enable Steam Overlay?

If you want to enable Steam Overlay, just follow the prescribed steps.

This is was how you can easily turn on Steam Overlay.

If you have disabled Steam Overlay for a particular game and want to enable it, just follow the mentioned steps.

How to disable your Steam overlay in the app, to fix games that can’t run with it turned on

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The Steam overlay is a feature that lets you check your achievements, message your friends, open an internet browser, and more — all while you’re playing a game. All you need to do to open it is press Shift + Tab while playing.

However, if your computer isn’t very powerful, opening the Steam overlay during a game can cause heavy lag. Some users have also reported issues playing certain games while the overlay is enabled.

Fortunately, you can disable the Steam overlay directly from your Steam app. This will make it so pressing Shift + Tab won’t do anything.

However, you can’t disable it only for specific games. If you want to disable the Steam overlay, you’ll have to turn it off completely.

Here’s how to do so on both Mac and PC.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

How to disable the Steam overlay

Make sure that Steam is open and that you’re logged in.

1. In the top-right corner of the screen, click «Steam.» Once the drop-down menu appears, select «Settings» if you’re using a PC, or «Preferences. » if you’re on a Mac.

2. Once the Settings page opens, click on the «In-Game» tab in the left sidebar.

3. Uncheck the box that reads «Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game.»

4. Click «OK» to confirm the changes.

You now shouldn’t be able to open the overlay while in-game.

How to disable steam overlay

I like to have all my games in steam big picture to play on TV with a quick access, but some games that i have on retail disk and added to my library won’t work well if steam overlay is enabled, i don’t want to disable the overlay globally everytime i want to run a certain game, and there’s no option to disable this for specific non-steam games, i found old threads of the past 4 years with people complaining about this issue and never found a solution.

Yes you can set this on a per game basis. Right click the game in the steam games list and check the options.

properties/general/enable steam overlay for this game. Untick it.

Yes you can set this on a per game basis. Right click the game in the steam games list and check the options.

properties/general/enable steam overlay for this game. Untick it.

This doesn’t apply for non-Steam games though.

You could just add a 3rd party application and rename it your game’s title. Use it to show off you’re playing the game while you’re playing the actual game without the GUI.

I don’t see why else you’d add a non-Steam game and not want the GUI.

Oh ok, sorry i thought i checked this with a non steam game i had, obviously not.

Yes you can set this on a per game basis. Right click the game in the steam games list and check the options.

properties/general/enable steam overlay for this game. Untick it.

This doesn’t apply for non-Steam games though.

You could just add a 3rd party application and rename it your game’s title. Use it to show off you’re playing the game while you’re playing the actual game without the GUI.

I don’t see why else you’d add a non-Steam game and not want the GUI.

Bump. This needs to be an option for NON STEAM GAMES.

Surprising how many times this gets bumped and all the features that have been added in the past 14months but not this one.

edit; unsubscribing from this because it’s too depressing to see it not be implemented after all this time.

I have non-Steam FFXIV, and the overlay causes problems with tab targeting. Need an option to disable. I guess I’ll have to change the key combo globally.

I’ve been setting up my own personal steam box with big picture mode. I’m using xpadder to assign controller profiles on a per application basis and everything is working great, except PowerDVD for watching blu-rays. Problem is, xpadder switches to the PowerDVD profile as it is launched, but as soon as the steam overlay appears, it steals focus from PowerDVD, resulting in xpadder removing the controller profile and being unable to operate the software. If I could disable the steam overlay for this title, there would be no problem. But I can’t.

Doing some research, this particular feature request has been active since at least 2011. I don’t see why this is such a big problem for valve to be able to fix. The functionality is already there for native steam games. Can we not just add a tick box in the settings for a non-steam shortcut?

EDIT: Actually, my problem isn’t the overlay, its big picture mode itself. Its stealing the focus. So disregard this post.