Show your keystrokes in a QuickTime Player screen recording

QuickTime Player cannot show keystrokes by itself. Its New Screen Recording command records what is on the screen, and your clicks if you ask it to, but nothing you press on the keyboard. To get your keystrokes into the video, open a key display such as Typebar before you start, then record the entire screen or a portion that includes it. The keys are drawn on screen, so QuickTime records them along with everything else.

Nothing in QuickTime needs changing for this to work. The only decisions are what you record and where the keys sit.

What QuickTime’s screen recording actually does

In QuickTime Player, choose File > New Screen Recording, or press Control-Command-N (⌃⌘N). No QuickTime window opens. Instead you get the Screenshot toolbar, the same one Command-Shift-5 brings up anywhere on the Mac. From there:

• Record Entire Screen records everything on a display.
• Record Selected Portion records a frame you drag and resize.
• Options holds Save to, Timer (None, 5 Seconds or 10 Seconds), Microphone, Show Floating Thumbnail, Remember Last Selection and Show Mouse Clicks.
• Record starts it.

Show Mouse Clicks draws a circle around the pointer when you click. There is no matching option for keys, in the toolbar or anywhere in QuickTime Player’s own menus. Whatever you press, the recording shows only its result.

Step by step: a QuickTime recording with your keys in it

1. Open Typebar and show the overlay. Press Control-Option-Command-K (⌃⌥⌘K) or triple-tap fn. The first time, macOS asks for Accessibility, the one permission Typebar needs.
2. Pick what to show. In Typebar’s menu bar menu, the Show submenu has Keyboard Only, Pill Only, and Keyboard and Pill. The pill names each shortcut as you press it, such as “⇧⌘4 Screenshot Selection”.
3. Place it. Drag the overlay by its handle to where it will not cover your work. Each mode keeps its own size and place.
4. Open QuickTime Player and choose File > New Screen Recording.
5. Choose what to record. Record Entire Screen, or Record Selected Portion and draw the frame around both your work and the overlay.
6. Set the options. Pick a microphone if you are narrating. Turn on Show Mouse Clicks if you want clicks marked.
7. Click Record.
8. Stop with the stop button in the menu bar, or press Control-Command-Escape.

If Show Floating Thumbnail is on, a preview of the recording sits in the corner of the screen for a few seconds after you stop. Click it to trim or share the recording, or leave it and it is saved.

Recording a portion without cutting off the keys

Record Selected Portion is handy because it keeps the rest of your screen out of the video and makes smaller files. It is also the easiest way to lose your keys. The overlay only appears in the video if it is inside the frame.

A few habits prevent that:

• Place the overlay first, then draw the frame. Decide where the keys go, then drag the frame so its edge includes them with some room to spare.
• Keep the overlay modest. In a portion recording the overlay has to share the frame with your work. A pill takes far less room than a full board, so Pill Only often suits portion recordings.
• Turn on Remember Last Selection. The same frame comes back next time, so every take lines up and you do not redraw it around the overlay each time.
• Do a five-second test. Record a few keys, stop, and open the file before the real take.

Where to put a keystroke overlay so it never covers the action has more on placement for different kinds of video.

Trim the start and end in QuickTime

Every recording starts and ends with a few seconds you do not want: the pointer heading for the Record button, or your hand reaching for the stop button.

Open the recording in QuickTime Player, choose Edit > Trim (Command-T), drag the yellow handles to the parts you want to keep, and click Trim. Then save it. This is also the easiest way to cut the moment the overlay appears, if you showed it with its shortcut after the recording had started.

Let the keys show up by themselves

Pressing a shortcut to show the overlay at the start of every take gets old, and sooner or later you forget. Typebar has a setting for this: “Show when a screen recording starts”, in Settings > Recording. With it on, Typebar appears by itself while your screen is recorded or shared, and goes away when the recording stops. A QuickTime recording counts, and so does sharing your screen on a call.

Typebar also has a ready-made Recording profile, which you can switch to from the menu, and you can save your own setup as a profile: the look, the mode, the sizes and places, the pill, the mouse and the sounds.

Clicks: QuickTime’s circle or Typebar’s ripples

QuickTime’s Show Mouse Clicks marks every click the same way. Typebar’s click ripples give left, right and middle clicks each their own shape, can show a trail during a drag, and can put clicks in the pill as Click, Right Click or ⌘ Click. They appear in the recording while the overlay shows.

Use one or the other, not both, or every click is marked twice. How to show mouse clicks in a screen recording on a Mac compares them.

Typebar is $9 once for up to 5 Macs, with a 24-hour free trial that includes everything.

Questions

Does QuickTime Player record keystrokes?

No. Its screen recording captures the screen, an optional microphone, and clicks if you turn on Show Mouse Clicks. Keys only appear if something draws them on screen while you record.

Why is the overlay missing from my QuickTime recording?

The usual causes: the overlay was outside the selected portion, it was on a different display from the one you recorded, or it was hidden or paused. Check those before anything else.

Is a QuickTime recording different from a Command-Shift-5 recording?

No. QuickTime’s New Screen Recording opens the same Screenshot toolbar and records the same way. Show the keys you press in a Command-Shift-5 screen recording goes through each toolbar option.

Will my passwords show up?

Not from password fields that macOS marks as secure: nothing typed there shows, and the pill says “Typing hidden in a password field”. Typing also stays hidden while 1Password, Bitwarden, Keychain Access or Passwords is in front.