Discord Overlay Not Working or Showing: Here’s How to Disable It

Discord has features that put it on par with other messaging apps but it also has features that are more likely to be useful for gamers. Many games feature an in-game chat, Steam has its own chat feature, but for those who like to game but prefer to use Discord, the app has an overlay feature for accessing chats quickly. It’s particularly useful when a game is running in fullscreen.

The overlay works fairly well in some popular games but does have trouble in others e.g. the Windows 10 version of Minecraft. That’s not to say it isn’t useful but it really only works in games and not other types of apps. If you find the Discord overlay in games to be obtrusive, you can disable it.

Discord overlay not working

The Discord overlay is basically a smaller Discord window that allows you to switch between channels and DM threads while playing a game. The overlay appears on top of the game you’re playing and it will block out a part of it though you can choose which part of the screen it appears on. Users have the option to toggle its visibility so that it only appears when they need it to. They also have the option to completely disable it and to disable it in specific games.

Disable Discord overlay – All games

To disable the Discord overlay for any and all games, follow these steps;

1. Open the Discord app.
2. In the column on the left, click the cogwheel button at the very bottom to access Discord’s settings.
3. On the Discord settings screen, go to the Overlay tab.
4. Turn the ‘Enable in-game overlay’ switch off.
5. Launch the game the overlay has been showing up in, and check if it’s still there. If it is, quit and re-open Discord.
6. Once turned off, you can turn the overlay on again from a game by tapping the toggle keyboard shortcut which is Shift+` by default.

How to disable Discord overlay for select games

The Discord overlay can be disabled on a per-game basis. By default, it doesn’t enable itself for new games even if it is enabled by default.

1. Open Discord.
2. In the column on the left, click the cogwheel button at the very bottom to access Discord’s settings.
3. On the Discord settings screen, select the Game Activity tab. 
4. You will see all your games listed under ‘Added Games’. Next to each game is a monitor icon. If the icon is grey, it indicates the overlay is enabled for that game. Click the monitor icon and it will turn red with a slash across it. This indicated the overlay has been turned off for that game.
5. Launch the game the overlay was appearing in and it will no longer appear.

Conclusion

Discord has some great features that target gamers but these features can also take away from the game-play. The overlay is great for a co-op or multi-player game but some of the best games are single-player and do not require a chat application to be present in the corner of the screen.

Thankfully, Discord has a per-game control for managing the overlay.