# Profiles......



## supersire (Dec 10, 2017)

They serve no purpose. I assumed a new profile would be exactly that; a new profile. I ended up deleting dozens of hours of work after assuming I had made a new profile. I then noticed scene collections (AKA:Profiles) a bit late. Googling this gave me a 2 year old thread in an archive here where folks pointed out this ludicrous mistake. Two years and this blunder still exists? Shame on whomever's dingus idea this was. Is this not obvious? I really don't understand how such a great piece of software can have such a misleading feature, especially when it has been pointed out several times over the last couple of years.

TLDR; Don't call it a profile when all it is is a different streamkey. Rename scene collections to 'profiles' and combine the two functions.


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## Osiris (Dec 10, 2017)

The names are correct, a profile is for your settings (different profiles for different streaming services or different recording profiles) and a scene collection is just that a collection of scenes.
This is to allow you to use one profile for multiple scene collections or multiple profiles with one scene collection.

Not sure how you lost hours of work though, creating a new profile doesn't touch the scenes at all.


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## NLeseul (Dec 10, 2017)

The workflow that would presumably lead to loss of work is: User duplicates profile A into profile B. User clears out all scenes while using profile B, assuming them to be still stored in profile A. User switches back to profile A and finds all scenes still missing. 

Assuming that a profile is a top level container for multiple scene collections is a reasonable mistake to make, and I can understand why someone would be misled. 

Perhaps the real problem, though, is the lack of an undo function, so a user can't fix a mistake like that after they notice it?


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## Fenrir (Dec 10, 2017)

NLeseul said:


> Perhaps the real problem, though, is the lack of an undo function, so a user can't fix a mistake like that after they notice it?



This is a good insight, and probably the real question here, however, I'd like to clarify a few points.

Profiles contain more than just your stream key. They contain all recroding and streaming encoder settings, your canvas and output size, several advanced options, and various other settings in the Settings menu.

Scene Collections contain your scenes, sources, and audio settings. They are separate for very good reasons. Many users stream to multiple services, and it's very useful to simply switch those profile settings rather than having to change entire scene collections. Saving both to the same place is a waste of resources, and this is unlikely to be changed.

The vast majority of our users do not have these kinds of issues. While I truly am sorry that you lost your scenes/sources due to a misunderstanding, we can't change the core functionality of the program due to a handful of users. From our perspective, this kind of mistake has happened twice (probably a couple more times, but you get the point) in two years. Generally indicates that the design is fine.


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## NLeseul (Dec 10, 2017)

Fenrir said:


> Profiles contain more than just your stream key. They contain all recroding and streaming encoder settings, your canvas and output size, several advanced options, and various other settings in the Settings menu.
> 
> Scene Collections contain your scenes, sources, and audio settings. They are separate for very good reasons. Many users stream to multiple services, and it's very useful to simply switch those profile settings rather than having to change entire scene collections. Saving both to the same place is a waste of resources, and this is unlikely to be changed.



I think the main point of confusion is just that "profile" is kind of an odd term for that concept, and doesn't match what users think of as a profile from other services. If you switch your "profile" on a Playstation or on Facebook, you're basically swapping out your whole workspace and working on a completely different dataset, with no other associations with your previous data. 

(My use case for having multiple OBS "profiles," fwiw, is switching between 1080p and 720p.)


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## Prestonode (Oct 13, 2019)

NLeseul said:


> I think the main point of confusion is just that "profile" is kind of an odd term for that concept, and doesn't match what users think of as a profile from other services. If you switch your "profile" on a Playstation or on Facebook, you're basically swapping out your whole workspace and working on a completely different dataset, with no other associations with your previous data.
> 
> (My use case for having multiple OBS "profiles," fwiw, is switching between 1080p and 720p.)



Well, I would like to know why the profiles are not saving. I have created scenes - one for webinar and one for streaming. However even if i switch profiles, it does not save it, so every time i have to go in and change the scenes.  There is also no button to know if your profile is saved except what you see on the profile choices? Do I have the latest update? Yes I do.


