Hide what you type but keep shortcuts visible in a recording
To hide what you type but keep shortcuts visible, set your key display to drop letters and keep anything pressed with Command, Control or a special key. macOS has no keystroke display of its own, so this is always a setting in the overlay you record with. In Typebar, Hide letters shows every shortcut and special key and turns letters into dots, and “Hide typing in these apps” hides typing completely while the apps you choose are in front.
Which setting fits depends on why you want the letters gone, so start there.
Why hide the typing at all
An overlay repeats your keys in the spot viewers watch. For shortcuts that is exactly right: a shortcut often leaves no trace on screen, so without the overlay nobody knows what you pressed. For ordinary typing it often is not:
- The words are already on screen. In a writing or coding tutorial every letter lands in the document anyway. Echoing it in the overlay doubles the noise and buries the one shortcut that matters in a stream of letters.
- The words are private. A customer’s name in a CRM demo, an internal URL, an API key, a search you would rather keep to yourself. In a live demo there is no edit to cut them out later.
- You type where viewers cannot see. A key display reads the keyboard, not the window being recorded. Share one display in a call, answer a message on the other, and an overlay sitting on the shared display spells out your reply.
Passwords are a separate case, because macOS already shields most password fields from other apps. Show keys in a recording without leaking a password covers them in detail.
Three ways to keep the shortcuts and lose the letters
Typebar has three settings that do this, and they behave differently:
| Setting | Shortcuts like ⌘S | Return, Tab and other special keys | Letters you type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pill shows only shortcuts | Shown and named | Your choice | Left out of the pill |
| Hide letters | Shown and named | Shown | Shown as dots |
| Hide typing in these apps | Shown | Shown | Nothing, while that app is in front |
Only shortcuts in the pill. The pill is the strip that shows keycaps and names each shortcut as you press it, such as “⌘K Insert Link”. Normally your typing gathers into one chip there. Set the pill to show only shortcuts, with or without keys like Return and Tab, and that chip never appears.
This is a tidiness setting, not a privacy one. If the full on-screen keyboard is showing as well, every letter key still lights as you press it, and a patient viewer can read a word off the board. Use it when typing is noise, not when it is secret.
Hide letters. This is the one made for live demos. Shortcuts and special keys show exactly as usual, and letters show as dots. Viewers can still follow the rhythm of what you do, a run of dots, then Return, then ⌘S Save, without being able to read the words.
Hide typing in these apps. While one of the listed apps is in front, nothing typed shows at all. 1Password, Bitwarden, Keychain Access and Apple’s Passwords app are on the list from the start, and you can add your own. Shortcuts and special keys still show in those apps, so a viewer still sees you copy, paste or close a window. This suits apps where almost everything you type is private: your mail, Messages, Slack, or a client’s admin panel.
Setting it up in Typebar
- Click the keyboard icon in the menu bar and choose Settings.
- Open the Privacy pane. Turn on Hide letters if you are about to give a live demo.
- In the same pane, add any app whose typing should never show to “Hide typing in these apps”.
- For a tidier pill rather than privacy, open the Pill pane and set it to show only shortcuts, with or without special keys.
- Test before you record. Open TextEdit, type a sentence, press Command-S (⌘S), and watch what the overlay shows.
The pill choice can live in a profile, since profiles keep the pill along with the look, mode, sizes and places. A profile for recording that shows only shortcuts and one for teaching that shows everything can sit side by side, switched from the menu or a shortcut. One setup for recording, another for teaching goes through that.
For a stretch where nothing you press should show, Pause is the bigger switch. Choose it from Typebar’s menu bar menu, or press the Pause shortcut if you have set one in the Privacy pane, and it stops showing what you type and click until you choose Resume.
What hiding the letters does not hide
Every one of these settings changes the overlay, and only the overlay. Plenty of other things on screen can show what you type:
- The app itself. Dots in the pill do nothing about the document, search box or chat window you are typing into. If a word must stay private and that app is on screen, type it before you start recording, or paste it in. A paste shows in the overlay as ⌘V Paste, not as what you pasted.
- Suggestions and history. Address bars, search fields and autocomplete happily show what you typed last time. Clear them, or use a fresh browser profile for demos.
- Notifications. A banner can show a message’s text. Turn on Do Not Disturb from Control Center before you record. For calls, check that “Allow notifications when mirroring or sharing the display” is off in System Settings, under Notifications.
- The dots themselves. Dots hide the letters, not the fact that you typed or how long you spent typing.
So treat the overlay settings as one layer. The other layer is choosing what is on screen while you type.
Which setting for which recording
- A writing or coding tutorial. Set the pill to only shortcuts, plus Return and Tab if they matter to the lesson. The document shows the words, and the pill shows the moves. Making a coding screencast where viewers can follow every shortcut goes further.
- A live demo on a call. Turn on Hide letters, so nothing you type in front of the audience is readable in the overlay, while every shortcut still is.
- A recording with mail or chat open. Add those apps to “Hide typing in these apps”, so switching over to answer a message does not put the message in the overlay.
- Logging in on camera. Secure input and the password apps on the list cover most of it. Use a demo account anyway.
None of this needs a second recording or an edit. Pick the setting before you press record, run a ten second test, and look at the result.
Typebar is $9 once for up to 5 Macs, and free for 24 hours with everything on.
Questions
Can I hide typing but still show Return and Tab?
Yes. Hide letters shows special keys such as Return and Tab while letters show as dots. If you only want a tidier pill, set it to show only shortcuts and include keys like Return and Tab.
Does Hide letters hide shortcuts too?
No. Shortcuts and special keys show as usual, named the way the app in front names them. Only letters become dots.
Does Typebar keep a record of what I type?
No. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere, whichever of these settings is on.