How to Hide a Teleprompter During Screen Sharing on Zoom, Teams & Meet

You're on a Zoom call, reading from a teleprompter, and someone asks you to share your screen. Suddenly everyone can see your script floating over your slides. Awkward. Here's how to prevent that.

The Problem: Screen Sharing Reveals Your Teleprompter

Most teleprompter apps create a standard macOS window overlay. When you share your screen — whether it's the full desktop or a specific app — these overlays are captured by the screen sharing software. Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Loom, and OBS all capture standard windows.

This means your audience sees your script. For a sales call, a client presentation, or a job interview, that's a deal-breaker. Even if they don't say anything, it undermines your credibility.

The Solution: Ghost Mode

CueNotch Pro includes a feature called Ghost Mode. When enabled, the teleprompter overlay is rendered in a way that macOS excludes it from all screen capture APIs. This means:

• Zoom — cannot capture the overlay, whether sharing full screen or a specific window
• Google Meet — overlay is invisible in all sharing modes
• Microsoft Teams — fully hidden during screen sharing and presentations
• Loom — recordings show your desktop without the teleprompter
• OBS — display capture and window capture both exclude the overlay
• QuickTime — screen recordings do not include the teleprompter

You see the teleprompter on your screen. Everyone else sees a clean desktop. No traces, no artifacts, no partial captures.

Step-by-Step Setup Guide

1. Download and install CueNotch from cuenotch.com. Drag the app to your Applications folder.
2. Sign in and activate Pro. You get a 7-day free trial with all Pro features, including Ghost Mode. No credit card required.
3. Paste your script into the built-in script editor. You can organize multiple scripts for different meetings.
4. Enable Ghost Mode. In CueNotch settings, toggle Ghost Mode on. This makes the overlay invisible to all screen capture software.
5. Activate the teleprompter with Cmd+Shift+Space. Your script appears in the MacBook notch area.
6. Start your call and share your screen. The teleprompter is visible only to you. Voice-synced scrolling follows your speech automatically.

How Ghost Mode Works Under the Hood

Ghost Mode uses macOS window-level APIs to set a sharing type that excludes the window from the screen capture pipeline. This is a native macOS capability — it's the same mechanism some system UI elements use to stay private. It's not a hack or workaround. The overlay is genuinely invisible to capture APIs, not just hidden after the fact.

What About Recording Software?

Ghost Mode works with all screen recording and streaming tools, not just video call apps. OBS Studio, Loom, QuickTime, and any software that uses the macOS screen capture API will not see the CueNotch overlay. This makes it ideal for YouTube creators, course instructors, and anyone who records their screen while reading from a script. For a deeper technical explanation, see how Ghost Mode works at the macOS level. Want to maintain eye contact while using your teleprompter? Read our guide on getting perfect eye contact on Zoom calls.