Linux Mint: How to display clock and absence message on lock screen
When you go away from your computer, it’s generally a good idea to lock it to prevent others from accessing it and all your documents and online accounts. To help protect your computer if you forget to lock it, Mint automatically switches to a screen saver and locks your screen after a period of inactivity.
There are several options you can configure for the lock screen. To do this, you need to open the screen saver settings by pressing the Super key, typing “Screensaver” and pressing Enter.
Tip: The “Super” key is the name many Linux distributions use to refer to the Windows key or the Apple “Command” key, avoiding any risk of trademark issues.
Press the Super key, type “Screensaver” and press Enter.
Once you’re in the screen saver settings, go to the “Customize” tab. To manage the appearance of the clock on the lock screen, you need to configure the options in the “Date and Time” section. The clock is activated using the “Always show clock” option.
If you enable “Use custom date and time format”, you can configure the clock and date format on the lock screen. To understand the syntax of this formatting, click the “View Date Format Syntax Information” button that appears after activating the custom format slider.
You can enable and configure the clock appearance on the lock screen.
The last two date and time options allow you to configure the font and font size used for the clock and date. Click on the current font to open a window that allows you to select a new font and font size.
You can configure the font and font size of the clock and date on the lock screen.
Custom lock screen message
To add a custom message to the lock screen, you need to adjust the options under Message away. “Show this message when the screen is locked” is a simple text box, enter any text and it will appear on the lock screen. Again, you can set the font and font size of the message away by clicking on the “Font” option.
If you want to change or override the message on the lock screen as a one-time setting, you can enable the option “Request a custom message when locking the screen from the menu”. When you lock your screen through the Start menu, you’ll be prompted to enter a lock screen message that will temporarily override any default lock screen message.
If you want, you can add a custom message to your lock screen.