vMix Shortcuts: Build Your Own Button Panel for Church Volunteers in the Web Controller

A button panel that’s already in vMix

Before you buy a Stream Deck or install anything, look at what vMix already gives you. Every vMix shortcut can become a button on the Web Controller’s Shortcuts page. vMix serves that page to any phone, tablet, or computer on the church network that asks for it, and you can protect it with a password.

That means you can build a simple, custom button panel for a volunteer, in plain words, entirely inside vMix.

How to create a shortcut button

1. In vMix, open Settings, then Shortcuts, and click Add.
2. Key/Control: optional. Pick a keyboard key, or click Find and press a button on a connected controller, if you also want a physical trigger.
3. Function: what the button does, such as PreviewInput, Cut, Fade, StartStreaming, StartRecording, or PTZHome.
4. Input: which input it acts on. Choose a specific input, or Preview to act on whatever is in Preview.
5. Title, Description1, Description2: the words on the button. Write them for a volunteer: “Pulpit,” “Camera 2,” “Slow move.”
6. Check Show in Web Controller.
7. Click OK.

Open the Web Controller on a volunteer’s device, tap Shortcuts, and the new button is there.

Buttons worth making for each seat

Seat	Shortcut buttons
Stream and record	Start Stream, Stop Stream, Start Recording, Stop Recording
Cameras	One PreviewInput button per PTZ virtual input (“Pulpit,” “Wide,” “Piano”), PTZ Home
Titles	Lower third in and out (overlay on/off)
Backup director	Cut, Fade, Welcome loop

For the seats themselves, see splitting vMix roles, calling PTZ shots with virtual inputs, and who starts the stream?

Make the panel volunteer-friendly

• Plain words in the Title. “Start Stream,” not “StartStreaming.”
• Use Description1 for the “what” and Description2 for the “how”: “Camera 2” / “Slow move.”
• Keep the panel short. Only show the buttons a volunteer needs; uncheck Show in Web Controller for the rest.
• Keep “Stop” buttons separate from “Start” buttons, and test every button in a run-through.
• Set a Web Controller password, and keep “Restrict access to LAN only” checked.
• Use Local Shortcut (This Preset Only) for buttons that only make sense in one vMix preset.

Shortcuts or Bitfocus Companion?

They’re the same idea, built for different jobs.

	vMix shortcuts + Web Controller	Bitfocus Companion
Cost and setup	Free, built into vMix	Free, a separate install
Controls	vMix	vMix plus hundreds of other devices
Buttons show what’s live	No, buttons are labels	Yes, colors and live text
Where the buttons live	Any browser on the church network	Stream Deck, tablets, browsers, and WorshipMetrics Present
Best for	A quick panel for one vMix job	One panel for the whole booth

Many churches start with vMix shortcuts, then move to Bitfocus Companion when they want one button to also switch the projector, a Blackmagic ATEM, or the lights. (See vMix + Companion for projectors, ATEM, and lighting.)

Where WorshipMetrics helps

The Signal Map keeps a record of what each button does and which devices it touches, so the panel outlives the person who built it. And when volunteers are ready for more than one vMix job, WorshipMetrics adds team chat, alerts, and a vMix panel that works from anywhere. (See from the Web Controller to WorshipMetrics.)