Write your script in a note
Put your opening, talking points, or full script into a Lucid Notes note. Any note can run as a teleprompter — there is no separate script format to import.
Screen-share privacy
How to use a teleprompter on Zoom without anyone seeing it
Zoom participants only ever see two things from you: your camera feed and whatever you explicitly share. That means a teleprompter can be completely invisible to everyone else on the call — if you set it up the right way for the situation you are in.
Free on the Mac App Store · macOS 14+
Can people on Zoom see your teleprompter?
If you are not sharing your screen: no. Zoom transmits your camera and your microphone, not your desktop. A teleprompter window floating on your Mac — like the transparent Lucid Notes prompter — exists only on your side of the call. Position it near your webcam and you can read your script while looking almost directly at the other participants.
If you are sharing your screen, it depends on what you share. Share a single app window and everything outside that window, including your prompter, stays invisible. Share your entire screen and any ordinary window becomes visible to everyone — which is where most teleprompter setups fail. Lucid Notes solves that case with its notch teleprompter mode: the prompter is pinned next to the MacBook camera and uses macOS screen-capture exclusion, so it stays out of screen shares, recordings, and screenshots even on a full-screen share.
Set up an invisible Zoom teleprompter
Four steps, once — after that it is just "start the prompter, join the call."
Start teleprompter mode
Set an auto-scroll speed that matches your speaking pace. Line highlighting tracks the line you are on so you never lose your place mid-sentence.
Pick the right window for the situation
Just on camera? Float the transparent prompter under your webcam. Sharing your full screen? Switch to notch teleprompter mode so macOS excludes it from the share.
Do a 30-second test
Start a Zoom meeting alone, share your screen, and confirm the prompter is not in the preview. Then adjust opacity and speed until it feels natural.
What Zoom actually transmits
It helps to know what the people on a Zoom call receive from your Mac. They get your camera feed, your audio, and — only while you share — the specific window or screen you picked. Your desktop, your other apps, and any floating windows are never transmitted on their own. So for a normal meeting where you are just a face in the grid, any always-on-top notes window is private by default.
The reason people still get caught reading notes is not the software — it is their eyes. A script parked on a second monitor or a phone drags your gaze visibly off-camera. Keeping the prompter transparent and directly under the webcam keeps your eyeline within a few degrees of the lens, which reads as eye contact on the other end.
Full-screen shares: notch mode vs sharing a window
When you must share, you have two clean options. The first works with any notes app: share a single window (Keynote, your browser, your slides) instead of the entire screen. Zoom participants see only that window, and your prompter stays outside it.
The second covers the case where you genuinely need to share the whole screen — demos that jump between apps, workshops, screen recordings of full workflows. The Lucid Notes notch teleprompter is pinned at the top of the screen beside the camera and is excluded from macOS screen capture at the system level. It does not appear in Zoom full-screen shares, in local or cloud recordings of your shared screen, or in screenshots. The full-size teleprompter window is an ordinary window, so use notch mode for this scenario, not the large prompter.
The same setup works on Google Meet and Teams
Nothing here is Zoom-specific. Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and FaceTime all follow the same model: camera plus explicitly shared content. The floating prompter is invisible unless you share the screen it sits on, single-window sharing keeps it private, and the notch prompter’s capture exclusion happens at the macOS level — so it applies no matter which meeting app is doing the capturing.
Screen-capture exclusion applies to notch teleprompter mode only, and to on-device capture: screen shares, screen recordings, and screenshots taken on your Mac. The regular floating window and the full-size teleprompter are ordinary windows — keep them off shares by sharing a single window. A physical camera pointed at your display, or a person in the room, can still see your screen.
Free on the Mac App Store
Read your script. Keep it to yourself.
Download Lucid Notes free — teleprompter mode and the transparent window are included in the free tier.
Frequently asked questions
Can Zoom participants see my teleprompter if I am not sharing my screen?
No. Zoom only transmits your camera feed and anything you explicitly share. A floating teleprompter window on your Mac stays on your side of the call. The only tell is your eye movement, which is why positioning the prompter near the webcam matters.
What happens if I share my entire screen?
Ordinary windows become visible to everyone, including most teleprompters. Lucid Notes’ notch teleprompter mode is the exception: it uses macOS screen-capture exclusion, so it stays out of full-screen shares. Alternatively, share a single app window and keep any prompter outside it.
Will the teleprompter show up in a Zoom recording?
Recordings capture what was transmitted — your camera and shared content. If the prompter was never shared, it is not in the recording. In notch mode it is also excluded from on-device screen recordings you make yourself, like QuickTime captures.
Do I need a MacBook with a notch for notch mode?
Notch teleprompter mode is designed for MacBooks with a display notch — it pins your script right beside the built-in camera, which is also the best spot for eye contact. On any Mac you can still use the transparent floating prompter plus single-window sharing.
Is this free?
Lucid Notes is a free download on the Mac App Store and teleprompter mode is included in the free tier, alongside the transparent floating window and up to 5 notes. It requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.