How capture exclusion works, in plain words
When an app shares or records your screen on Windows, it asks Windows for a picture of what is on the display. Windows lets an app mark its own windows as excluded from that picture. When Windows builds the image for a screen share or recording, it leaves those windows out, as if they were not there. Your monitor still shows them, so you can read them as usual.
Lenslines marks the prompter this way. It is a standard part of Windows, not a trick. Lenslines doesn't watch for recording apps or try to outsmart them. Windows simply leaves the prompter out of the captured image. Because it happens inside Windows, there's nothing to set up in Zoom, Teams, Meet or OBS: no plugins, virtual cameras or special sharing modes.
Why hiding the prompter matters
Most teleprompter apps open an ordinary window. That's fine when you only record your camera, but the moment you share your entire screen, the window goes out with it: your script, your bracketed reminders, maybe a line you planned to skip. Free web prompters in a browser tab have the same problem. With the prompter hidden, you can share your whole desktop for a product demo, walk through a document, or record a tutorial in OBS without rearranging windows first.
What's hidden, and from which apps
By default, the prompter is hidden from capture, whether it's docked as a notch under the camera or floating somewhere else, and on whichever monitor it sits. You can choose to hide the library window too, which helps if you share your whole screen while editing a script.
| Where your screen goes | Does the prompter show? |
|---|---|
| Zoom screen share and recordings | No |
| Microsoft Teams screen share | No |
| Google Meet presenting | No |
| Discord screen share | No |
| OBS screen capture | No |
| Loom recordings | No |
| Snipping Tool and screenshots | No |
| Other recorders that use Windows' standard capture | No, in nearly all cases |
| A phone or camera pointed at your monitor | Yes |
| Your own monitor | Yes, so you can read it |
This covers apps that use Windows' standard screen capture, which is nearly all of them. If you use an unusual capture tool, test it once before you rely on it.
The honest limits
Capture exclusion is reliable for what it does, but it isn't magic. A few things to know:
- It cannot hide from a camera pointed at your screen. If someone films your monitor with a phone, or another camera in the room can see it, the prompter will be in that shot. Exclusion only affects software that captures the screen on your PC.
- It needs Windows 10 version 2004 or later. Very old Windows 10 builds don't have this feature, and Lenslines requires version 2004 or later anyway. Windows 11 includes it.
- Unusual capture tools may behave differently. It works with apps that use Windows' standard screen capture, which is nearly all of them. A tool that captures the screen some other way might not respect it.
- It hides the window, not your eyes. Viewers can't see your notes, but they can see where you look. That's why the notch sits right under the lens.
- The setting stays as you left it. If you turn capture hiding off for a tutorial, it stays off until you turn it back on, so check it before your next call.
Lenslines is made for presenting and recording, not for misleading anyone. Don't use it where notes aren't allowed, such as exams or interviews with rules against them.
When you want the prompter in the recording
Sometimes you want people to see it, for example in a tutorial about your recording setup. Open Settings > Privacy and turn off Hide the prompter from screen capture, or use the screen-sharing option in the tray menu. The prompter then shows up like any other window. Turn it back on before your next meeting.
Test it before an important call
- Open the prompter with Ctrl+Alt+P.
- Start a meeting on your own in Zoom, Teams or Meet, or open your recording app.
- Share or record your entire screen for a minute.
- Play back the recording, or ask a colleague what they see. The notch shouldn't be there, even though it's on your monitor.
It takes a minute, and it's worth doing once for each app you rely on, especially a recorder you haven't used with Lenslines before.
For app-specific setup, see the pages for Zoom and Microsoft Teams, or the Windows teleprompter overview for everything else Lenslines does.