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## Fenrir (Oct 15, 2019)

Prestonode said:


> Well, I would like to know why the profiles are not saving. I have created scenes - one for webinar and one for streaming. However even if i switch profiles, it does not save it, so every time i have to go in and change the scenes.  There is also no button to know if your profile is saved except what you see on the profile choices? Do I have the latest update? Yes I do.



Scenes and sources are not saved to the profile, they are saved to the scene collection (the menu next to profiles).

Profile = stream/recording setup and encoder settings
Scene Collection = scenes and source settings


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## xjonx (Jun 28, 2020)

Fenrir said:


> Scenes and sources are not saved to the profile, they are saved to the scene collection (the menu next to profiles).
> 
> Profile = stream/recording setup and encoder settings
> Scene Collection = scenes and source settings



As someone new to this software the Profile/Scene workflow is VERY confusing , but I think I get it. One thing is I don't stream at all, just record, so the scene concept is very hard to grasp. I am not switching between anything. I'm going from a set input to a set output recording. Only starting and stopping a recording.

If I want to have two completely different workflows, say one for VHS recordings and one for HDMI/OTA recordings, I would have to save both the profile and the scene because I am using different sources and settings for both? 

One feature add that would be VERY HELPFUL would be some sort of one button solution. A "save current state" option where everything is saved/opened regardless of the profile/scene settings both would be save and both would be made active when opened.


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## Fenrir (Jun 28, 2020)

What part about it specifically is confusing? It sounds like you understand it just fine. There's nothing special about it, scene collections is all your scenes/sources, the things that make up the preview. Profiles is the output settings, so your resolution, encoder options, etc.

We've had several requests for ways to link the two, and are working on ways of accomplishing this, but as it is a core design of the program it's not as simple as it would seem.


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## JP Lantieri (Jul 30, 2020)

5 years later and the thing is still as confusing as ever. I just lost hours of preparation for a series of streaming which was doing well. I have to spend time again trying to recreate my settings like they used to be. I haven't even found a way to store different configurations, the only way I found was to locate the file "untitled.json" in the "Library / Application Support / obs-studio" folder in my Mac and save it somewhere else. Not convenient, not straightforward, and very primitive.
Still very surprised that OBS does not propose a simple and easy way to save various configurations since it's an issue and a concern that has regularly been raised for many years.


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## Fenrir (Jul 30, 2020)

Have you tried looking at the "Profile" and "Scene Collection" menus? Both should be fairly self-explanatory.

Can you be more specific about what part of those menus, which do exactly what you're describing, is not sufficient? It's hard for us to make changes for the better when we get vague "it doesn't work for me" complaints.


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## weslijones (Sep 25, 2020)

I have just had the same experience as these others have. Deleted scenes that took hours to setup because I thought I was creating a new dataset for my OBS settings and setup in general when I made a new profile. This is a common use of the term in other applications. Different user profiles will have separate dataset workspaces. 

OBS "Profile" and "Scene Collection" menus provide the functions that users want. But the labeling could be improved. What may be worse is that there is no way to UNDO deletions as a result of this misunderstood labeling.

One change that might help clarify things a bit is to change "Profile" to "I/O Profile" because it seems that's primarily what the profile settings contain.


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## bucci3270 (Sep 25, 2020)

While it was easy to figure out once I made the mistake, I also did this initially. I had one streaming layout that I worked on for about an hour and then needed to layout another. I created a new profile, laid it all out, and then tried to switch back to the other...that is when I realized that I lost my work from the first. I then figured out what the Scene Collection menu was for. It isn't a mistake I will make again but after lamenting about this to some friends who stream, they all laughed like it is a right of passage. Maybe this is as simple as a hint or welcome message on first-time launch of the program. "Profiles store X data, Scene Collection stores Y data, settings can be found here and here, and join our forum at this link! I don't think you need a redesign, just a way to keep folks from starting out frustrated. 

My bigger issue is the lack of an undo button when working with layouts. If I have a layer unlocked and bump it by mistake, there is no going back. Without gridlines or easily accessible X,Y values, it would be great to be able to undo a goof that messes up your spacing. Again, there are workarounds and that is acceptable for a platform that is this powerful for free...and perhaps there are still tricks to this or settings I haven't learned yet.


