Profiles & sharing
A profile holds all of Vanguard's settings and frame positions. Profiles are saved for your whole account, and each character uses one of them. The first one is called Default.
The current release is 0.3.0. The addon has moved on since that release: 35 more modules and 18 more commands are written and waiting for the next release, which isn't out yet. This site marks those Next release. They are not in v0.3.0.
See which profile you're using
- Type
/vg profile. Chat answers “Profile: Default (all: …)”, with every profile on your account. Next release When you've picked another profile that's waiting for a reload, it adds that one: “Profile: Default; <name> after a reload (all: …)”. - Or open /vg → Profiles. At the top it says “This character uses Default.” Next release While a switch is waiting for a reload it says “This character uses Default until you reload, then <name>.”
Use one layout on several characters
Log in on each character and pick the same profile, in chat or on the Profiles page.
- Type
/vg profile <name>. If there's no profile with that name yet, Vanguard makes it. Profile names are 1-32 letters, digits, spaces, - or _. - In v0.3.0, the Profiles page has a Use <name> button for each of your other profiles (up to five), under Switch profile. The next release replaces them with a list (below).
In v0.3.0, switching happens straight away and Vanguard offers a reload: “This character now uses profile <name>. Reload the UI now to apply it?”
In v0.3.0, if the Reload button doesn't reload, type /reload in chat: that release's button asks the game to reload directly, and WoW Forever blocks that for addons. See Troubleshooting.
Next release A new profile takes effect at your next reload. Until then the frames on screen still belong to the profile you were using, so anything you change goes into that one. Vanguard asks: “This character will use profile <name> after the reload. Reload the UI now to apply it?” Click Reload or Later. If you pick the profile you're already using, it says “This character already uses profile <name>.”
The list on the Profiles page Next release
Under Your profiles, each profile has a row with its name and buttons:
- Use: this character switches to that profile at your next reload.
- Copy here: copies that profile's settings over the profile you're using.
- Delete: deletes that profile.
Copy here and Delete can't be undone, so the first click only changes the button to “Sure?”. Click again to do it.
Next to the names you'll see “(in use)”, or, while a switch waits for a reload, “(in use until reload)” on the profile you're using now and “(after reload)” on the one that takes over. The profile that takes over has no buttons. The one you're using now only has Use, which cancels the switch.
At the bottom, type a name in the New profile box and click Create (or press Enter). The new profile is empty, and this character switches to it at your next reload. If the name is already used or has characters that aren't allowed, the box says “Name taken or not allowed”.
Manage profiles in chat
| Type | What it does | Chat says |
|---|---|---|
/vg profile new <name> | Makes an empty profile. You stay on the one you're using. | “Created profile <name>.” or “That name is taken or not allowed.” |
/vg profile copy <name> | Copies that profile's settings over the one you're using, then offers a reload. | “Copied <name> into <your profile>. Reload the UI now to apply it?” or “No other profile called <name>.” |
/vg profile delete <name> | Deletes a profile. You can't delete the one you're using. Next release You also can't delete the one waiting for a reload. | “Deleted profile <name>.” or “Can't delete that one (missing, or in use).” |
/vg profile reset | Puts every setting in the profile you're using back to its default, then offers a reload. | “Profile <your profile> is back to defaults. Reload the UI now to apply it?” |
On the Profiles page, Reset profile does the same as /vg profile reset, straight away and without asking first. The options window then shows its Reload now button.
Move a profile to another account or PC
You copy your profile out as a line of text, and paste that text into Vanguard on the other PC.
- Export. Click Export profile on the Profiles page, or type
/vg export. A window opens with the text already selected. Its title says “Vanguard export Ctrl+C to copy” (with/vg export: “Vanguard export (profile <name>) Ctrl+C to copy”). Press Ctrl+C to copy it, then click Close. - Send it to yourself in any way you like, as long as the whole text arrives.
- Import. On the other PC, click Import on the Profiles page or type
/vg import. A window titled “Paste a Vanguard string, then Import” opens. Paste with Ctrl+V and click Import.
