Steam needs no introduction, if you are a gamer. One of the largest digital distribution platforms for PC gaming, Steam has evolved continuously ever since it was brought to the fore in 2003, occupying a lion’s share of the market.
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Even though it has such a large consumer base, there are still some unknown features and tricks – both the Steam app, as well as the web portal – that even the most dedicated of users may have missed out on.
Let us help you there. Here are a few tricks that you should know about, if you are an avid gamer and a regular user of Steam.
Batch Installation/Uninstallation Of Games
It was added back in 2014. This one lets you completely uninstall (and/or install) games from your library. Also, you can do so with a collection of games, saving you a lot of time (and space).
Yes, the Windows system does that too, but it isn’t able to delete the data completely (think registry entries et al), and it still does not have any provisions to remove apps collectively.
Here’s how you can do that:
- Open your library, click on the ‘List’ tab on the top right, and switch to ‘List View’
- By holding down the ctrl button, you will be able to select as many files as you want by left-clicking them
- Now install or uninstall as per your will
Changing The Location Of The Installed File
Often it so happens that whenever you decide to shift your Steam data to an external SSD (or HDD), it causes discrepancies with the data, often causing inconsistencies and messing up with the entire game data, as a whole.
Here’s how you can change the location of your installed games in two easy steps:
- Open up your library, go to the game whose location you want to change, right click on that and click on the ‘Properties’ tab
- Click on the ‘Local Files’ tab, and after doing that open the ‘Move Install’ folder, and simply follow the instructions after and Voila you are done in now time.
Sharing Games With Family
Another useful that Steam provides to its users is the option to share games one family member has purchased with their siblings/relatives via Steam only. The other person then need not purchase the same separately.
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Steps to use the Family sharing feature on Steam:
- Log in to your account via the desktop client
- Click on ‘Steam’ and open up the ‘Settings’
- Go to Settings-> Accounts ->Manage Steam Guard Account Security, to check whether Steam Guard is enabled or not
- Repeat step two, and click on the ‘Family’ option. After that tick the option that says ‘Authorise Library sharing on this computer’
A ‘Common Games’ List
With this feature, you will be able to get the required information the games that you and the other person (whose profile you are interested in), have in common. There’s no special trick for that, and you just have to log in to a site called What Can We Play using your Steam credentials, which will show the games you have in common with the other person.
Getting To Know ‘How Long Will The Game Take’
This is another useful Steam feature, that will help you decipher how long you will have to play a game to get through it completely. Like the one before this feature, there is a website that lets you do that. This one’s called How Long To Beat, and can also be accessed via your Steam credentials.
Getting An ‘Enhanced’ Steam Experience
The makers at Steam now also offer an enhanced experience of the distribution platform, courtesy a web-browser extension that comes replete with new features like letting the users privy to game prices around the world, removing the constant age verification prompts etc.
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Getting An ‘Inventory Helper’
This one helps reduce the problems that arise when dealing with your Steam inventory by easing up on the process of selling, buying and trading on the software.
As of now, this is just limited to Google Chrome, and you can get it from here.
