---
title: '5 STREAM DECK Tips & Tricks For Beginners!'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZvxIgoOOTHA'
video_id: 'ZvxIgoOOTHA'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 489
---

# 5 STREAM DECK Tips & Tricks For Beginners!

> Source: [5 STREAM DECK Tips & Tricks For Beginners!](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZvxIgoOOTHA)

## Summary

This video offers five beginner-friendly tips for Elgato Stream Deck users, covering pinned buttons, hotkeys, quick folders, global styles, and secure buttons to enhance productivity and streaming efficiency.

### Key Points

- **Pinned Buttons** [01:02] — Pin frequently used buttons so they remain visible across folders and pages. Right-click and select 'Pin' to keep buttons like view count, OBS scenes, or mic mute always accessible.
- **Hotkeys** [01:51] — Use hotkey actions for any function not natively supported. Assign key combinations (e.g., Windows+Shift+C for Color Picker) and label them for easy identification.
- **Quick Folders** [03:50] — Enable 'Auto Exit' on folders to automatically return to the main page after pressing a button inside, reducing button presses for scene switching.
- **Global Styles** [05:25] — Set default font, size, and alignment for all buttons via global style settings, allowing bulk application to existing buttons.
- **Secure Buttons** [06:17] — Use long-press options for critical buttons like 'Start Streaming' to prevent accidental activation. For extra security, nest the button inside multiple confirmation folders.

### Conclusion

These five tips help beginners maximize their Stream Deck's potential, improving workflow and reducing errors during live streams or video production.

