How Stream Deck Streamlines My Day
Pushing all the right buttons
If you’ve read other posts of mine, you’ll know that I’m keen on automation.
Whether that’s using apps and services to manipulate files and data, or asking our friend “Alexa” to turn lights on and off, start and stop the music — you know the kind of thing.
I recently came across the Elgato Stream Deck.
It’s a multi-key device primarily aimed at gamers and streamers. Now, I’m not a gamer or a streamer, but I could see the benefits of using one of these in my day-to-day setup.
At the most basic level, the keys are pre-programmable keyboard shortcuts.
A single command using the keyboard to do repetitive tasks, or trigger a chain of events.
Most of us use them every day; CTRL+C to copy, and CTRL+V to paste are probably two of the most common.
Then most apps also has its own dedicated shortcuts, to help speed through whatever you need to do.
With the Stream Deck, you can programme buttons to do these actions for you, and whilst it may seem a little over-the-top if you have other repetitive tasks they can help.
I bought the 6 button version of the Stream Deck, and whilst there are only 6 keys, you can create multiple profiles, and within them, multiple pages.
It’s quite dinky in size and sits neatly under my monitor.
When it comes to programming the keys, the simplest example is a shortcut to switch to my browser. Wherever I am on the laptop, a single button press will display the latest tab on Google Chrome.
Slightly more in-depth, a button to turn off the lamp. The lamp is plugged into a smart socket, which means I can’t control it via the switch.
Normally, I would ask Alexa to turn the lamp on or off (and I still do) but with integration with IFTTT, I can click a button on the Stream Deck to do the same thing.
Again, this is relatively simple.
One of the main reasons for my purchase was to control Google Meet video calls.
We use Google Meet every day for work meetings, and unless you are on the relevant tab, then controlling the microphone (mute/unmute) or the camera oftentimes I find I can’t get to the controls quickly enough.
With direct button access on the Stream Deck, it doesn’t matter which screen I’m focussed on, I can still control the call.
There’s a similar app for Zoom too.
So far so good.
However, stepping it up a bit, I also created a multi-step button, which triggers a number of actions with a single click.
For example, whenever I have a 1–2–1 meeting with a member of the team, I need to create a document in notes and add their name, and the relevant headings for the review.
With one button click, I can
- launch Apple Notes,
- create a new note after which
- an action will run from Alfred* to capture the name of the person who’s 1–2–1 I will be doing and
- the note is then pre-formatted and ready for the call.
Some might say this is pure laziness, but each time I use it, it saves time, which adds up over the day/week. It also means that each note is consistent.
As I mentioned before, I have the 6-button version of the Stream Deck (known as the Mini), and this does mean I need to be clever.
On the home screen, I have buttons for:
- Adding a task quickly, in todoist
- Opening the Work profile
- Opening the Media profile
- Turning the lamp on/off
The “Work” profile then has:
- Google Meet — this gives me all the controls for a meeting
- Browser switcher
- Link to trigger Slack or Todoist
- Shortcut to add a task quickly
The “Media’“ profile has a button to open Apple Music, play controls and a button to open the video streaming apps.
Apart from the home screen, each layout also uses one button to either ‘go home’ or back up to the previous page.
In hindsight, I wish I’d gone for the 15 button pad. Maybe I will upgrade.
I had some fun, using Canva, to create the icons for the buttons. Whilst Stream Deck has a number of icon packs available, I thought it would be more fun using my own.
They didn’t take long to create and at least they’re mine.
Don’t get me wrong.
This is in no way a necessity, but it does turn a normal working environment into something a little more fun.
If you’re looking for a clever way to integrate shortcuts to your workflow, cutting seconds off the process, and having some fun too, then have a look at how the Stream Deck could assist you.
* Read about how to get more done with Alfred
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