Twitch Streamers Love the Elgato Stream Deck, but I Use It for Productivity
The Elgato Stream Deck sits on your favorite Twitch and YouTube streamers’ desk, next to the camera. It’s there, believe me. I know because using customizable LCD buttons is one of the easiest ways to launch and control apps without interfering with what you’re doing. In other words, what makes Stream Deck useful for streamers also makes it a powerful productivity tool.
I’ve been promoting the use of gaming peripherals for productivity for almost a decade now? And Stream Deck takes this advice to the next level. It’s much easier to customize than a regular gaming keyboard, allowing you to assign common tasks, launch apps, and automate complex workflows with a single button. And you can also apply your own colorful icon.
All Stream Deck models—I explained the differences between them at the end of this article—use the same Stream Deck software for Windows and macOS to customize the keys. There’s real power in this app, and here’s how to get the most out of it.
Launch everything you need instantly
Sometimes I find it easier to get started when I have a visible reminder of where to start, and Stream Deck can help with that. My default Essentials layout gives me shortcuts to the apps and sites I use for work, all of which can be launched with a quick button press.
The Open action in Stream Deck (under System) allows you to open frequently used applications or even specific files. Pair this with the Website action to launch web tools such as internal dashboards or project management tools, and your entire workflow becomes easily accessible. You can even use Multi Action (more on this below) to launch all of your tools at once with the click of a button.
Control chaos in your meetings
Every microphone is always hot, or so my audio engineer friends tell me. So, I’m constantly and justifiably paranoid about whether my microphone is muted. Luckily, Stream Deck takes the guesswork out of muting the sound. Official Elgato plugins for Zoom , Teams and Discord provide buttons to mute the microphone or switch the camera. These buttons will also show you whether your microphone or camera is on, even if the window is out of focus.
You can also access features like screen sharing, recording, or even leaving a meeting instantly, regardless of whether the meeting window is active. Because there’s nothing more awkward than being the last two people left at a meeting, according to my persistent anxiety disorder.
Automate text snippets and responses
The best way I’ve ever found to automatically insert frequently used text snippets is the Logitech G600, which I still use. But if I didn’t have that, I’d go with the Stream Deck. The “Text” action (in the “System” section) allows you to pre-write blocks of text 500 characters long, which can be inserted with one button. There are even basic formatting options like font, alignment, bold, and italics that you can add to text blocks.
If you want to take it a step further, you can use the SuperMacro plugin to create complex macros, although this may require a little comfort with basic scripting. You can save variables and insert blocks of text that change based on those variables, allowing you to create more personalized pieces of text.
Control your smart home
The one smart home technology I can no longer live without is smart lighting. In particular, from Philips Hue. They’re expensive, but I haven’t found a better software ecosystem. Namely, this is the Philips Hue Stream Deck plugin , which allows you to control individual lights or rooms with a single button. You can use this to adjust lighting brightness, activate certain scenes, or adjust color temperature without having to open an app or use a voice assistant.
If you don’t use Philips Hue, you can still get involved via the IFTTT plugin . This allows you to connect your Stream Deck to the extremely powerful IFTTT service, which supports a variety of smart home devices .
Bring it all together with Multi Action
This is where the real value of the Stream Deck lies. The Multi Action feature allows you to combine multiple Stream Deck actions (already powerful on their own) together to create powerful scenarios. When you add one of these to your deck, you will then add other actions to perform from the right-hand menu in order. So, for example, you can use one button to launch Photoshop, Lightroom and open your email at the same time.
The Multi Action Switch action goes even further by allowing you to specify two separate lists of commands to run, switching between them each time you press a button. Based on the previous example, you can also set a switch to close work apps at the end of the day. Multi Action builds on an already robust set of tools to automate the tedious tasks that take up your day.
Which Stream Deck do you need?
Most Stream Decks offered by Elgato have a set of customizable LCD buttons, but there are a few important differences to consider:
-
Stream Deck MK.2 ( $150 ): This is the base model Stream Deck you’ve most likely seen. It has a three-by-five-foot grid of customizable buttons, as well as a removable stand to place it on your desk.
-
Stream Deck Neo ( $100 ). If you’re put off by the Stream Deck’s price, the Neo is slightly cheaper and still features eight buttons. It also has a small information panel with a customizable clock design.
-
Stream Deck+ ( $200 ): This model lacks some LCD keys (up to eight) but adds four customizable dials that are useful for media professionals. You can use them to adjust variable parameters such as brightness, saturation or volume. There’s also a touch strip that can display labels for those watch faces, as well as other useful widgets you can swipe through.
-
Stream Deck XL ( $250 ). If you think your desk can never have enough buttons, Stream Deck XL is for you. It features the 32-key array of customizable LCD buttons that Stream Decks are famous for. This is most useful if you need to see a lot of features at once (for example, while streaming) without having to navigate through multiple pages and folders.
-
Stream Deck Mobile ( iOS / Android ): If none of these work for you, you can still use Stream Deck’s tools without spending a dime. The Stream Deck mobile app gives you six customizable buttons (and up to 10 pages) for free. If you need more, a Pro subscription gives you up to 64 buttons for $3 per month or $25 per year. A lifetime subscription is also available for $50 if you use it regularly.
The Elgato Stream Deck is marketed as an accessory for streamers, but its tools can be used by anyone. Setting up actions takes a little time, although Elgato made it surprisingly fast even for casual users. And since you can try it for free using the mobile app, there’s no reason not to spend a few minutes and see if it helps you get the job done faster.