Add on-screen keystrokes to a Loom video recorded on a Mac
To show keystrokes in a Loom video on a Mac, run a keystroke overlay while you record and capture your whole screen: Record display in the current Loom for Mac app, or Full Screen in the Chrome extension. A window recording captures one app’s window and leaves the overlay out, and a custom size recording includes it only if the area you drag covers it. Loom’s Mac app can highlight your mouse clicks, but Loom does not show the keys you press.
That is the whole trick, and it is easy to get wrong because window mode feels tidier. Below: which Loom modes keep the keys, how to make a full-screen Loom look clean, where to put the keys so your camera bubble does not cover them, and how to avoid sharing something you typed by accident.
Which Loom modes keep the keys
A keystroke overlay is its own window, owned by its own app. A recording only includes it when the recording covers the part of the screen where it sits. In the Loom Mac app and the Loom Chrome extension, that works out like this:
| Where you record | Mode | Keys in the video |
|---|---|---|
| Loom for Mac | Record display | Yes |
| Loom for Mac | Record window | No |
| Loom for Mac | Record custom size | Only if the area includes the overlay |
| Loom for Mac | Record camera only | No, there is no screen |
| Chrome extension | Full Screen | Yes |
| Chrome extension | Window or Current Tab | No |
These are the labels in the current Loom for Mac app, which needs macOS 15 Sequoia. Loom keeps the previous version of its app for older macOS, and it uses older names such as Full Screen and Custom Size, but the rule is the same: the whole screen keeps the keys, a single window does not.
Loom’s own help gives a second reason to prefer the full screen: in Window and Current Tab modes the extension can miss dropdown menus, right-click menus and pop-ups, and its suggested fix is to record the full screen or use the desktop app. If your video shows someone where a setting lives, those menus are half the lesson anyway.
Loom needs Screen Recording permission, like any Mac app that records the screen. If it cannot see your screen, open System Settings, choose Privacy & Security, then Screen Recording (Screen & System Audio Recording in macOS 15 Sequoia and later), and turn Loom on. A full-screen recording from the Chrome extension needs the same permission for Chrome.
Make a full-screen Loom look tidy
Recording the whole display means recording everything on it. A few minutes of setup makes the difference between a video that looks considered and one that looks like your desktop.
- Hide the apps you are not showing. Switch to the app you are recording and press Option-Command-H (⌥⌘H) to hide every other app. Show All in the app menu brings them back.
- Silence notifications. Turn on Do Not Disturb, or another Focus, from Control Center before you start. A banner in the corner of a shared video is an easy accident to make.
- Try Hide system UI, then check. The current Loom Mac app has a Hide system UI option that takes the menu bar, Dock and desktop widgets out of the recording. If you use it, record a ten-second test first and make sure your keys still appear.
- Enlarge things on a large display. People often watch a Loom in a browser tab, not full screen. On a large external display everything, including the keys, ends up shrunk. In System Settings, choose Displays and pick a resolution toward Larger Text while you record.
Loom also lets you pick a recording resolution, from 720p up to 4K, though not every resolution is on every plan. The overlay is scaled down with the rest of the screen, so at the lowest setting a compact pill is easier to read than a full keyboard.
Keep the keys clear of your camera bubble
The camera bubble is part of what makes a Loom feel personal, and it competes with the keys for the same corners. Loom lets you drag the bubble anywhere and change its size, and the current Mac app snaps it into the corners and sides and remembers the spot next time.
Put the bubble and the keys in opposite corners and leave them there. If the bubble sits bottom left, put the keys bottom right, or along the top if the app you record keeps its own controls at the bottom. Then make one test recording and watch it back at the size your viewers will, not full screen on your own display.
In Typebar, you drag the board or the pill by its handle, and each mode keeps its own size and place. The pill is the compact option: it shows what you press as keycaps and names each shortcut with the name it has in the app’s own menus, for example “⇧⌘4 Screenshot Selection”. Because the names come from the menus, a viewer who wants to find the command later can find it under the same name. The full keyboard takes more room but shows where on the keyboard each key is, which helps people who are still learning their way around. Where to put a keystroke overlay so it never covers the action goes into placement in more depth.
Recording a custom size without losing the keys
Record custom size lets you drag out part of the screen to record, which suits a narrow app window or a single panel. Not every Loom plan includes it: Loom lists it for its Business, Enterprise and education plans. If yours does, the rule is simple: the overlay has to be inside the rectangle you drag. Either drag the area a little wider than the app so it includes the keys, or move the overlay into the area before you press Record.
The same idea works with the Mac’s own recorder. Command-Shift-5 (⇧⌘5) can record the entire screen or a selected portion, and the keys are included whenever they sit inside what you record. Show the keys you press in a Command-Shift-5 screen recording walks through it.
Keep private things out of a shared link
A Loom is usually a link that gets forwarded, and an overlay shows what you type as well as your shortcuts. Before you record, think about what your hands will do: a password, an email address, a search, a customer’s name.
- Password fields are covered by macOS itself. When a field is marked as secure, nothing typed in it shows in Typebar, and the pill says “Typing hidden in a password field”.
- Password managers are covered too. Typebar’s Hide typing in these apps list starts with 1Password, Bitwarden, Keychain Access and Passwords, and you can add your own. Shortcuts and special keys still show in those apps.
- Hide letters shows shortcuts and special keys but turns letters into dots, which is the safest setting for a recording where you type real data.
- Pause stops everything showing until you resume, for the moment you need to type something private mid-take.
The last three are settings in Typebar’s Privacy pane. Show keys in a recording without leaking a password has the longer checklist.
Questions
Can Loom show my keystrokes by itself?
No. Loom’s Mac app can highlight mouse clicks, but Loom has no keystroke display. The keys have to be drawn on screen by an overlay, and Loom records them when you capture the full display.
Why are my keys missing from my Loom?
You probably recorded a window or a tab. Switch to Record display in the Mac app (Full Screen in the previous version), or Full Screen in the Chrome extension. If you have two displays, check the overlay is on the one you record.
Can I add keystrokes to a Loom after recording?
No. An overlay draws keys live, as you press them, so it has to be running while you record.
Typebar is $9 once, and the first 24 hours are free with everything on.