When a control panel needs to be mounted sideways, upside down, or at an angle, Device orientation (and, on a Stream Deck Studio, Viewing Angle) tells Buttons how it's actually mounted so button and encoder mapping (and on-screen icons) stay correct without you having to rebuild the layout.
Before you begin#
- The surface already adopted and attached to a Position, see Add and attach a surface.
- A sense of the physical mounting angle you're installing at.
Set device orientation#
- Open the surface's settings.
- Set Device orientation to match how the unit is physically mounted: Normal, Rotated clockwise, Upside-down, or Rotated counter clockwise.
This option isn't available for every surface type: it only appears for physical hardware and third-party devices, not for a Custom Web View or an iPad Mini browser surface, since those render in whatever orientation their browser window already has.
Buttons handles the remapping for you: rotating the device reassigns which physical button or encoder corresponds to which cell in the Position's grid, and rotates each key's rendered icon so it displays upright: you don't need to rebuild the layout or re-place any elements after changing this setting.
Set Viewing Angle (Stream Deck Studio only)#
A Stream Deck Studio's screen-based keys can also be tilted to counteract the angle it's physically mounted at. Set Viewing Angle using its slider, from -45 to 45 degrees.
Viewing Angle only applies when Device orientation is Normal or Upside-down: the slider is disabled for Rotated clockwise or Rotated counter clockwise, since a sideways mount doesn't use the same tilt correction.
Verify placement after mounting#
Buttons doesn't have a dedicated per-button or per-encoder verification mode: confirm placement is correct the direct way:
- Use Identify on the surface to confirm you're looking at the right physical unit, especially if several are mounted nearby.
- Press a button or turn an encoder in each corner of the panel and confirm each one triggers what you expect from that position in the Position's layout.
- If anything is mapped unexpectedly, double check Device orientation matches the unit's actual physical mounting rather than trying to fix it by rearranging elements in the Position: the layout itself doesn't need to change for rotation.
Know the limits#
Changing orientation automatically grows the Position's canvas if the rotated device no longer fits, but it doesn't shrink the canvas back down if you later rotate back to a smaller footprint, and it doesn't warn you if a new orientation would make this surface's footprint overlap another surface already placed on the same Position. If you rotate a device that shares a Position with others, double-check for overlap yourself afterward.
If you get stuck#
What you see | What to try |
|---|
Pressing a button in a corner doesn't do what you expect. | Confirm Device orientation actually matches how the unit is physically mounted: the remapping is automatic once this is set correctly. |
Device orientation doesn't appear in the surface's settings. | This setting isn't available for Custom Web View or iPad Mini surfaces: they follow their browser window's own orientation instead. |
Viewing Angle is greyed out. | It only applies when orientation is Normal or Upside-down: it's disabled for the two sideways rotations. |
The Position's canvas looks larger than expected after rotating a device back. | Canvas growth from a rotation is automatic, but it doesn't shrink back down afterward: resize the Position manually if you need to reclaim the space. |
Two surfaces on the same Position now visually overlap after a rotation. | This isn't caught automatically: reposition one of the surfaces' assigned areas yourself. |
Where to go next#
