I‘ll go right out and say it: Stream Deck is the best productivity tool I have invested my money in. Ever. No, this isn’t a sponsored post (sadly ?), I am just amazed at the capabilities this.. thing offers. Not just for streamers. Actually, I don’t think most streamers even realize how far can Stream Deck go with automation!
I wanted to publish this guide once I’ve had all the streaming goodies & functions covered, but using Stream Deck day by day, I’m able to do even more advanced – and helpful – stuff with it, that I can’t wait to share it! So I’m really sorry to the streaming community, I’ll update this Stream Deck guide with all the streaming stuff ASAP! ?
As mentioned this guide will get updated with more and more how-tos for creating Stream Deck shortcuts, workflows and automations! Fire away all your questions and needs in the comments, and let’s make this the ultimate reference FAQ for this amazing product!
Probably the simplest and most used function in Stream Deck, is creating shortcuts to your most used software, games and files.
To do that, simply find the “System” category in the Actions List, and drag the “Open” action into an empty slot.
There, you can name your shortcut – and even choose to display that name on your Stream Deck – and choose the app or file you want to link in there.
Simply click the dots to open the file browser, and pick the application you need.
By default, Stream Deck will navigate you to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs which is the folder where most of your programs will have their launchers nested, so that’s quite helpful.
Another folder which you’ll find extremely helpful, is C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local (also look into its child folder C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Programs), since it similarly contains a lot of application launchers inside (swap USER with your actual Windows username. just go to C:\Users and find which one it is if you are unsure).
If you want to open Folders, Steam Games or Windows Store Apps, you have to take a different course of action, so simply check the relevant sections below.
As a new Stream Deck user, it’s not too apparent that the “System -> Open” action can be used to open folders as well, since it won’t let you do it through the browser picker.
It’s not going to work if you copy / paste the folder path in the “App / File” field either.
All you have to do, is simply drag the folder you need a shortcut for, in the “App / File” field, and that’s it! Your requested folder will open once you press the button.
Simply navigating to steamapps/common/Game/game.exe, won’t work. The game “might” launch, but most probably you’ll notice that you are not “in-game” in your Steam profile.
This is because Steam launches its games in a “special” way, so that it can properly load all your Steam properties for the game, as well as load the Steam Overlay, sync with Steam Cloud, etc.
There are good news, and bad news!
The good news? It’s very easy to create the correct Steam Game shortcut. All you need to do is drag a “System -> Website” action into your preferred slot, then type in the URL steam://rungameid/XXXXXX
You will have to swap XXXXXX with the actual Steam App ID of the game you want to launch. To find this, simply navigate to the Steam Store page of the game, and look at the URL:
The bad news? You’ll have to put the right icons there yourself. ?
Similar to Steam, the Epic Games launcher use their own “url” type of authentication in shortcuts, so you can’t just launch the .exe of the game (if you want it to be recognized as launch from the Epic launcher, track your time, log you in etc.).
The solution is very easy fortunately!
All you have to do, is right-click the game you need from your library (you can’t do it while the game is running), and click Manage -> Create Desktop Shortcut.
Then, right-click the newly created shortcut on your desktop, choose Properties, and copy the URL (under the Web Document tab).
On your Stream Deck, simply drag a System -> Website shortcut, and paste the url you just copied.
It should look like this: com.epicgames.launcher://apps/HUGE_STRING_OF_NUMBERS?action=launch&silent=true
You can now test your Stream Deck shortcut, and get rid of the desktop shortcut you created!
The BattleNet client creates regular shortcuts for each game, but the catch is that extra parameters are added during launch, so just creating a Stream Deck shortcut to the game’s .exe file is not going to work.
To make this work, you will need to have the Advanced Launcher Stream Deck addon installed, and do the following:
Sadly, all this will do is bring the BattleNet launcher in the front, and choose the relevant game as the active one. You will have to physically click the Play button.
If anyone knows what extra argument needs to go along with “productcode” in order to also launch the game, please let us know in the comments!
This was kinda tricky to find out, since Windows Store apps are well hidden, and hardly accessible. Before you try to get access in the “WindowsApps” folder and waste your time, please follow this easy solution by solarbang:
This one is essential for my workflow, since I have to switch between literally hundreds of digital accounts on a daily basis, and I have setup each different browser to support a different project / workflow.
Therefore I had to find a way to open some links in Opera or Firefox instead of Chrome, and this is what worked for me:
There is only one drawback – I still haven’t figured out how to also make the link open in a new tab, in case the browser is already open. If anyone knows the answer to this, please hit me up in the comments! ❤
Another essential shortcut for me, since I like to use Google Search “unpersonalized”, is opening a new browser window in incognito mode.
