Today’s monitors can have a ton of connections. You can have multiple display cables, audio output cables, USB extender cables, and don’t forget the thick AC power cable.
All these connections can easily result in a spaghetti monster coming out of your monitor. It doesn’t help that most monitor manufacturers provide the bare minimum on the cable management front.
In this article, we’re going to give you a step-by-step guide to hiding those monitor cables once and for all. This can make a huge difference to your desk setup by cutting down on all the distracting cable clutter.
Key Takeaways
- The key to hiding monitor cables is to group them to make one large bunch and conceal the bunch in an attractive sleeving.
- Route the cable bunch along the natural lines of your monitor arm or monitor stand, making them obscured from most angles.
- The only two items you need are velcro straps and some split cable sleeving. The detailed steps and products are listed below.
How I Cable Managed My Monitor
Before you take this advice, check out the results of following this simple method. Here’s the mess of cables I had to manage:
The below image is the result after following the monitor cable management tips in this guide.
It’s a night and day difference! This is a huge improvement in my workspace as I work much better in a tidy desk than in a messy one.
I have display cables from two different computers, two USB downstream cables for each computer, an audio cable, an AC power cable, a monitor light bar power cable, and a Govee Light Bar control box power cable.
That is eight different cables of wildly different thicknesses. No monitor mount with cable management features will hold all of these, we’re on our own!
Here’s how I managed all of these monitor and PC cables.
Step 1 – Power Down & Unplug
Before we start messing around with all the cables, power down your computer(s) and monitor and unplug them from the wall.
Next, leave the cables you want connected to your monitor, but disconnect them from the opposite end. It will be easier to manage and route unplugged cables when they are dangling freely from our monitor.
Step 2 – Group All Cables
The next step is to group these cables so they all travel together. You want them to be best friends!
When we group all cables into a single bunch, we only need to cable manage a single bunch instead of eight different wires. We’re making the cables easier to handle.
The cables won’t hold themselves together, so I like to use velcro/hook-and-loop cable ties to group them. Here is the set of hook and loop (velcro) straps I use:
These reusable cable ties are made from nylon and can be used multiple times. They are versatile and can be used to wrap and group loose cords. The cable ties are easy to use and remove or adjust when needed.
These are great because they are not permanent and easily adjustable. Also, these velcro wraps don’t need to be cut to length. Simply continue to roll the excess length over itself and you still have a clean appearance.
If they are not long enough, you can easily attach multiple straps to each other for added length. It’s a no-brainer accessory for anyone who wants convenient cable management.
You don’t have to do a perfect job here because we will do a more complete wrapping process in the next step.
Step 3 – Wrap Cables
Grouped cables are organized, but they still don’t look good. That’s where braided split cable sleeving comes into play.
This is one of my favorite cable management products because you get a huge aesthetic boost at such a low price. These are simple cable wraps that conceal your cable bunches for a more polished look.
They come in a bunch of different sizes and colors making them very adaptable to any workspace.
Grab a sleeve diameter that is a little larger than what you need. The cable wrap curls on itself so it will still look clean and give you room to grow.
This black wire loom is split and easy to load wires. They come in a large range of diameters and lengths depending on how many cables you need to manage. It groups your individual cables and wraps them in this aesthetically pleasing mesh wrap.
Because this is split-sleeving you simply roll it over your pre-grouped cables. You should now just have one large braided cable bunch coming from your monitor!
Step 4 – Manage Along The Lines
This last step is what will take our cable management to the professional level. We’re going to hide that wrapped cable bunch as best as we can.
The best way to conceal our large wrapped cable bunch is to route it behind the existing lines of your setup. That means routing it behind your monitor stand, monitor arm, etc.
When you route your cable bunch behind existing objects at your desk, it will barely register in your view at all.
I did this same trick on my old 4K monitor setup seen below. You can’t even see any cables because they are routed behind my vertical monitor arm. If you were to look at this setup from the side, you would only see a single thick braided cable.
I more recently changed my monitor to a 34-inch ultrawide display (highly recommend an ultrawide monitor desk setup), and I used the same method above to come up with the following setup.
This method works every time!
Here is a little infographic summarizing all the steps it took to get to this point. Download this image and save it for future reference!
Step 5 – Finish The Job
Once your wrapped cable bunch goes under your desk, the cables are free to go to their necessary locations.
I highly recommend referencing our article on complete cable management to continue managing the cables as they go under your desk. That article goes into how to mount your power strips, use cable management racks, and more so you get the cleanest desk setup.
If you want a direct continuation from when these monitor cables go under your desk, check out our article on hiding those wires under your desk.
If you use an adjustable height desk, we have standing desk-specific cable management tips for you as well.
Here is a helpful video that shows what a full cable management effort involves.
If you are tired of doing all this work yourself, check out our article on desks with built-in cable management.
Forget Monitor Stands With Cable Management
Monitor arms and stands that come with cable management features are great… in theory. The truth is that many of these monitor arm cable management features don’t support a lot of cables.
You’ll be able to get away with two or three cables. However, if your cables are too thick or not very flexible, you will have a hard time.
With monitors coming with more and more pluggable features, they require direct AC power cords which are very thick and stiff. This makes the minimal built-in monitor arm cable management solutions not viable.
I’ve owned many monitor arms in the past few years, and none of them have been able to hold all the cables I use on my monitor. Even the HEXCAL monitor arm which has the largest cavity for cables that I’ve seen did not work out.
You can tell which method looks better and actually hides the cable bunch more effectively. It’s not the monitor arm.