A Router Section generates a complete routing panel (sources, destinations, filters, and take controls) from a set of routing resources you pick. This is different from a Custom Router, which gives you an empty context you populate yourself, button by button, from Custom Routing Presets. Use a Router Section when you want a ready-made panel over a defined set of resources; use a Custom Router when you need a bespoke layout mixed with other controls. See Choose how to build a routing panel for a full comparison.
This page builds a panel like this one: filters and sources on the left, destinations on the right, and the action buttons at the far right.
Continue with the non-production ATEM connection from Add an ATEM connection. The goal is a two-pane panel listing camera inputs as sources and program/auxiliary outputs as destinations, so an operator can pick a source, pick a destination, and take the route.
On the position canvas, select an area at least 6 × 2 or 5 × 4 cells.
Right-click the selection and choose Router under Create....
Buttons generates the panel straight away, using every available source and destination: sources in a blue pane, destinations in a purple pane, filter buttons at the start of each pane, and the action buttons at the far right. The next steps adjust it in the inspector.
In the inspector's General section, check that Layout is Duo, the default for a new panel. This splits the panel into a source pane and a destination pane, side by side.
Check Assignment: Sources - Destinations, the default, puts sources on the left. Choose Destinations - Sources to swap the sides.
Sources and destinations side by side. The usual choice for a general-purpose panel.
Duo Vertical
Sources and destinations stacked, for a tall, narrow area.
Quad
Source and destination panes with a row of filter buttons above them. Choosing Quad switches User Filters → Display Mode to All tag filter buttons visible directly.
Mono
A single pane, with a button that switches it between sources and destinations. Assignment and Layout Ratio aren't available.
Locked Destination
A panel that always routes to one destination: it shows only filter buttons and sources, with no destination pane and no Take button.
Locked Destination uses the first destination in Available Sources / Destinations. To target one specific destination, limit the destination list to exactly that destination, with a tag, a bundle, or individual ports. Choosing this layout also turns on Auto Take, and hides the switch, since there's no destination left to confirm. Auto Take stays on if you switch to another layout afterwards, so turn it off again if that panel should use Take.
Three more General settings shape the panel:
Assignment (Quad, Duo, and Duo Vertical only): which side sources appear on.
Layout Ratio (Quad, Duo, and Duo Vertical only): drag the slider to give sources (Src) or destinations (Dst) more of the panel's width. The default is an even split.
Scrollbar Position: where scroll controls appear when a list is longer than the pane: Auto, off, left, or right.
Under Available Sources / Destinations, add the tags, collections, bundles, or individual ports that should be selectable in this panel. For the ATEM example, add the camera input bundles as sources and the M/E program and auxiliary output bundles as destinations. This is a hard limit: anything not included here can't be selected in the panel at all, regardless of the filters an operator applies later.
Default Filters works the same way but sets what's shown when no filter is currently active, rather than limiting what can ever appear.
User Filters → Display Mode controls how operators narrow down a long list of sources or destinations while using the panel. For a Duo layout, start with Collection buttons visible, open popovers with tags: visible buttons for each collection (for example Location or Role), which open a popover of the tags within it when pressed.
Under User Filters, select Display Mode and choose Collection buttons visible, open popovers with tags.
Build the source and destination collection lists that should appear as filter buttons: for example, group ATEM sources by a Location tag collection so operators can filter to cameras in one part of the studio.
Other display modes suit different panel sizes and operator familiarity:
Display mode
What operators see
Off
No filter buttons; the full available list is always shown.
One button opens a popover with collection buttons
A single FILTER button opens collections, which open tags.
One button opens a popover with all tag buttons
A single FILTER button opens every tag at once.
All tag filter buttons visible directly
Every tag shown as its own button, no popovers.
Navigate: Collections → Tags → Content (with back button)
Collections act as folders; tags act as folders inside them.
Navigate: Tags → Content (with back button)
Tags act as folders directly over the source or destination list.
Group sources and destinations with Smart Navigation#
When a source or destination list is too long to scroll comfortably, Smart Navigation groups it into folders based on segments of each item's label, the same step-into-with-a-back-button pattern as the Navigate display modes under User Filters above, so operators drill down instead of scanning a flat list.
Open Smart Navigation in the inspector and turn on Enable Smart Navigation.
Under Apply To, choose whether grouping applies to Sources, Destinations, or both, independently of each other.
Set Label Source to whichever label your naming convention actually lives on: User Label, Setup Label, Installation Label, Port Name, or Ext Custom Label.
Adjust Min Items for Folder (1–10, default 2): a segment with fewer matching items than this shows those items directly at that level instead of behind a folder.