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## FatherTime (Sep 25, 2020)

I just did the same thing -- deleted a bunch of scenes in a new profile, and yikes -- they were gone from all my previous profiles. Not happy, but at least I've had time to recreate all those deleted scenes before my next gig ... and find this useful blog. I am truly grateful for this software -- it is amazing!!! Thank you all for creating it. Perhaps a useful thing would be to add to the wiki at https://obsproject.com/wiki/OBS-Studio-Overview#scenes-and-sources  :
You have "As an important note, all Scenes and Sources are global in OBS Studio, so they can not share a name. This means if you name a source Game, you can't have a Scene with the name Game."   You might add that "Scene names and their configurations are global to all the profiles so DON'T delete them in new profiles that you make!!"  Oh, and I didn't see a discussion of Profiles in the wiki -- but I probably just haven't found it yet. Again, thanks for the great software! Amazing!!


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## ThomasConnolly (Sep 26, 2020)

bucci3270 said:


> While it was easy to figure out once I made the mistake, I also did this initially. I had one streaming layout that I worked on for about an hour and then needed to layout another. I created a new profile, laid it all out, and then tried to switch back to the other...that is when I realized that I lost my work from the first. I then figured out what the Scene Collection menu was for. It isn't a mistake I will make again but after lamenting about this to some friends who stream, they all laughed like it is a right of passage. Maybe this is as simple as a hint or welcome message on first-time launch of the program. "Profiles store X data, Scene Collection stores Y data, settings can be found here and here, and join our forum at this link! I don't think you need a redesign, just a way to keep folks from starting out frustrated.
> 
> My bigger issue is the lack of an undo button when working with layouts. If I have a layer unlocked and bump it by mistake, there is no going back. Without gridlines or easily accessible X,Y values, it would be great to be able to undo a goof that messes up your spacing. Again, there are workarounds and that is acceptable for a platform that is this powerful for free...and perhaps there are still tricks to this or settings I haven't learned yet.


"Rite" of passage, as in ceremony or liturgy, not "right." But good info!


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## Martini (Nov 15, 2020)

I'm fairly new to obs software
and also stumbled about profiles and what they actually are.

I don't want to question the being of profiles nor how they work.
Just want to say they are indeed not intuitive to use/understand like  the dumb user expect them to behave.

I did a fulltext search on https://obsproject.com/wiki/Home and some other subpages for 'profile'  (which seems to be intended as first entry point for newbies) and found not a single match which is very poor for a main navigation menu point.

Please!!! document the profile menu point and how it behaves. Fenrirs answer below gave me at least a direction what to expect.



Fenrir said:


> ..., however, I'd like to clarify a few points.
> 
> Profiles contain more than just your stream key. They contain all recroding and streaming encoder settings, your canvas and output size, several advanced options, and various other settings in the Settings menu.
> 
> Scene Collections contain your scenes, sources, and audio settings. They are separate for very good reasons. Many users stream to multiple services, and it's very useful to simply switch those profile settings rather than having to change entire scene collections. Saving both to the same place is a waste of resources, and this is unlikely to be changed.


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## Fenrir (Nov 15, 2020)

Improving end-user documentation is something we would like to do, but have not had time to devote resources to. The wiki you linked is publicly editable by anyone from the source on our github: https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/wiki and I encourage anyone who wants to help out to update things as they are able.


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## pogopogo (Nov 18, 2020)

I would be willing to work on documentation. OBS has been a huge help while teaching my classes virtually this year. It would be nice to give back to the project.

As for this thread, I stumbled across it when I did the same as others. Fortunately, it wasn't hours of work for me, just a couple of sources to re-create. I, too, think the problem is with the label Profiles and what that means to people versus its usage in OBS. Even changing the name to Settings Profiles, Settings Groups, or even Stream Profiles would be more self-explanatory than Profile. I'm sure there are other names that would work, but the point is most people associate a Profile with something different. When it comes to changing users' thoughts or changing the label, it's much easier to change the label.


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## Salsa Jim (Dec 30, 2020)

Another victim to the profile and scene collection confusion! Lost a few months of work trying to create new profile.  THIS IS NOT AT ALL INTUITIVE!

