Why a notch works better than a big prompter window
Most teleprompter software for PC opens a large scrolling window wherever there's room. You end up reading from the middle of the screen, your eyes drift down, and people can tell you're reading. Lenslines takes a different approach. Your script lives in a black notch at the top center of the screen, just below the lens, so your gaze barely moves away from the camera.
The notch springs open from a small pill, tucks back into the pill, and slides away when you close it. It also picks the right screen on its own: the built-in laptop screen if you use an integrated webcam, or the main display if you use an external one. Most people never need to set anything up.
Everything Lenslines does
- Notch or floating window. Drag the notch along the top of any screen or to another monitor, and resize it from its edges and corners. Pull it down to turn it into a floating window of any size, then push it into the top edge to dock it again.
- Voice scrolling. The text moves while you speak and pauses when you pause. It listens for your voice, not for specific words, so you can rephrase freely.
- Hover to pause. Point at the prompter to pause it, and move away to carry on. Click pause when you need a longer break.
- Manual control. Scroll with the mouse wheel or trackpad, set the speed from 0.2× to 4× (about 180 words per minute at 1×), and add a 3, 5 or 10 second countdown. At the end it can stop, tuck away or loop.
- Cues. Start a line with # to make it a cue, then jump between cues with a shortcut or pick one from the cue list in the notch.
- Script library. Projects, pinning, search, a built-in editor, word count and estimated reading time. Import .txt, .md and .rtf files, or paste from Word and Google Docs without bringing the formatting along.
- Your look. Choose the font, size, weight, spacing, margins and text color, with a reading-line marker and a soft fade at the top and bottom. Settings show a live preview.
- Mirroring. In floating mode, flip the text horizontally or vertically for teleprompter glass and beam-splitter rigs.
Hidden when you share your screen
Lenslines uses the screen-capture exclusion built into Windows. You see the prompter on your monitor, but it doesn't show up when you share your screen in Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet, or when you record with OBS, Loom or Snipping Tool. That covers apps that use Windows' standard screen capture, which is nearly all of them.
You can switch this off in settings when you want the prompter visible, for example in a tutorial, and you can hide the library window as well. The invisible teleprompter page explains how it works and where the limits are.
Built for Windows, and light on your PC
Lenslines is made to stay out of your way. While it waits in the notification area it uses about 2 to 8 MB of memory and 0% CPU. Scrolling uses a few percent of one CPU core, and there is an optional low-memory mode if you want to save even more. It runs on Windows 11 and on Windows 10 version 2004 or later, 64-bit.
Every shortcut works from any app, and you can change all of them. Ctrl+Alt+P shows or hides the prompter, Ctrl+Alt+Space plays and pauses, and Ctrl+Alt+V turns voice scrolling on or off. Playback shortcuts are only active while the prompter is open, so they never get in the way of other programs. Clicking the prompter doesn't take focus away from your Zoom, Teams or PowerPoint window either.
If you use a Stream Deck or your own scripts, the command line can toggle the prompter, prompt from the clipboard, or run actions like play/pause and next cue.
Who uses a teleprompter on a PC
- YouTubers and creators recording to camera who want a tighter delivery with fewer retakes.
- Teachers, tutors and course creators walking through a lesson on video.
- Sales, customer success and recruiting teams who want their key points in view on calls.
- Founders recording pitch videos and product demos.
- Presenters running webinars, all-hands meetings and keynotes over video.
- Podcasters and voice-over artists, using the floating window wherever it's comfortable.
- Non-native English speakers who like having a script to lean on.
Using a specific meeting app? There are setup notes for Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
Getting started
- Get Lenslines from the Microsoft Store once it launches. It's about a 2 MB download.
- Write or paste your script in the library. Start a line with # to add a cue, and put reminders in [square brackets] so they show dimmed on the prompter.
- Press Ctrl+Alt+P. The notch opens under your camera.
- Press Ctrl+Alt+Space to start, or turn on voice scrolling and just start talking.
One price, no subscription
Lenslines costs $9.99 as a one-time purchase. There's no subscription, you keep it forever, and updates are free. The Microsoft Store shows the price in your local currency. There's no free trial, because the Store takes payment before the download.