ShowNotes
Cue cards
your audience
can't see.
ShowNotes is a notes window for Mac that's invisible during screen share. Build a deck of cards for your demo, board update, or keynote — and stay on script without ever sounding like you're reading.
One deck per talk. Arrow keys to navigate. ⌘⇧S to toggle from any app. Everything you see here is invisible to Zoom, Teams, Meet, Webex, and Loom.
One tool, many
high-stakes moments.
Sales engineers
Running a product demo on Zoom with the buyer’s VP watching. Your talk track, objection handlers, and pricing guardrails float above the demo — invisible to everyone on the call.
Conference speakers
On stage or on a webinar with 500 people. Your speaker notes sit on top of your slides — no second monitor, no phone propped up, no darting eyes.
Account executives
Discovery call with a prospect. Your qualifying questions, competitor intel, and next-step prompts are right there. You sound prepared because you are.
Trainers & onboarders
Walking a new cohort through a live product walkthrough. Your step-by-step script keeps you on track without reading off a doc they can see.
Board presenters
Quarterly board update over video. The numbers, the narrative pivots, the “if they ask about X” contingencies — all in view, none on screen.
Webinar hosts
Running a 45-minute webinar with live Q&A. Your run-of-show, time cues, and pre-written answers to common questions — on your screen, off theirs.
Built for the live
moment.
Invisible to screen share
Uses a documented macOS API to exclude the window from screen capture. Works with Zoom, Meet, WebEx, Slack Huddle, and Loom — see Compatibility for the full list.
Global hotkey
⌘⇧S toggles ShowNotes from any app — even mid-screen-share. No app-switching, no fumbling.
Arrow-key navigation
Press the arrow keys to flip cards like a presentation remote. Also supports ⌘← ⌘→ and on-screen buttons.
Markdown cue cards
Write in Markdown — headings, bold, italic, bullets, numbered lists, inline code, links. Rendered in a clean serif typeface.
Multi-deck organisation
One deck per talk, demo, or meeting. Switch instantly with ⌘1–⌘9. Create, rename, delete, and export as .md files.
Presentation timer
Built-in countdown or stopwatch. Turns orange at 5 minutes, red at 1 minute. Set presets from 5 to 60 minutes.
One-click editing
Hit Edit, write your markdown, click Done. A quick-format toolbar handles bold, italic, headings, bullets, and code spans.
Light & dark mode
Follows system appearance or set it manually. Warm cream in light, warm charcoal in dark. Adjustable opacity from 40–100%.
Undo & persistence
Full undo/redo for card and deck operations. State auto-saves to disk — your decks, window position, and preferences survive every relaunch.
Every workaround
you've tried so far.
ShowNotes is the one that doesn't make you choose between being prepared and sounding prepared.
Works where
you present.
Zoom
Hidden from share on Zoom 6.16 and older. Newer versions need one toggle flipped: Advanced capture with window filtering.
Google Meet
Hidden from share in all sharing modes. No setup needed.
Microsoft Teams
Hidden when sharing a specific window. Entire-screen share may show the panel on some configurations.
Cisco WebEx
Hidden from share in all sharing modes. No setup needed.
Slack Huddle
Hidden from share in screen-share mode. No setup needed.
FaceTime
Not compatible. FaceTime uses a capture method that bypasses macOS content protection. ShowNotes will be visible.
ShowNotes never sees
your notes.
No network calls
ShowNotes makes zero network requests. No APIs, no pings, no phone-home. The only exception is optional auto-update checks via Sparkle, which you can disable.
No analytics or telemetry
We don’t track what you type, which decks you create, how often you present, or anything else. There is no analytics SDK in this app. Period.
Local files only
Your decks are stored in a single JSON file in ~/Library/Application Support/ShowNotes/ on your Mac. Preferences live in standard macOS UserDefaults. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.
No account inside the app
Download, enter your license key, start writing cards. The app itself collects nothing — no sign-up, no login, no profile. Your purchase email is held only by our payment processor for your receipt and license recovery, never used for marketing.
Signed and notarized
ShowNotes is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple. Your IT department can verify the binary. It passes Gatekeeper and MDM checks out of the box.
Your data is yours
Export any deck as a .md file at any time. If you stop using ShowNotes, your notes are still plain Markdown on your hard drive. No lock-in, no hostage data.
Everything you'd want
to ask first.
Will the people I'm sharing with see ShowNotes?
For most tools, no. ShowNotes is hidden from Zoom (with one setting enabled), Google Meet, WebEx, Slack Huddle, Teams in window-share mode, Loom, QuickTime, and OBS. FaceTime is not compatible. See Compatibility above for the specific setup notes per tool.
Is this a stealth tool? A cheating tool?
No. ShowNotes is for professional preparation — keeping your talk track, demo notes, or speaker notes in view during high-stakes moments. It doesn't defeat phone cameras pointed at your screen, HDMI capture, or someone reading over your shoulder. We don't recommend or support using it to deceive interviewers, examiners, or anyone you owe a fair encounter to.
Does it work with Keynote, PowerPoint, and Google Slides?
Yes. ShowNotes floats above whatever you're presenting. It doesn't replace your slide app — it sits on top of it, invisibly to your audience.
What macOS versions are supported?
macOS 13 Ventura and later. Universal binary, runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
Does it work on Windows or Linux?
Mac only at launch. Windows has a similar capability (SetWindowDisplayAffinity) and may come later — no firm date.
Can I sync between Macs?
Not in v1 — local files only. iCloud sync is on the v2 roadmap, along with voice-triggered card advance.
Why one-time pricing instead of a subscription?
Tools you use a few times a week feel better priced as one-time purchases. A Plus subscription is on the roadmap for v2 features (sync, voice triggers) — your $39 keeps everything in v1 forever.
Can my IT department block this?
ShowNotes makes no network calls beyond auto-update checks. No data leaves your Mac. It's signed and notarized by Apple, so it'll pass standard Gatekeeper checks. Built for security-conscious environments.
Will I be on a mailing list?
No. Your purchase email is used only for your receipt and license recovery. We don’t run a newsletter, we don’t email you about new versions (Sparkle handles updates inside the app), and we don’t share your email with anyone. If you ever want to be removed from the purchase records, email hello@shownotes.app.