How to Lock Sources in OBS Studio

When streaming or recording with OBS Studio, accidentally clicking and dragging an element can easily disrupt your carefully designed scene layout. This guide provides a direct, step-by-step walkthrough on how to lock individual sources and entire groups in OBS Studio, ensuring your overlays, cameras, and gameplay capture remain exactly where you want them.

The quickest and most common way to lock a source is directly through the Sources dock.

  1. Locate the Sources dock at the bottom of the OBS Studio window.
  2. Find the specific source you want to lock (e.g., your webcam, game capture, or text overlay).
  3. Look to the right side of the source name to find the padlock icon.
  4. Click the padlock icon.
    • When the padlock is closed, the source is locked and cannot be moved or resized in the preview window.
    • When the padlock is open, the source is unlocked and can be freely edited.

Method 2: Locking from the Preview Window

You can also lock a source directly from the main canvas area.

  1. Right-click on the source you want to lock inside the active preview window.
  2. Hover over the Transform option in the context menu.
  3. Click on Lock to Canvas. (Alternatively, you can just click the padlock next to the highlighted source in your Sources dock).

How to Lock Multiple Sources or Groups

If you have a complex scene with multiple elements that belong together, you can group them and lock them all at once.

  1. Select multiple sources in the Sources dock by holding down Ctrl (or Cmd on Mac) and clicking on them.
  2. Right-click the selected sources and choose Group Selected Items.
  3. Name the group, then click the padlock icon next to the group folder name.

Locking the group automatically locks all individual sources inside it, preventing any accidental layout shifts during your live broadcasts.