Where to put a keystroke overlay so it never covers the action
Put a keystroke overlay in the part of the frame the app you are recording leaves empty, which is usually one of the lower corners, on the side away from the app’s sidebar or inspector. Keep it out of the bottom center: that is where captions appear, where the video player draws its controls, and where your Dock sits. No single corner is right for every app, so choose one per app and move it when the action moves.
Find where the action is first
Open the app you are about to record and look at it the way a viewer will. Most Mac apps share a pattern: a toolbar along the top, a sidebar on the left, an inspector or settings panel on the right, and the work in the middle. The safe space is wherever none of those reach, and where the work will not grow into during the take.
Some apps break the pattern, and they are the ones where a badly placed overlay hurts most:
- Terminal and other command lines. The prompt starts at the top of a fresh window and moves down with every command until it sits on the bottom line. An overlay in a lower corner ends up on top of the very thing you are typing.
- Video and audio editors. The timeline runs along the bottom of the window, and that is where most of the clicking and dragging happens.
- Spreadsheets. Data starts at the top left, so the lower right is usually empty unless the sheet is long.
- Chat and email. New messages and the reply box are at the bottom.
A starting point for common apps:
| What you record | Where the action is | Usually safe for the keys |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal | The prompt, which works its way to the bottom | Top right |
| Code editors | Lines of code, left-aligned in the middle | Right side of the editor |
| Design apps | The canvas, with panels on both sides | A lower corner of the canvas |
| Video editors | Timeline at the bottom, viewer above it | Top corner, clear of the viewer |
| Spreadsheets | Top left, where the data starts | Lower right |
| Browsers and web apps | Page content, top and center | A lower corner |
| Chat and email | Reply box and newest messages, at the bottom | Top right of the content area |
Treat the table as a first guess. Your own project decides: a design file with its artwork in the lower left needs the keys somewhere else.
Why the bottom center is usually wrong
Centered under the work is the most natural place for a keystroke display, and it competes with three things at once.
- Captions. YouTube shows captions in the lower middle of the video, and burned-in subtitles usually go there too. Keys underneath them make both harder to read, or hide the captions completely.
- Player controls. When a viewer pauses a YouTube video or moves the pointer over it, the progress bar and controls appear along the bottom edge. Viewers often pause right after a shortcut, to copy it, which is the exact moment the controls cover the keys.
- The Dock. If you record the whole screen with the Dock showing, an overlay just above it stacks two rows of icons and keys at the same edge. Hide the Dock with Option-Command-D (⌥⌘D) while you record, or move it to the left or right in System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Position on screen.
The top center has its own clutter: the menu bar is there, macOS shows notification banners at the top right, and many apps put their busiest toolbar directly beneath it.
That leaves the lower corners as the best default. Choose the side the app uses less. If you show your face in a camera bubble in one corner, put the keys in the opposite corner, so the two do not stack up.
What else sits on top of your video
The player is not the only thing that covers your frame. On YouTube, if you add cards, a card teaser can appear over the video at the moments you set, and end screens put their elements over the last 5 to 20 seconds of the video, wherever you place them. Embedded players can show the video title along the top. None of these rule out a corner, but they are worth knowing when you choose between the top and bottom ones, and a private test upload shows exactly where each one lands.
Two more rules about the frame itself:
- Leave a margin. A display pressed hard into the corner looks cut off and crowds the edge of the frame. Keep a gap of at least the height of one key.
- Keep it inside what you record. If you record a selected portion of the screen, the overlay has to sit inside that portion or it is not in the video. And a recorder or call that captures a single window of another app will not include the overlay at all; capture the whole display or an area that includes it.
Give each mode its own place
A full keyboard and a keystroke pill have different shapes, so they belong in different places. A pill is a short strip, at home in a corner. A full keyboard is wide, and works best as a band along the top or bottom of a large display, or scaled down in a corner. A full keyboard or a keystroke pill: which reads better in a video weighs the two.
In Typebar, each mode (Keyboard, Pill, or both together) has its own size and place on screen, so switching from the pill to the board does not drag the pill to wherever the board was. You move either one by dragging its handle. Profiles keep sizes and places along with the rest of the setup, and can switch by the app in front, so the keys can sit at the top right while you are in Terminal and at the lower right while you are in a spreadsheet, without moving anything by hand.
Size and place go together. A bigger overlay needs a bigger empty corner, and an overlay too small to read does not need a place at all. How big should on-screen keys be in a 1080p or 4K recording covers the size side.
Test the spot before the real take
Record 20 seconds of the actual task with the keys where you plan to put them, then watch it back:
- In a browser window at laptop size, not full screen on your largest display.
- Paused just after a shortcut, the way a viewer copying along would pause, to see what the controls cover.
- With captions on, if you will publish them. Uploading the test as a private video and checking it in the real player is the surest way.
- On your phone, if many viewers will watch there.
Vertical video for Shorts, Reels and TikTok has its own covered zones and needs a different answer; showing keystrokes in vertical video deals with it.
If you would rather the keys only show up while you record, Typebar can appear by itself when a screen recording or screen share starts and hide when it stops, in the place you set. It is $9 once, with a 24-hour free trial.
Questions
Should the keys be in the same place in every video?
Within a series, yes, so returning viewers know where to look. Across apps, move them when the app needs it; a fixed spot that covers the work is worse than a new one.
Can I move the overlay in the edit instead?
Not easily. A keystroke display recorded with the screen is part of the picture. You can crop a copy of the clip down to the keys and place it elsewhere, but you then have to hide the original spot. Placing it well before recording is far less work.
Is the top of the screen ever the best place?
Yes, when the bottom is where the work happens: Terminal, timelines, chat apps. Keep it clear of the menu bar, and if you use YouTube cards, check a test upload to see where the teaser appears.