Using Cephable’s Virtual Buttons

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Before Accessing Virtual Buttons

Make sure you have downloaded the Companion App on your phone or tablet, AND make sure that you have already downloaded Cephable’s desktop app onto your Windows or Mac computer.

*Please see the other tutorials if you need support downloading the desktop app.

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Downloading the Companion App

To access the Companion App, download it onto your phone or tablet from the App Store or Google Play.

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Make sure you are logged into your Cephable account on both devices (your computer and your phone or tablet)

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From your Companion App, choose your “Output Device” from the list of pink buttons. You may have 1 or multiple.

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Then, from your Companion App make sure your Status is green and it says “Connected” at the top of your output device home screen.

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Now you can use the Companion App with Virtual Buttons independently or at the same time with expression controls and voice controls with the desktop app.

*Note- see the full tutorial, “Using Cephable’s Companion App” for more information on this topic.

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Using Virtual Buttons

Virtual Buttons are an input that allow users to create and customize a collection of buttons that they can tap from their phone or tablet as another input to control their computer

Make sure that you have the profile listed in this tutorial (Demo YouTube) saved to your account and selected as “Current Profile”

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Next, open YouTube on your computer / laptop.

Here is the specific link referenced in the video tutorial of our founder, Alex Dunn on a podcast.

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Next, on your Companion App, press “Start Virtual Buttons”

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Then you should see this page of Virtual Buttons within the connected profile.

*Note – A profile can have 1 large virtual button for one input that fills the screen or many smaller buttons that will still fill the screen.

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Now, you can use your tablet/phone with these virtual buttons to make YouTube – Full Screen, Toggle Closed Captions, Toggle Play/Stop, Mute/Unmute, and navigate to the Search bar where you could type or use voice dictation to search for another video.

*Note – make sure that you are “clicked into” the YouTube video on your computer when trying to send commands from your Companion App.

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Virtual Buttons = Voice Commands

Important! – Virtual Buttons are directly linked to existing Voice Commands within a given profile. In other words, you cannot add a Virtual Button as a command without also having a corresponding voice command within that profile. Let’s look at an example.

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Let’s view 2 pages at the same time for this profile. On your Companion App, press ‘Start Virtual Buttons” and open your page of Virtual Button options. On your Desktop App, press the “pencil icon” beside the “Current Profile” selected to view the command summary.

As you can see, there are matching Voice Commands and corresponding Virtual Buttons for this profile.

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Editing/Adding/Removing Virtual Buttons

To edit an existing Virtual Button from your Desktop App, Press “View Advanced Options” from the Edit Control Profile Summary Page

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Then, click “Edit Virtual Buttons”

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From this page, you can change the “display name” of a virtual button (i.e. what you see on the actual button you press) or remove a virtual button from your profile. You can also change the order of how they are listed within your display by pressing “move up” or “move down”

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If you want to “add a virtual button” – make sure you already have a voice control within the profile for the action that you want the virtual button to be connected to. The virtual button “command value” must match an existing “voice control”

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If you need to add a voice control to this profile, go back to the edit profile summary page and click “Add a new control” and then “Voice Control”

*Note – The “display name” of a virtual button does not have to match the exact voice control. However, the “command value” of the virtual button must match a voice control.

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When are Virtual Buttons useful?
They can…

Reduce visual choices/visual overload within an app or program.

Provide an alternative way to press buttons when the keyboard or mouse don’t match someone’s dexterity/mobility. For example, you can more easily change the angle or location of a phone or tablet vs a full keyboard for button access/set up.

Hit one Virtual Button for what may otherwise be a multi-key press (e.g. a “Copy” Virtual Button is like pressing ‘Control + C’ on the keyboard

Provide easy access for commands you use repetitively within a program in one place.

Thank You

Let us know what the most useful Virtual Buttons are for you in our Community Channels!