Smart Navigation splits the chosen label on whitespace into segments and builds one folder level per segment: a source labeled OSLO EVS 1 becomes the path OSLO → EVS → 1. An item without a segment left at the current level shows up there directly, even while others sharing that same path still get grouped further by their next segment. A folder containing only a single item is always shown as that item directly rather than as a one-item folder, regardless of Min Items for Folder, and if that flattening leaves exactly one folder with nothing else at that level, Buttons steps into it automatically instead of making the operator select it first.
Each folder button shows the segment name and how many items it contains. A back button appears once you've actually navigated into a folder, to return to the level above.
A bundle can carry several levels (video, audio, and data). Port Settings, under Ports, controls which of them this panel works with:
Available Ports: which levels (Video, Audio, Data) the panel shows at all.
User Options: turn on Show Auto Match Options to give operators level toggles in the panel, so they can take, for example, video only. The Video, Audio, and Data switches under Options pick which toggles they get.
Default Auto Match: which levels are matched when the panel starts, before an operator changes anything.
For a panel that should only ever route video, turn on Video alone under Available Ports. For a panel where operators sometimes need audio-follow-video and sometimes a breakaway, keep all three available and turn on Show Auto Match Options.
By default, selecting a source and a destination stages the mapping without changing anything: the panel shows a Take action, the same staged-then-confirmed pattern used in the Route view. Enable Auto Take in the inspector's Options if you want selecting a pair to route immediately instead, with no separate confirmation step.
Show Release Button adds a control for releasing an already-routed destination without selecting a new source first. Releasing routes the destination to the connection's black/no-source input rather than leaving it unrouted or restoring a prior source. Confirm this is the outcome you want before using it on a production destination. Clear Selection After Take resets the panel's current selection once a route is taken, so the next selection starts fresh.
The other Options switches:
Text Scroll: labels too long for their button scroll across it instead of being cut off.
Auto Close Filter (not in Quad): the filter popover closes as soon as the operator picks the first filter, instead of staying open for more.
Project Selector in Quick Menu: adds a Project picker to the panel's quick menu, and every route taken from the panel is assigned to the selected Project. The picker lists the Projects under Routing → Projects, which needs the Projects feature (Pro and Enterprise, on by default). Turn this on for any panel that takes tieline routes while Require project for tielines is on: without a Project, Buttons rejects the tieline route before it runs. See Group and release routes with Projects.
Confirm Tieline Paths Before Take: pressing Take first opens the route for review, so the operator can check or edit the path a tieline route will use before it runs. Only shown once the Tielines feature is turned on (Pro and Enterprise). See Configure and operate Tielines.
The inspector's Labels section sets the text on the panel's source and destination buttons. Each side has three label lines, and each line has its own label source: for example User Label, Setup Label, Installation Label, Port Name, Ext Custom Label, the bundle it belongs to, or nothing. A destination line can also show a label of the source currently routed to it, so an operator sees PGM on one line and CAM 3 on the next. Reset to defaults restores a side's lines.
Label Strategy sets the fallback order when the chosen label is empty on a port, for example User, then Setup, then Installation, then Ext Custom Label, then the port's name. Choose Off to show only the chosen label and leave the line blank when it's empty. The labels themselves are explained in Understand physical routing.
The Styling section sets the panel's colors and text size:
Source Color and Destination Color: the color of each pane (blue and purple by default).
Active Color: the color that marks the currently routed or selected item. Leave it empty to use the default.
Font Size: the label text size. Leave it empty to use the default size.
Matching colors across panels helps operators who move between positions: for example, the same destination color on every panel that controls the same router.
A Router Section reads and writes the same lock state as the Route view; see Understand route status for what a lock means. Two panel-specific options control how locking behaves here:
Lock/Unlock Buttons: show them In Action Section, move them In Options Menu, or set to Hidden if this panel shouldn't expose lock controls at all.
Ignore Lock: lets this panel take routes even against a locked destination. Enable it only where bypassing a lock is a deliberate, understood choice.
Select a source and a destination in the panel, then select Take. Confirm the connected unit's active source changed and that the panel's own display (which source is shown routed to which destination) updated to match.
Select a larger canvas area (at least 6 × 2 or 5 × 4 cells) before creating the element.
No sources or destinations appear in the panel
Check Available Sources / Destinations: a resource not added there can't appear, even if it exists in Buttons.
A filter button doesn't show the tags you expect
Check the ordered collection list under User Filters for that side (source or destination).
Auto Take, Assignment, or Layout Ratio is missing from the inspector
They depend on Layout: Locked Destination always auto-takes, and Mono and Locked Destination have no Assignment or Layout Ratio. Auto Close Filter is likewise hidden in Quad.
Confirm Tieline Paths Before Take is missing
Turn on the Tielines feature under Settings → Features (Pro and Enterprise).
Operators can't take audio or video on its own
Turn on Show Auto Match Options under Port Settings → User Options, with the levels they need.