## Transcript

so you just bought an Elgato stream deck
maybe you have the new stream deck Neo
with the eight buttons or maybe you got
the big 32 button XL stream deck and you
don't have any idea what buttons to put
on
it why did you buy something if you
don't even know what you're going to use
it for here are five beginner friendly
ideas that you can Implement right now
now if you want a more advanced video
I'm going to be releasing another video
later this week with five Advanced ideas
so subscribe if you want to see that
video by the way if you don't have a
stream deck or you're thinking about
buying one I do have 5% discount codes
for literally every single one even the
one with the the knobby boys they're
permanent discount codes by the way so
no rush you don't have to use them right
now you can use them whenever you want
or if you have an iPhone or iPad you
could just use a stream deck app for
free they give you six free buttons that
you never have to pay for you don't have
to enter in any payment details and
everything I'm going to show you today
works exactly the same in the app the
first tip tip is to use pinned buttons
now Elgato added a feature somewhat
recently that allows you to pin your
most used buttons so that they're always
available on your stream day so even
when you navigate through folders or
swipe through pages those buttons will
always be there you just right click on
any of your buttons and pin it and it's
going to turn gray so you know that's
been pinned I like using this for things
like my view count stats my most used
OBS scenes or like my mic mute button
and as you can see when I navigate
through folders those buttons are always
on the stream deck you can still
override your pinned button so if there
are certain pages where you want to use
a different function where that pin
button is you can still use it but if
you delete that button it's going to
revert back to whatever you had pinned
in that slot number two is to use hot
keys this sounds pretty obvious but if
there's anything that you want your
stream deck to do that it doesn't have
native actions for you can just drag
over a hot key button and then that
button will simulate any key combination
that you enter you can give it a label
or even make your own custom icons so
you don't have to remember what that key
combination does you just look down and
then you just read it and it just tells
you I know some of you are like wow
nutty that's great I I I figured I could
have figured that out on my own but I
have Microsoft power toys on my
computers and power toys has a lot of
hot keys for doing really useful things
for example if you press Windows shift C
it pulls up this really useful Color
Picker or if you press Windows shift uh
Tilla the little Dash thing uh it pulls
up fancy zones which is like a super
Advanced Windows snapping feature this
is amazing I love this but did you know
that Windows also has a built-in emoji
keyboard so if you press Windows period
you can search for whatever Emoji you
want you can also navigate through
virtual desktops by pressing Control
Plus Windows left and right or if you
use like a video editor there's like a
million different hot keys to remember
if you use like d Venture resolve like
how the hell am I supposed to remember
all these keys I don't I have a folder
full of hot keys and I don't even know
what these key combinations are but they
have labels on them so I know exactly
what these buttons do if you have a
stream deck plus you can even use the
knobs to do anything you want this works
really well for video editing you can
set up the dials so that when you turn
left on a dial it presses left right it
presses right and then when you click
into the dial it presses control
backlash so that way you can scrub
through your timeline in Daven Kai
resolve just by turning the dials or you
can make Quick Cuts by clicking into it
number three is quick folders I'm going
to take full credit for this feature
because I had a meeting with Elgato like
two years ago and I suggested this idea
to one of the technical managers alato
back me up this story definitely
happened okay I'm 100% that it happened
I call it quick folders but I believe
the actual feature is called folder Auto
exit basically if you're in a folder
there's a little radio button that says
Auto exit and if you turn this on it
automatically backs you out of that
folder as soon as you tap on one of the
buttons within that folder it doesn't
sound like a big deal but I find this
really useful because I have a lot of
OBS scenes and rather than making 20
different buttons on the top layer of my
stream deck I can shove all of my OBS
scene buttons into a single folder so
that way if I want to switch scenes it
only requires two button presses to
change scenes as opposed to three it
sounds like a really minor thing I get
it but you guys know how it is when
you're a streamer you have to be the
onscreen Talent the producer the
lighting guy the audio guy all at the
same time and these little shortcuts and
little ways to save brain energy just
make a big difference and allow you to
focus more on entertaining your audience
rather than worrying about how your
stream is
produced hey so I need this video to be
7 Seconds longer so I can put Min roll
ads in it um so I wanted to wish you a
very happy
birthday there's like a 1 in 365 chance
that I nailed it okay back to the video
number four is global Styles now you
probably already know this but every
button on your stream deck can have
their own labels with different fonts
sizes alignments and the thing is if you
want to change all the fonts on all of
your buttons all at once you used to
have to do that one by one and if you
have like 60 different buttons that's
super annoying but thankfully a little
bit ago they added a new setting that's
basically like a global style setting so
you can set up the default font and text
alignment for all of your buttons and
then apply that that style to all of
your existing buttons from one menu
super handy but I do wish that Elgato
would expand the font options because
it's pretty limited my favorite font is
the trebuchet Ms font but if you can
copy my settings here I I think this
looks pretty good all right last one is
a little bit of a silly one but I'm
going to call it secure buttons now
we've all accidentally hit the start
streaming button on our stream deck
super awkward when you're like recording
a YouTube video and then you mess up
like 20 times in a row only to realize
that you are actually streaming the
whole time we've all been there right
some buttons like the OBS record button
or the stream button have a long press
option so if you turn on this checkbox
these buttons will only ever activate if
you long press the button if you short
press it nothing happens you'll see a
little triangle saying it didn't work
but yeah this is a really simple idea
that I'm glad that Elgato implemented
but what if that's not secure enough for
you what if you still find yourself
accidentally hitting the stream button
well for mine I actually made a folder
put this stream button inside that
folder with a gigantic message saying do
you want to stream and then when you
click yes that's not the stream button
because it's actually another folder and
then inside that folder it says are you
sure about that and then you press Yes
again it goes into another folder and
only then will you actually find the
real stream button okay maybe that was
Overkill but imagine there's like a
stream deck plugin where it like made
you solve like a capture to start the
Stream So you're like you like clicking
the button it's like oh find the fire
hydrants or something that would be
hilarious someone make that that would
be awesome anyway just some simple ideas
for those of you that are new to using
the stream deck if you guys want to see
that more advanced stream deck ideas
video subscribe I'll be releasing that
soon I want to show you some ideas that
you've never seen before and I mean like
actually never seen before yes we all
know about that Windows mover plugin
okay we don't need like 20 other people
to make YouTube videos about that okay
and don't forget 5% discount code in the
description make sure to use that I'm
trying to get that affiliate money baby
let's go