Here is a question: When I first open OBS, what does it links to? To a Profile or to Scene Collection? Which is the primary?

The same scene collection can be linked to multiple profiles to save resources, I get that. So if this is the primary to which OBS links to show the scenes, make it obvious. That this is what the user need to create new to "zerorise" the dataset of scenes.

Very frustrated right now.


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## Fenrir (Dec 30, 2020)

There is no "primary" between Profiles and Scene Collections, so it would select whatever Profile and whatever Scene Collection you had active when you closed OBS, it loads both. They are not linked in any way. 

When you create a new for either, the old still exists unless you _explicitly_ delete it, so I am very confused how you could lose months of work unless you very specifically clicked on the "Remove" button for a given Scene Collection or Profile.


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## Producer John (Jan 31, 2021)

Just to clarify: At this time there is no Guide for saving scenes/profiles/etc? After reading this thread, I get the concept. However, I saved a scene collection, and cannot seem to locate it. Went to the Guide and could not find any documentation on saving. Fortunately I have very few elements to reconstruct.


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## Coverboy007 (Apr 24, 2021)

I have to begin this post with a massive note of gratitude to all the folks who've built this amazing programme and who support it on this forum. That said, I too, as a new user, fell prey to the confusion of the meaning of "Profile". I initially wanted to create a separate profile for my fitness teachers who are streaming classes from home using a single webcam vs those who are streaming classes from our special studio that has a multi-camera setup. 

My error...I first created a "Studio" profile and created a few scene collections in the profile, each of which had different Intro's but the same multi camera switching sequences. I then duplicated that profile and renamed it "Home", and then within each collection there, deleted some superfluous cameras as the "home" users would only be using a single one. Lo and behold,  I found those changes to the Scene Collections had also applied to the "Studio" Profile, so all my multi camera switching was deleted (no biggie as I'm just testing now). 

Reading this thread explains what happened and what the solution is for me. As we'll be broadcasting only via a single platform (Vimeo OTT), I realise now that all we need is one profile that can be used by both the "Studio" based instructors as well as the "Home" based ones. In that one profile, each collection will be named "HOME - Lesson x" or "STUDIO - Lesson X". The instructor upon commencing will simply go into that profile and select the Scene Collection that applies to his or her class.  

I realise this post is longer than needed, but hopefully it makes sense?


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## Jynn (May 3, 2021)

I got caught with this bug as well. I created a profile called "Training" so I could train a student on OBS Project. I deleted all my scenes and sources in the Training profile so we could start afresh (and so it wouldn't be confusing). But profile doesn't mean what I thought it meant. I have no clue what it really means but I lost all my settings. Looking for an export .json file to reimport now. Sheesh.


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## ProfilesVictim (May 25, 2021)

Another victim to this stupid Profiles label. In every other piece of software a profile is a complete environment for another user or separate stuff. This is totally unintuitive. Why not put a warning the first time someone adds a new profile. Just lost months of tweaking my scenes to perfection. I can't believe this issue has been around since 2015 and still nothing has been done about it. A profile is commonly known to be an isolated environment, if using that name our scenes should be isolated. If not, don't use the word profiles.


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## Baron Oz (Jun 3, 2021)

It shouldn't be too difficult to add two new menu items - "Save All" and "Load All" that just call the same code that is currently used to save and recall Scenes and Profiles separately. They can stay as two separate files, but from a user perspective, a single way to execute them would be great.  Keep the individual save and recall menu items, they are useful, just need to be supplemented.


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## LilZou (Jun 8, 2021)

I started a wiki entry: https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/wiki/Profiles-and-Scene-Collections
My english is not good enough to really write an article but I started it so someone else could fill in the details. Please feel free to edit it.

I think it would be good to change the name of "profile" or maybe at least add a pop up message if you click on "New profile", that the scenes and sources are not effected by this and can be saved via "Scene Collection". 
But as long as it is as it is, it would make sense to have it documented.


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## LilZou (Jun 8, 2021)

Fenrir said:


> What part about it specifically is confusing? It sounds like you understand it just fine. There's nothing special about it, scene collections is all your scenes/sources, the things that make up the preview. Profiles is the output settings, so your resolution, encoder options, etc.
> 
> We've had several requests for ways to link the two, and are working on ways of accomplishing this, but as it is a core design of the program it's not as simple as it would seem.


