Limelight
What is Live Annotation?
Live annotation is adding marks to your screen in real time during a presentation or call, so the audience watches the emphasis appear as you speak.
Live annotation means marking up content while it is being shown, not before or after. As you talk, you draw a circle, underline a phrase, or sketch an arrow, and the audience sees it the instant you make it. The timing is the point: the mark and the spoken explanation land together, which keeps viewers focused on exactly what you mean.
This is distinct from prepared annotations baked into slides ahead of time and from static markup saved to a file. Live annotation is spontaneous and usually temporary. It shines in demos, teaching, code reviews, and video calls, where attention needs to move quickly from one detail to the next.
Limelight is a macOS menu-bar overlay designed for live annotation. A global hotkey lets you draw freehand over any app the moment you need to, and ⌃⌥C clears the screen so you can move on. It runs alongside Zoom, Meet, OBS, or QuickTime, so your live marks are visible to everyone watching or recording.
Why Limelight
- ▸Marks appear in real time, synced to what you are saying
- ▸Spontaneous and usually temporary, not pre-baked into slides
- ▸Ideal for demos, lectures, code reviews, and video calls
- ▸Limelight draws freehand live over any app, cleared with ⌃⌥C
7-day free trial · no card required · macOS 14+
Or buy now — $15 one-time · See how it works →
One-time payment, no subscription. 7-day free trial, then $15 once. macOS 14+, notarized by Apple.
FAQ
- How is live annotation different from annotating slides in advance?
- Prepared annotations are built before the talk. Live annotation is drawn in the moment, so it reacts to questions and follows your pacing.
- Can my audience see Limelight annotations on a Zoom call?
- Yes. Limelight is a real overlay on your screen, so anything you draw appears in your screen share or recording in real time.