What importing a whole profile does
The profile is saved as a new profile called “Imported”. If you already have one with that name, it's called “Imported 2”, then “Imported 3”, and so on. Nothing you already have is overwritten.
In v0.3.0, this character switches to it straight away (“Imported as profile Imported and switched to it.”), and Vanguard offers a reload (type /reload in chat if its button doesn't reload).
- Next release If the string has the UI scale it was made at, Vanguard asks first, for example: “This profile was made at UI scale <its scale>% on a <width> x <height> screen (yours: <yours>%). Use its UI scale?” Click Use it to switch to that UI scale (it changes once you're out of combat), or No to keep yours. If the string doesn't say what screen it was made on, the question leaves out the screen part.
- Next release Then it asks: “Imported as profile Imported; this character will use it after a reload. Reload the UI now to apply it?” Click Reload or Later.
Just one module
/vg export <module> copies just one module's settings (the module names are on Features and in /vg modules). Importing that text replaces that module's settings in the profile you're using: “Imported <module> settings into profile <your profile>. Reload the UI now to apply it?” If that module has nothing saved yet, export says “Nothing to export: nothing saved for <module> yet.”
What's in the text
- It starts with
VG1:. Vanguard only reads settings from it and never runs anything in it. A built-in check notices when part of the text is missing. - Text exported before the addon was renamed from ForeverUI starts with
FUI1:; it still imports. - The settings and frame positions saved in the profile.
- The profile's own settings, never a temporary change from Situations that happens to be active. Next release
- Next release For a whole profile, the UI scale (to the nearest percent) and the screen size it was made on.
- Next release Where your client supports Edit Mode, the name of the game's Edit Mode layout that goes with the profile (see below).
If the text can't be used, chat says “Import failed: ” and the reason. The reasons are listed under Troubleshooting.
The game's Edit Mode layout Next release
Where your client supports Edit Mode, a profile remembers which of the game's Edit Mode layouts you use with it. When a character loads a different profile than last time (a switch, an import, or a specialization profile), Vanguard switches Edit Mode to that layout once you're out of combat and says “Edit Mode layout <layout>, from profile <name>.”
If your account has no Edit Mode layout with that name, nothing changes, and chat says “Profile <name> uses Edit Mode layout <layout>, which this account doesn't have.” Make a layout with that name in Edit Mode if you want it.
Click-casting bindings Next release
Click-casting bindings aren't part of a profile. They're saved per character and per specialization, so importing a profile doesn't change them. They have their own sharing, under /vg → Click casting → Share:
- Export opens a window titled “Click-casting bindings” with the text to copy (Ctrl+C).
- Import opens “Paste a click-casting string”. Paste and click Import. It replaces the bindings for this character (and this specialization) and says “Imported <number> click-casting bindings.” If the text isn't right it says “Can't import: <reason>.”, for example “not a click-casting string” when you paste a profile instead.
- On game clients with specializations there's also Copy to spec..., which copies your bindings over another spec's: “Click-casting bindings copied to spec <number>.” It only shows where the client has specializations and there's another spec to copy to.
Profiles by specialization
Vanguard only offers spec profiles on game clients that have specializations. On a client without them, /vg spec answers “This client has no specializations, so profiles don't switch by spec.” and the Profiles page has no Specialization section. Next release In v0.3.0, /vg spec answers “No specialization on this character yet.” instead, and the Specialization section still shows.
On a client that has them:
/vg spec <profile>, or Use this profile for this spec on the Profiles page, makes your current specialization use that profile./vg spec offor Stop spec switching stops it./vg specon its own says which profile your spec uses.- When you change specialization, Vanguard asks: “Your specialization uses profile <name>. Reload the UI now to apply it?” When you log in, it uses your spec's profile without asking.
- A character with no specialization yet gets “No specialization on this character yet.”
Shared by every character on your account Next release
These aren't part of any profile, and every character on your account shares them: vendor memory (which merchants sell what) and auction house prices.