INSTANT Data Changes with Excel Data Into vMix

When you are hooking up data to vMix, sometimes you need it to be INSTANT and RELIABLE.

Google Sheets can save changes somewhat irregularly, and you have to beware rate limits for API usage. For local storage, Excel's built-in auto save can also feel too slow. To address this need for the power users, I have created a macro-enabled Excel workbook which automatically saves the workbook the instant you make changes. The only bottleneck here is that vMix's minimum polling wait is 100 ms. So yes, INSTANT is clickbait. But this is the best you'll get (for now).

This template includes:

• A macro-enabled Excel workbook with immediate, reliable auto-saving
  • NOTE: MACROS CAN BE DANGEROUS. Please verify the contents of any macros before enabling. I have provided the full contents of mine below (which you should still verify by clicking on View -> Macros)
• A simple testbed vMix (v26) project with a GT title for testing

Known Issues

• checkbox clicks do not trigger the macro even though they are changing values in the sheet
  • to work around this, please right-click your checkboxes and assign the 'save1' macro to them

Setup Notes

• This workbook solution does require macros to be enabled. Below are the contents of this macro, which are very simple. On sheet change, 'save1' is executed. The contents of save1 are to disable notifications, save the workbook, and then re-enable notifications. The notifications toggling is to prevent you from getting bombarded by a save notification every time you hit Enter in your workbook.
  • This is the full content of the macros (macros can be dangerous and you should always verify the macros in a workbook by going to View -> Macros on the top bar)
    • 
      

      

      
      

      

  • The sheet contains a pair of simple values for testing with the included vMix project
  • When you're ready to test your own content, you should be able to simply paste your sheets into the workbook and be on your way

• You will likely need to add the data source after opening the vMix project. To do so...
  • Click the hamburger menu in the bottom right of vMix (next to "Overlay") -> Data Source Manger -> Settings -> Browse, and select the included Excel sheet. You should see it load the data (Headline.Text and Description.Text, and the values for each)
  • Then, right-click the title input -> Title Editor
    • Click the "Data Source" button in the Title Editor
    • It should already be configured, so the data from the sheet should load in the "PREVIEW" as seen below
      • But if not: select the Data Source, Column=Auto, Row=Selected, check 'Apply to All Fields in this Title' and click OK.