What Is Keystroke Display?

Keystroke display solves one of the most common complaints viewers have about tutorial videos: the presenter uses a keyboard shortcut, the result appears on screen, but there is no indication of what was pressed. The viewer has to pause, rewatch, and guess — or ask in the comments. Keystroke display eliminates this friction by rendering pressed keys as a floating overlay, typically in the bottom corner of the screen, that appears while the key is held and fades out within one to two seconds after release. The overlay shows the modifier keys (⌘ ⌃ ⌥ ⇧) alongside the primary key, giving viewers a complete picture of the shortcut.

The display format matters. Pure text labels (e.g., "Command+Shift+S") are precise but can be verbose and slow to read at normal video playback speed. Symbol-based badges (e.g., "⌘⇧S") are more compact and match how shortcuts are shown in macOS menus, which helps viewers connect what they see in the video to what they will look for in the app. The best implementations show modifier keys as they are held — so a viewer can see ⌘ appear when Command is pressed, then ⇧ join it, then S complete the shortcut — giving a sequential view of a chord rather than showing the full shortcut only at the end.

In Limelight, keystroke display is activated with ⌃⌥2 and renders using the macOS symbol convention for modifier keys. The display appears in a floating badge at the bottom of the recording frame and is baked into the exported video so it is visible in every playback context. Combined with auto-zoom, which brings the click target into frame, and cursor spotlight, which marks the cursor's position, keystroke display completes the picture of every interaction — whether it was triggered by a click, a keyboard shortcut, or a combination of both.