Pro Stage Help

Getting started

Pro Stage is a menu-bar app: it has no Dock icon. Click the camera icon in your menu bar to show or hide each panel, control the timer and teleprompter, and open Settings. On first launch a short welcome tour points everything out, and you can reopen it anytime from the menu.

When you first show the camera bubble, macOS asks for camera access. Pro Stage uses the camera only to draw your preview on screen; the video never leaves your Mac. If you decline, the bubble explains how to grant access later in System Settings.

The camera bubble

• Move it: drag anywhere. Each display remembers its own spot.
• Resize it: drag any edge, or use the size slider in Settings → Camera.
• Shape it: seven shapes: circle, rounded rectangle, landscape, portrait, heart, star, cloud. (The heart hides the name overlay; its pointed bottom would clip it.)
• Mirror: "Mirror my video" is on by default so your movements feel natural, like a mirror. Turn it off when on-camera text needs to read correctly.
• Name & logo: add a name above or below your video, and a logo image you position by dragging it in the Settings preview.
• Lock (click-through): the bubble ignores clicks entirely so you can work through it. Unlock from the menu bar or Settings.
• Hide from screen share: optionally keep your own bubble out of what you share, so your video isn't doubled in a meeting. See staying out of the capture.

If your camera disconnects mid-talk (an iPhone drifting out of range, a cable snag), Pro Stage falls back to another camera automatically and switches back when yours returns.

Presenter notes

• Type directly in the panel. Your notes save as you type and are back the next time you open it.
• Scroll hands-free: ⌥⇧↓ pages down, ⌥⇧↑ pages up. They're global, so they work while you're presenting in any app.
• Style it: text size and background opacity live in Settings → Notes.
• Lock (click-through): once your notes are set, lock the panel so stray clicks pass through it.
• Drag it by the grip strip along its top edge.

The teleprompter

• Write or import your script: type straight into the panel, or import a .txt or .md file from the Settings → Teleprompter pane, or drop one on the panel. Lines starting with # become sections.
• Play at your pace: the script scrolls at a words-per-minute speed you set (50 to 300). A countdown gives you a beat before it starts, and a reading guide marks the line to say now. ⌥⇧Space plays or pauses, ⌥⇧R restarts, ⌥⇧K/⌥⇧J go faster and slower, ⌥⇧H/⌥⇧L jump between sections.
• Nudge anytime: the scroll wheel moves the script without stopping playback; scrolling resumes from where you left it.
• Fit to Timer: ties the speed to your stage timer so the last line reaches the guide as the clock hits zero.
• Voice Follow: the script follows what you actually say, entirely on your Mac; your voice never leaves the machine. It needs an Apple silicon Mac, microphone and speech recognition permissions, and a language available for on-device dictation.
• Edit while stopped or paused: the text locks only while it's scrolling. Like notes, the panel stays out of the capture where macOS allows.

The stage timer

• Set your talk length and a wrap-up warning in Settings → Timer.
• Colors keep you on pace: white while you're fine, orange when the wrap-up window begins, red in overtime. Overtime counts up so you know exactly how far over you are.
• Control it anywhere: Start, Pause, and Reset live on the panel and in the menu bar. The menu controls stay available even while the panel is hidden, so a running timer is never out of reach.

Hide desktop icons

One click in the menu bar (or ⌥⇧D) blurs your desktop so nobody reads your file names during a share. Your wallpaper shows through; the icons and their clutter don't. Click again and everything is back. A few honest notes: desktop widgets stay visible, and dragging files to the desktop waits until you show the icons again. Unlike your notes and timer, the blur is meant to be visible in the share, and it is.

Hotkeys

Action	Default
Show/hide camera bubble	⌥⇧B
Show/hide notes	⌥⇧N
Show/hide timer	⌥⇧T
Scroll notes down	⌥⇧↓
Scroll notes up	⌥⇧↑
Show/hide teleprompter	⌥⇧P
Play/pause scrolling	⌥⇧Space
Restart script	⌥⇧R
Faster / slower	⌥⇧K / ⌥⇧J
Previous / next section	⌥⇧H / ⌥⇧L
Voice Follow	⌥⇧V
Hide/show desktop icons	⌥⇧D

Record your own combos in Settings → Shortcuts: click a field, then press and hold the new keys until the indicator completes. Combos need ⌘, ⌥, or ⌃. If a combo is already taken by another Pro Stage action you'll see "Already in use"; if macOS refuses it, "Could not register." Pick another. Hotkeys work everywhere with no Accessibility permission.

Pro Stage also works with the Shortcuts app, so you can show or hide any panel from your own automations.

Staying out of the capture

Pro Stage asks macOS to exclude your notes, the timer, the teleprompter, and (if you turn on "Hide from screen share") the camera bubble from screen sharing, recordings, and screenshots. Most capture tools honor that request. Two honest caveats:

• macOS can't force every recorder to comply. On recent versions of macOS, some capture software can ignore the request.
• Mirrored displays show everything. If a projector mirrors your screen, the audience sees your physical screen, panels included. Present with the projector as a separate display and keep your panels on your own screen.

FAQ

I don't see the app anywhere.

Pro Stage lives in the menu bar as the camera icon at the top-right of your screen. There's no Dock icon. If your menu bar is crowded (especially on a MacBook with a notch), other icons may push it out of view; remove an icon you don't need or use a menu-bar manager.

The bubble shows "Camera access needed."

Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera and switch Pro Stage on. The menu bar has a shortcut straight there. The bubble picks the camera up immediately.

My movements look backwards.

That's mirroring. "Mirror my video" (Settings → Camera) is on by default so the bubble behaves like a mirror, which feels natural to you. Recordings of the bubble show it exactly as you see it, so turn mirroring off if text you hold up needs to read correctly.

My audience saw my notes on the projector.

The projector was mirroring your screen: a mirrored display shows everything on it, and no app can prevent that. Use extended-display mode (System Settings → Displays) so your slides go to the projector while your notes stay on your screen. See staying out of the capture.

A panel won't respond to clicks.

It's locked click-through. Unlock the bubble from the menu bar, or notes in Settings → Notes.

Everything stopped working at once.

Check the master switch at the top of the menu: "Turn Pro Stage On" brings every panel back exactly as you left it.

Does Pro Stage collect any data?

No. No analytics, no accounts, no network access. Your video never leaves your Mac. See the privacy policy.

How do I get a refund?

Purchases are handled by Apple: visit reportaproblem.apple.com, sign in, and request a refund for Pro Stage.

Voice Follow is grayed out.

Voice Follow runs entirely on your Mac, which needs an Apple silicon Mac and a language available for on-device dictation. On Intel Macs the toggle stays off. If it stops mid-talk, check that microphone and speech recognition access are still granted in System Settings and that Dictation hasn't been turned off.

Contact

Stuck, found a bug, or want a feature? Email support@goprostage.app. I read everything.