The thing is, that if you start using OBS and maybe want to try things on your PC and later on yout Laptop or if you want to share your settings, scenes and sources, you would intuitivly export you profile and share it. The word "profile" suggests everythin you just made in OBS (setteings and scenes).

I can remember well, when I started, I didn't even use scenes....just sources to try the very basics. Therefore I did not click on "Scene Collections". If I would have clicked it, I think I would have understood the concept since it is - as you said in another post - kind of self-explanatory .

If you are completely new, you have to take in so many new things, that it is just a bit confusing. Renaming the menu item "profiles" to 


pogopogo said:


> Settings Profiles, Settings Groups, or even Stream Profiles would be more self-explanatory than Profile.


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## hunt1803 (Jun 16, 2021)

I am an old dog trying to learn a new trick with this software.  And I am a slow learner, but now have a very basic understanding of scenes and sources. Profiles escaped me until I slogged through this thread. 
We have a weather station and plan eventually to broadcast a live-view weathercam to Ambient weather and Wunderground. Unfortunately our internet is only 1.5mb up, so a no go until we get Starlink available which should be more reliable keeping a live feed. 
In the meanwhile, I have used OBS to record a timelapse-style video and upload a day later to youtube. I have two little cheap webcams that I use for capture. They each have their strong and weak abilities in handling lighting, so I switch out depending. I found Studio is great for that, and that I really like the timelapse recordings of the clouds zooming across the big sky here.
However, the timelapse fractional FPS is a Profile setting. 
Are Profiles swappable in Studio, too? I would like to have the capability of having standard FPS settings on a Profile that I could pull in for recording real time, replacing the fractional FPS recording - for instance during a crazy lightning storm to better catch the bolts striking the mountains - then be able to transition back to the timelapse setting for the balance of the recording. Is that possible and I'm just too thick to figure it out?


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## GnomeAssociate (Jul 11, 2021)

Anyone having issues with exporting their OBS stream profiles on MacOS? 




I'm trying to export my stream profile but upon clicking the export menu item I get a select files only window like you do when importing. There are no options to edit the name, set a location or even a save button like there is in the Scenes Collection export process. Just curious if anyone else is having this same issue? It was working several iterations back but not now and I'm wondering if anyone has reported it and if there is a bug fix in the works if so.


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## Kamil KW (Aug 12, 2021)

That division into Profiles and scenes is stupid and annoying. I just want one click change from one Scene Collection and profile to another. Two clicks is unacceptable for many reasons. It's confusing. It's only ok for those who use OBS every day. If I use it once a month, I need to re-learn and recheck everything many times. Just make it one frigging profile for everything. It could be called a workspace or Jimmy Hendrix, I don't care. Just make it happen.


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## wgp123 (Aug 12, 2021)

As you say yourself, the use of profiles and scenes is most useful to the majority of those who use OBS every day or who use it a lot. So the current design makes sense to a large amount of frequent users. It doesn’t make sense to design anything to best suit those who use it very rarely as you suggest. It’s a minor inconvenience at most, that said I’m sure it can and will be improved to cater for wider audiences over time as it’s a continually evolving project. Just have patience and try to understand that you aren’t the centre of the universe that OBS caters for and be a little bit more humble and thankful for being given such a great program for free. And of course you always have the choice to go use something else if you so wish.  The OBS community are always happy to receive constructive proactive input and feedback so best to take that approach as it generally results in more positive outcomes.


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## Bombadil15 (Sep 1, 2021)

Fenrir said:


> There is no "primary" between Profiles and Scene Collections, so it would select whatever Profile and whatever Scene Collection you had active when you closed OBS, it loads both. They are not linked in any way.



Being able to link them together would be AMAZING. I would love to switch profiles and have an associated Scene Collection automatically switch. So I don't have to switch both Profile and Scene Collection every time I want to change up.

Anyways, thank you so much for creating such a great piece of software. It truly is remarkable. I even got my tech-fearing wife to start using it for her recordings and Zoom classes.


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