Display Profiles

A display profile decides which information is shown, in which order, and in which column. O&O DeskInfo ships with four ready-made profiles and lets you build any number of your own.

Switch profiles from the tray menu under Information displayed.

The predefined profiles

Default

The recommended profile and the one that is active after the first start. It contains, in this order:

Information · User and machine · Operating system · CPU and RAM · Graphics card · Hardware information · System status · Battery information · Network (basic) · Network (advanced) · Virtual machine information · Local drives · Removable drives · Network drives · System utilization · Network utilization

The categories are pre-assigned to three columns so that the panel keeps a balanced shape:

Column	Categories
1	Information, User and machine, Operating system, CPU and RAM, Graphics card, Hardware information, System status
2	Battery information, Network (basic), Network (advanced), Virtual machine information
3	Local drives, Removable drives, Network drives, System utilization, Network utilization

Full

The same categories as Default, but without fixed column assignments — O&O DeskInfo distributes everything automatically using the balanced column algorithm.

Minimum

Only the essentials: Information · User and machine · Operating system. Ideal if you want the machine name and the Windows version on screen and nothing else.

Drives only

All three drive categories in one compact block, without labels. This turns the display into a pure drive panel — useful in combination with drive activity indicators.

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The profile editor

Open Information displayed → Edit Custom Profile… to build your own profile.

Building a profile

1. Profile name — the name that will appear in the tray menu. If you leave it empty, the profile is simply called Custom.
2. Select categories to display — tick every category you want. The category overview explains what each one contains.
3. Order — move a selected category up or down with the ▲ and ▼ buttons. The order in the list is the order on the desktop.
4. Column — for each category, choose where it goes:
   • Auto (default) — O&O DeskInfo places the category automatically for an optimal layout.
   • 1 to 4 — the category always goes into this column.
5. Confirm with OK. The profile is saved and applied immediately.

Two helper buttons make editing easier:

Button	Effect
Load current profile	Loads the profile that is currently active as a template, so you can start from Default or Full instead of an empty list. Unsaved changes in the editor are replaced.
Clear	Clears all selections and resets the profile.

You need at least one category and a non-empty profile name; otherwise the editor asks you to complete your input.

Column assignment

Mixing Auto and fixed columns is allowed and often the most practical approach: pin the two or three categories whose position matters to you, and let the rest be distributed automatically.

Typical reasons to assign columns manually:

• keeping related categories side by side, e.g. all network information in one column,
• making sure a long list of drives has a column of its own,
• putting the information message at the top of the first column where it cannot be overlooked.

Import and export

Profiles can be moved between computers:

• Export… writes the current profile — including its column assignments — to an XML file.
• Import… loads a profile from a previously exported XML file and restores its column assignments.

This is the simplest way to prepare a profile on one machine and distribute it, and it pairs well with a prepared configuration file for rollouts.

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Defining a profile in the configuration file

Everything the editor does can also be written directly into the configuration file. This is the usual approach for automated deployments.

<Settings xmlns="https://www.oo-software.com">
  <SelectedProfile>Custom</SelectedProfile>
  <CustomProfile>
    <Name>Custom</Name>
    <DisplayName>IT Support Profile</DisplayName>
    <ShowLabels>true</ShowLabels>
    <Keys>
      <Item>InfoMessage</Item>
      <Item>-</Item>
      <Item>UserAndMachine</Item>
      <Item>-</Item>
      <Item>OS</Item>
      <Item>-</Item>
      <Item>CPU</Item>
      <Item>-</Item>
      <Item>NetworkBasic</Item>
      <Item>-</Item>
      <Item>Performance</Item>
      <Item>-</Item>
      <Item>LocalDrives</Item>
    </Keys>
    <ColumnAssignments>InfoMessage:0;UserAndMachine:0;OS:0;Performance:1;LocalDrives:2</ColumnAssignments>
  </CustomProfile>
</Settings>

The elements in detail

Element	Description
Name	Internal name of the profile. Use Custom unless you have a reason not to.
DisplayName	The name shown in the tray menu. If empty, Custom is used.
ShowLabels	true (default) shows the label in front of every value; false shows the values only.
Keys	The list of entries, each one in an <Item> element.
ColumnAssignments	Optional. Fixed column assignments — see below.

The Keys list

Every <Item> contains either

• a category key such as UserAndMachine, OS or Performance — see the category overview,
• an individual value key such as MachineName or IPv4AddressLocal — see System Information,
• or a single -, which inserts a separator (vertical spacing).

Category keys and individual keys can be freely mixed, which lets you build very specific profiles — for example only the machine name, the IP address and the fill level of drive C:.

Consecutive separators are collapsed into one, so you do not have to worry about producing double spacing.

The ColumnAssignments string

ColumnAssignments is a single string of Category:ColumnIndex pairs separated by semicolons. The column index is zero-based: 0 is the first column, 1 the second, and so on up to 3.

InfoMessage:0;UserAndMachine:0;OS:0;Performance:1;LocalDrives:2

Categories that are not listed are distributed automatically — exactly like the Auto setting in the editor.

Selecting the profile

The active profile is chosen with SelectedProfile:

Value	Profile
Default	Default profile (also used when the setting is missing or empty)
Full	Full profile
Minimum	Minimum profile
DriveLED	Drives only
any other value	The profile defined in CustomProfile

note

The predefined profiles are built into the application and cannot be modified. To start from Default and change a detail, open the profile editor, click Load current profile, adjust what you need and save it as your own profile.