How to Use a Teleprompter for Zoom Calls, Even While You Share Your Screen

Reading on a video call has one job: keep your eyes near the lens while the words move. Every teleprompter for Zoom does that. Where they differ is what happens when you click the green Share button, and that's where people get caught out, usually in front of a client.

Which teleprompter setup should you use on Zoom?

Start with the free browser setup. Move down the table only if you share your whole screen or film with a separate camera.

There's a fifth option, a beam-splitter rig that puts glass in front of the camera lens, so you look straight into it. It gives the best eye contact of anything here and it's overkill for a weekly status call. If you go that way, turn on mirror mode in your teleprompter, because the glass reverses the text.

How do I set up a teleprompter for Zoom on Windows?

This is setup 1 with our free online teleprompter. It works the same with any browser prompter.

1. Open the teleprompter in a new browser window with Ctrl+N, not a new tab. A separate window is what lets you share Zoom content without the script.
2. Paste your script and set the font to around 40 px with a line width of 60%. Short lines keep your eyes still.
3. Make the window narrow and park it at the top center, directly under the webcam. A third of the screen width is plenty.
4. Pin it on top. A browser window drops behind Zoom the moment you click Zoom. Microsoft PowerToys has an Always On Top tool; select the teleprompter window and press Win+Ctrl+T.
5. Keep Zoom's controls clear. Leave the meeting toolbar uncovered so you can still find Mute and Share without hunting.
6. Test the eye line. Record ten seconds of yourself reading, then watch it back. If your eyes look like they're reading a shopping list on the desk, move the window up or shrink it.
7. Press Start when you start talking, and use the arrow keys to match your pace.

Most people set the scroll too fast. Talking to a camera feels slower than it is, so the first instinct is to speed up. Read the first three lines out loud, then leave the speed alone. Our laptop teleprompter guide covers camera height and font size if you're working from a laptop on a desk.

What happens to your teleprompter when you share your screen on Zoom?

It depends on what you pick in the share dialog. Share a screen and Zoom sends everything on it, teleprompter included. Share a window and Zoom sends only that window. Zoom's own help explains both, plus sharing several apps at once with Ctrl-click (Zoom Support).

Zoom also has a less known option under the Advanced tab of the share dialog: Portion of Screen. You get a frame you can resize, and only what's inside it is shared. Put the teleprompter in the strip above the frame and it stays off the call. The downside is that you have to keep everything you demo inside that frame.

Why can't a web teleprompter just hide itself? Windows has a setting that does exactly this, SetWindowDisplayAffinity with the WDA_EXCLUDEFROMCAPTURE flag (Microsoft Learn). Only the app that owns a window can switch it on, and browsers don't expose it to web pages. So no website can make itself invisible to Zoom. A desktop app can, if its developer chose to.

AuraCloak is one that did. Its window carries that flag, so Zoom, Teams, Google Meet in a browser, OBS and Loom all capture the screen without it. You paste the script into its chat window, set the opacity anywhere from 20 to 100%, and drag it under the webcam. It doesn't auto-scroll; you scroll with the mouse wheel. The Windows teleprompter page shows that setup in full.

Where should the teleprompter sit relative to your webcam?

As close under the lens as you can get it. Teleprompter vendors such as Teleprompter.com work to a rule of thumb that text within about 15 degrees of the lens still reads as eye contact. It's a rule of thumb, not a measured standard, but it turns into useful numbers.

Now compare that with the screen itself. A 15.6-inch 16:9 laptop panel is about 19 cm tall, so text at the bottom of the screen sits roughly 20 cm below a webcam in the top bezel. At 60 cm that's around 18 degrees, which is why reading from a document at the bottom of the screen looks like reading. Keep the line you're on in the top quarter of the screen and you're well inside the limit.

Does the same setup work in Microsoft Teams and Google Meet?

Yes. The teleprompter doesn't care which meeting app you use. Only the share step changes.

• Microsoft Teams: select Share, then Window, and pick the app you want people to see. Microsoft describes window sharing as showing just one window with no notifications or other desktop activity (Microsoft Support). For slides, sharing the PowerPoint file through PowerPoint Live keeps your speaker notes on your side.
• Google Meet: click Present now and choose A window or A tab instead of Your entire screen (Google Meet Help). If the teleprompter is a tab in the same Chrome window as Meet, move it to its own window first.

AuraCloak's capture exclusion applies to Teams and to Meet running in Chrome or Edge as well, because both capture through Windows. If you present from slides, our presentations page covers keeping speaker notes private on a single screen.

Common mistakes with a Zoom teleprompter

• The script is a tab, not a window. If the script is a tab in the browser window you share, switching to it puts it on everyone's screen.
• Lines run the full width of the screen. Your eyes sweep left to right on every line, and the camera sees it. Narrow the column.
• Reading every word. Script the opening, the key numbers and the close. Talk through the middle from bullet points; reading notes on a video call shows how to write cues you can read in a glance.
• Notifications over the script. Turn on Do not disturb in Windows before the call so a toast doesn't pop up on the shared screen or over your lines.
• No dry run. Share your screen to a test meeting once and look at what the other side gets.

FAQ

Can Zoom participants see my teleprompter?

Only if it is inside what you share. With no screen share they see your camera only. If you share your entire screen, a teleprompter in a normal window is visible. Share a single window, a portion of the screen, or use a capture-excluded app such as AuraCloak on Windows.

Can I use a teleprompter on Zoom with only one monitor?

Yes. Put a narrow teleprompter window at the top of the screen right under the webcam and keep Zoom below it. The free AuraCloak online teleprompter works for this. On Windows, PowerToys Always On Top (Win+Ctrl+T) stops Zoom from covering it.

What is the best free teleprompter for Zoom?

A browser teleprompter in its own window is the simplest free option, because it needs no install and auto-scrolls. QPrompt is a good free desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux. Both are visible if you share your entire screen, so share a single window instead. Our list of teleprompter apps for Windows compares more.

Will my teleprompter show up in a Zoom recording?

A Zoom recording captures your camera and whatever you share. A teleprompter outside the shared window or screen does not appear. If it sits inside a full-screen share, it is recorded unless the app is excluded from capture, as AuraCloak is on Windows 10 version 2004 and later.

How do I keep eye contact while reading a script on Zoom?

Put the line you are reading as close to the webcam as possible. Teleprompter vendors use a rule of thumb of about 15 degrees, which at 60 cm from the screen is roughly 16 cm below the lens. Use short lines, a narrow column and a slow scroll so your eyes barely move.