Transparent notes for video calls on Mac
Oh My Notes stickers don’t appear in screen sharing, screen recordings or screenshots — that exclusion is on by default on macOS. Pin one with your talking points next to your camera view and it stays on top of a windowed call, fading to your chosen opacity (40–100%) when you click away. You read the notes and keep eye contact; the meeting sees only you — free to try, Pro $9.99 one-time.
Where it helps
- Presentations and reports — your outline and the key numbers float beside your slides, so you talk to the room instead of reading off a page.
- Remote interviews — keep your questions (or the answers you must not fumble) at eye level; a glance at the sticker looks like thinking, not reading.
- Online classes — lecture cues stay above the class window while you follow along; no printing, no dragging a text editor over the teacher’s shared screen.
How a sticker disappears from a share — and where it doesn’t
macOS lets an app mark a window so the system’s capture APIs skip it. Oh My Notes marks every sticker window this way, and it is on by default. Mac meeting apps capture your screen through those same system APIs, so a sticker drops out of what they share, record and screenshot — while it stays fully visible on your physical display. We verified this hands-on with DingTalk’s share preview and with macOS screenshots; meeting apps that use the standard macOS capture path work the same way.
Three honest limits: it covers sticker windows only — boards, the quick-capture window and the main window are captured like any other window; it can be turned off in Settings (Keep stickers out of screen sharing & recordings); and it is a macOS behaviour — this guide is about the Mac version.
Five steps to set it up
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Join the call
Open your meeting app and join as usual — a windowed video call is all it takes. A pinned sticker stays on top of it.
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Jot your talking points in a sticker
Press ⌘⌥N from anywhere to capture a note — it pops up as a sticker — or create one in the app and paste your outline, key numbers or interview answers in.
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Drag it beside your camera view
Put the sticker where your eyes already rest — right under or next to your webcam preview. Glancing at it reads to the other side as looking at the camera, not looking down.
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Set the unfocused opacity
Pick how transparent the sticker gets when you click into the meeting — anywhere from 40% to 100%. Reading mode is the unfocused state; click the sticker and it is fully opaque again while you edit.
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Pin it — and hide all with one keystroke
Pinned stickers stay on top of other windows, including the call window. Need a clean screen for a moment? ⌘⌥H — or “Hide all stickers” in the tray menu — hides every sticker instantly and brings them back the same way.
Free vs Pro, in one table
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Pin stickers above other windows | ✓ | ✓ |
| Excluded from screen sharing, recordings & screenshots | ✓ | ✓ |
| Unfocused opacity (40–100%) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Float above native fullscreen Spaces | — | ✓ |
Pro is $9.99 one-time (early bird $7.99). No subscription. Details: Free vs Pro pricing.
Quick answers
Will participants or a recording see my stickers?
No — by default stickers don’t appear in screen sharing, screen recordings or screenshots on macOS. Verified hands-on with DingTalk’s share preview; meeting apps that use the standard macOS capture path behave the same.
How do I hide everything at once?
⌘⌥H — or “Hide all stickers” in the tray menu — hides every sticker instantly; press it again to bring them back. Handy right before you switch what you’re sharing.
Does this work on Windows?
Oh My Notes is on macOS today; the Windows version is in development. The capture exclusion described here is specific to the Mac version.
Read from the screen, look at the room
Free to try. Pro is a one-time purchase — early bird $7.99 (regular $9.99). macOS 13+.
How we researched this
This guide was written in October 2026 and tested hands-on on a Mac with Oh My Notes v0.2.0: DingTalk’s share preview and macOS screenshots leave sticker windows out by default. Meeting-app capture goes through the same macOS system path. The full comparison tables live in the homepage’s “How it stacks up” section.