How to import a Stream Deck profile
A Stream Deck profile (.streamDeckProfile) is a pre-built key layout you download and import, not something installed through the Marketplace. Here is exactly how import works, what changed in Stream Deck 7.0, and how to export your own.
- Profile vs. plugin, explained
- Step-by-step import
- Exporting your own profile
Profile or plugin? The difference
The two terms get mixed up constantly. A plugin adds new action types to the Stream Deck app: it is installed through the Elgato Marketplace and updates itself automatically. A profile is a pre-built key layout, a .streamDeckProfile file, that assigns specific actions (which may come from plugins or the built-in library) to specific keys on a specific device.
You install plugins. You import profiles. A profile can reference plugin actions, but importing a profile does not install the plugins it needs; those still come from the Marketplace separately (Stream Deck 7.0 and later at least offers to do this for you automatically, see below).
How to import a profile
Importing a .streamDeckProfile file takes three steps once the Stream Deck app is running.
- 1Download the .streamDeckProfile file from wherever it is offered: a Marketplace listing, a direct download link, or a plugin's own bundled profile.
- 2Double-click the file. Stream Deck asks you to confirm the install, then which connected device to install it on.
- 3Confirm. The profile appears in your profile list immediately, and stays manageable from Preferences → Profiles afterward.
What happens with missing plugins
Since Stream Deck 7.0, importing a profile that needs plugins you do not have offers to install them for you as part of the import flow. On older versions, or if you skip that prompt, any key whose action depends on a missing plugin shows a plain question-mark icon until you install that plugin separately from the Marketplace. Nothing breaks; the rest of the profile works normally.
The Arise Create Project Management Prompts pack ships a ready-to-use .streamDeckProfile that puts prompt cards directly on your keys, no configuration needed after import.
Exporting your own profile
Export works from the same Preferences → Profiles screen: right-click the profile you want to share or back up, and select Export. Stream Deck saves it as a .streamDeckProfile file.
An exported profile carries the key layout and references to the actions it uses, not copies of the plugins themselves. Importing it on a different machine still requires that machine to have the same plugins installed, or you will see the same question-mark placeholder described above until they are added.
Troubleshooting
Most import issues come down to timing: the app needs to already be running before you double-click a profile file.
Double-clicking the file does nothing: launch the Stream Deck app first, then double-click the .streamDeckProfile file again.
A key shows a question mark after import: the profile references a plugin you do not have installed. Install it from the Marketplace and the key resolves automatically.
The profile lands on the wrong device: when Stream Deck asks which connected device to install to, pick the correct one explicitly instead of accepting whatever is selected by default.
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How to import a .streamDeckProfile file into Stream Deck: download, double-click, pick a device, and what happens when a profile needs plugins you don't have.