Show the keys you press in a Command-Shift-5 screen recording
The Command-Shift-5 Screenshot toolbar has no setting for keystrokes. Its Options menu can show mouse clicks, but the keys you press never reach the video. To show them, run a key display such as Typebar while you record. It draws your keys on screen, so Record Entire Screen includes them when they are on the display you record, and Record Selected Portion includes them when they sit inside the frame.
Below is what each part of the toolbar does when you are recording, and how to set things up so the keys appear by themselves.
The Screenshot toolbar, button by button
Press Command-Shift-5 (⇧⌘5) and the toolbar appears near the bottom of the screen. Reading from the left:
- Close. Dismisses the toolbar. Escape does the same.
- Three screenshot buttons: Capture Entire Screen, Capture Selected Window and Capture Selected Portion.
- Two recording buttons: Record Entire Screen and Record Selected Portion.
- Options, a menu covered in the next section.
- Record, which starts the recording. It reads Capture when a screenshot button is chosen.
For a recording with keys in it, the two recording buttons are all that matter, and they treat a key display differently.
| Button | What it records | Keys from a key display |
|---|---|---|
| Record Entire Screen | Everything on one display | Included, if the overlay is on that display |
| Record Selected Portion | A frame you drag and resize | Included only if the overlay is inside the frame |
With more than one display, Record Entire Screen records one of them, so put the overlay on the display you choose.
To stop, click the stop button in the menu bar or press Control-Command-Escape. QuickTime Player’s File > New Screen Recording opens this same toolbar, so recording works the same way there.
What is in the Options menu
For a recording, the Options menu holds:
- Save to. Where the finished file goes. Recordings land on the desktop unless you change it.
- Timer. None, 5 Seconds or 10 Seconds. A countdown gives you time to take your hand off the trackpad and get ready, so the video does not open on you fumbling for the first key.
- Microphone. None, or the microphone you narrate with.
- Show Floating Thumbnail. After you stop, a preview sits in the corner of the screen for a few seconds. Click it to trim or share the recording. Turn it off if you do several takes in a row and want each file saved without waiting.
- Remember Last Selection. Brings back the same frame for Record Selected Portion, so every take is the same size, with the overlay in the same place.
- Show Mouse Clicks. Draws a circle around the pointer each time you click.
None of it involves the keyboard. The toolbar records what is on screen, and keys only become part of that if something draws them there.
Add your keys to the recording
A key display is a window that shows what you press, and the toolbar records it like any other window. Here is the setup with Typebar.
- Open Typebar. It lives in the menu bar as a keyboard icon and asks for one permission, Accessibility. It does not need Screen Recording; the toolbar does the recording.
- Show the overlay. Press Control-Option-Command-K (⌃⌥⌘K), or triple-tap fn.
- Choose the mode. The Show submenu in the menu bar menu has Keyboard Only, Pill Only, and Keyboard and Pill. The keyboard lights up every key you press. The pill shows keycaps and names each shortcut with the name it has in the app you are using, such as “⇧⌘4 Screenshot Selection”.
- Place it. Drag it by its handle. Each mode has its own size and place.
- Press Command-Shift-5, choose a recording button, and if you chose Record Selected Portion, draw the frame around both your work and the overlay.
- Click Record.
A quick test saves a ruined take: record five seconds, press a shortcut, stop, and check the file.
Make the keys appear when you start recording
Showing the overlay by hand before every take is easy to forget, and hiding it afterwards is easier still. Typebar can do both for you. Turn on “Show when a screen recording starts” in Settings > Recording, and it appears by itself while your screen is recorded or shared and goes away when the recording stops. Screen sharing on a call counts too.
That makes the Command-Shift-5 routine three steps: press Command-Shift-5, pick the area, click Record. The keys turn up without you pressing anything, so the first seconds of the video do not show you reaching for a shortcut. Make a keystroke overlay appear only while you record covers the setting in more depth, including choosing apps the overlay always or never shows in.
Typebar also has ready-made profiles, Recording among them, which keep a whole setup: look, mode, sizes and places, pill, mouse and sounds. Switch to Recording from the menu before a session.
Clicks and keys together
Show Mouse Clicks puts the same circle on every click. If you want more, Typebar has its own click ripples, with a different shape for left, right and middle clicks, a trail for drags and a halo that follows the pointer, and it can put clicks in the pill as Click, Right Click or ⌘ Click. These appear in recordings while the overlay shows.
Pick one or the other. With both on, every click is marked twice. How to show mouse clicks in a screen recording on a Mac compares the approaches.
Typebar costs $9 once for up to 5 Macs, and the first 24 hours are free with everything on.
Questions
Is there a shortcut to stop a Command-Shift-5 recording?
Yes. Control-Command-Escape stops it. You can also click the stop button in the menu bar.
Why are my keys not in the recording?
Check where the overlay was. With Record Selected Portion it has to be inside the frame, and with Record Entire Screen it has to be on the display you recorded. If it was hidden or paused, it is not in the video either.
Will passwords show in the recording?
Not from fields macOS marks as secure. Typebar shows nothing typed there, and the pill says “Typing hidden in a password field”. Typing is also hidden while 1Password, Bitwarden, Keychain Access or Passwords is in front.
Are Command-Shift-5 and QuickTime recordings different?
No. QuickTime Player’s New Screen Recording opens the same toolbar and records the same way. Show your keystrokes in a QuickTime Player screen recording covers the QuickTime route, including trimming the result.