Of course, “just launching” a program might not be enough for many use-cases. I mean ok, it’s cool, but where’s the extra power? We paid for it!
Don’t worry my friend, because hopefully there are a couple Action Lists you can Install, which will let you do far more with your program execution. ?
Navigate to “More Actions…” and install the following plugins to your Stream Deck: Advanced Launcher & Windows Mover & Resizer.
Advanced Launcher, will not only let you pick the application you want to run, but you can also choose to Run as Administrator, Limit the number of running instances, Kill the existing instances – as well as the best one of all – set your unique arguments on the launcher!
Windows Mover & Resizer on the other hand, takes productivity to a WHOLE new level! The macro will apply to either your currently selected window, or a specific application you define, and it will let you choose the exact monitor, position & size you want the window to take on the click of your button! ? This. Is. Sick!
And what’s the last piece of this glorious puzzle? Stream Deck Multi Actions! Simply combine Advanced Launcher & Windows Mover into a Multi Action, where you first launch the application with the exact settings you need, then it gets automatically positioned in the exact coordinates and size you need!
Bringing us to the last huge step! Creating a HUGE multi action that will instantly launch a “Workspace” for you! Launch your game, audio output & input settings, stream starting soon scene, face camera, lights and whatever else you can dream of, in the press of a button! Oh yes, Stream Deck can get THAT good! ?
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Babalon, Mother of Abominations
16-hours / day in front of the screen entrepreneur, of which 6+ are spent on gaming. MMOs, CCGs, RPGs and many more, Steam-addict & achievement-w***e. Currently wasting life on BDO & Gacha Games.
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Hi Steve, can you please show me how to create a button to mute a USB mic outside OBS, I am on windows 11. Thanks
There should be an option to mute the mic through Window’s Audio settings, but it currently eludes me. What is your use case? Most apps will offer a Streamdeck plugin. Eg. if you are looking to mute your mic on a Discord call, that’s easy to accomplish through the official Discord Streamdeck plugin.
can i use it to automaticly shows all my maps and docs of my windows file explorer so i can use it to navigate treu my file explorere faster?
You can certainly open any folder with the default “Open” command, and you can also setup a Multi-Action that will open multiple folders at once (and even use Bar Raider’s Windows Mover to choose the specific size and location of each opened folder).
This setup is awesome for productivity when you are working with multiple folders in some processes, however if I understood your question correctly, there is no way to automatically “feed” the contents of a folder to the keys.
Sounds like a cool plugin someone could make! Though at the same time, I’m not sure if it would be useful in many scenarios!
Non-Default Browser tabs Update:
To open multiple tabs in Non-Default browser:
Multi-Action > Advanced Launcher with URL in “Arguments” > Stream Deck: Delay (I used 1,000 ms) > Multiple
“Advanced Launchers” with different URL’s. subsequent URL’s will open in tabs. This may depend on your browser settings whether new URL’s open in tabs or windows.
That’s an interesting remark Robert!
I’ve set a Multi Action for this purpose as well, and everything opens in a new window, and subsequent links, to subsequent tabs of the same window, which was the intended result for me.
It would be interesting to set up arguments that would open some URLs on a different window, but I’m not sure how would that work. You mention that it’s based on browser settings, but I guess it’s one additional argument that can be put in Advanced Launcher’s settings?
RE: Open Website in Non-Default Browser in tabs:
Chrome is my default, Firefox is not.
Use “Multi-Action” and several “System: Website” to open tabs in Chrome.
Use “Multi-Action” and several “Advanced Launcher” to open multiple tabs in Firefox. Put the URL in the “Arguments” field.
Everything opens in tabs on both Chrome & Firefox. I believe there are settings in each browser that control whether new URL’s open in tabs or windows. Thanks for your help!
How can i assign a default panel to use with an app from the app store? i want a panel to pen when i open microsoft flight simulator from app store!
Hey Antonios!
Hmm since Windows Store apps are already covered, I guess you mean the Apple Store? Are you using a Mac?
How’s Stream Deck working with it by the way? I won’t lie, I didn’t even know it supported the MacOS!
If you can verify it does, I’ll look up what’s the proper way to launch it, and add it to the guide! (Btw, did you try using the Advanced Launcher from Bar Raider?)
Oh, and greetings to our homeland! ?
How can I open a command/shortcut as an Administrator. My workspace requires a number of programs to run as TSRs but they need to be run as an administrator.
NM… I think I figured it out. Thank you!
Hehe yea Steve, I’ve set up every single one of my shortcuts to run on Admin mode too! ?
When using the Advanced Launcher from BarRaider there’s a simple “Run as Administrator” checkbox.