Profiles
Advanced mode. The Profiles page and the Only in these profiles cards are shown in Advanced mode only. Profile restrictions and the active profile keep working in Simple mode.
A profile is a name you can switch to, such as "Work" or "Presenting". App groups and actions can be limited to some profiles; switching the active profile then turns that whole set on or off at once. One profile is active at a time, or none.
What a profile restricts
Profiles restrict two things, and only through their Only in these profiles cards:
| Restricted item | While the active profile is not one of its profiles |
|---|---|
| An app group (App groups page, Advanced) | The group still owns its windows, but doesn't apply. Gestures, hotkeys and text expansion in those windows use the Global group's actions if the group falls back to Global, and nothing otherwise. |
| An action (action editor, Advanced) | The action is skipped, as if it weren't there. The next action in the list can run instead. |
| The Global group | Global doesn't apply: windows with no group get nothing, and nothing falls back to it. |
Rules:
- An empty list means every profile. Groups and actions you never restrict are live whatever is active.
- With no profile active, only unrestricted groups and actions are live. Every restricted item is off.
- With no profiles at all, everything is always live.
- A restriction applies to every kind of trigger on the restricted item: gestures, hotkeys and text expansion alike.
- The profile is checked when the gesture starts, so switching profiles in the middle of a gesture doesn't change it. Hotkeys and text expansion check the profile active when they fire.
- A shape used only by an action of another profile still competes when you draw. See How a stroke is matched.
Scope and fallback rules has a worked example.
The Profiles page
Each card shows a profile, ACTIVE NOW on the active one, and how many groups, actions and hotkeys are restricted to it.
To set up a profile:
- Select New profile ①. A profile named "Profile" appears with its name box open; type a name and press Enter. Names must be unique, ignoring case.
- On App groups, open a group's Only in these profiles card and select the profiles it applies in. Do the same for an action in the action editor.
- Apply your changes.
- Select Make active ② on the profile's card. Make active stays unavailable until the new profile has been applied, since Input.Observer can only switch to a profile it has loaded.
There is no duplicate button: to copy a profile with its restrictions, use export and import. See Import and export.
Switching profiles
The active profile changes at once, without applying anything, and without asking for the configuration password. Input.Observer remembers it across restarts.
| Where | How |
|---|---|
| The tray icon | The Profile submenu lists No profile and every profile, with a check beside the active one. Manage... opens this page, and switches the configuration window to Advanced mode if it is in Simple mode. |
| The Profiles page | Make active on a card; Deactivate on the active card leaves no profile active. |
| An action | A script step that switches the profile, for example from a hotkey or a gesture. See GestureProfileSwitch in Builtins. |
The configuration window shows the active profile's name in the status bar.
Renaming and deleting
- Rename changes only the name. Groups and actions refer to the profile itself, so nothing else changes.
- Delete first shows what will change:
- every group and action that was limited to only this profile becomes unrestricted: it then applies in every profile;
- every other group or action that also names this profile just loses it from its list;
- if this was the active profile, no profile is active afterwards.
Deleting a profile can turn on actions you meant to keep limited. A group restricted to "Gaming" alone applies everywhere once "Gaming" is deleted. Read the list in the confirmation before you confirm.
Select a card to see, under Deleting a profile, what deleting it would change, before you delete anything.
The 64-profile limit
You can have at most 64 profiles. The page shows the count against the limit; at 64, New profile is unavailable until you delete one.