A teleprompter for Zoom keeps your words in front of you on a video call, so you can deliver an update, a pitch or a webinar without glancing down at notes. On a call the camera sits a short arm's length from your face, so every look away shows. Put the text right under the webcam, keep the lines short, and most people can't tell you're reading.
This guide covers three setups for Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, screen sharing, and handling mute and chat while you read. The examples use EasyPrompter, a free teleprompter that runs in a browser. One thing to know up front: in a browser, EasyPrompter is a page, not an overlay that floats on top of other apps. The free Mac app is the exception: its eye contact island stays above every app. Either way, EasyPrompter doesn't join the call. Your meeting app does its usual job; EasyPrompter shows and scrolls the script.
Why reading on a call is easy to spot
On a video call the lens is close and the picture is a tight head-and-shoulders shot, which magnifies every movement of your eyes. Notes at the bottom of the screen make you look down, notes on a second monitor make you look away, and a wide block of text makes your eyes sweep left and right on every line.
Three things decide how natural you look:
- How close the text is to the lens. The line you're reading should be a few centimeters below the webcam, not halfway down the screen.
- How wide each line is. A narrow column of five to eight words means your eyes hardly move sideways.
- How far you sit from the screen. Sitting back a little makes eye movements smaller on camera. Make the font bigger to compensate.
For reading technique, see how to use a teleprompter naturally.
Choose your setup
Pick the setup that matches your desk. They all work the same way on Zoom, Teams and Meet.
Mac app: the island under the notch, above every app
On a Mac, this is the best one-screen option. In the free EasyPrompter app for Mac, turn on Eye contact with the camera picture off. The lines you're reading appear in a small black island hanging from the notch, right under the webcam, or from the top center of a screen without a notch. The island is its own window: it stays above Zoom, Teams, Meet or Keynote, on every desktop, and clicks go straight through it to the meeting underneath. The EasyPrompter window becomes its control panel, and the call stays fully visible.
The app asks macOS to keep the island out of screen sharing and recordings. Where macOS allows it, people on the call don't see it. Share your screen once in a test call to check on your Mac. More on eye contact under the notch.
One screen: the prompter under the webcam
If you only have a laptop or a single monitor, EasyPrompter and the meeting share the screen. When you press Start prompter, EasyPrompter switches the browser to full screen, and it does so again each time you press play after a pause. You have a few ways to work with that:
- Let it fill the screen. The call keeps running behind it: your camera and microphone still go to the meeting, you just can't see the other people. Raise the side margins to 20 to 30% so the text forms a narrow column under the webcam, and move the reading line position up to 10 to 20% of the screen. This suits a prepared statement, a demo intro or a webinar section where you don't need to watch faces.
- Put it in a strip under the webcam. Once the text is rolling, press Esc. The browser leaves full screen and the text keeps scrolling in its window. Drag the window to the top center of the screen, right under the webcam, and make it short and about a third of the screen wide. Put the meeting window underneath it. If you pause and press play again, EasyPrompter returns to full screen, so press Esc again.
- Turn on Eye contact. In any browser, the Eye contact panel in the prompter's quick menu shows only the two lines you're reading, white on black, in a narrow island at the top of the window, by the webcam. Island width goes from 240 to 800 px. A Mac browser in full screen finds the notch by itself.
A common mistake is keeping the gallery of faces at the top and the script at the bottom. Swap them: the script belongs next to the camera.
Two screens: read from the one with the camera
With a second monitor, decide which screen the webcam sits on and read from that one. Drag the EasyPrompter window onto it before you press Start, so full screen opens there, and keep Zoom, Teams or Meet on the other screen for participants, chat and the mute button.
On a laptop with an external monitor, the built-in webcam sits above the laptop screen, so the laptop becomes the prompter and the big monitor holds the call.
Phone or tablet under the webcam
For many people this is the tidiest setup. The computer runs the call as usual, and a phone or small tablet sits right below the webcam, propped against the top of the screen or on a small stand in front of it, running EasyPrompter in its browser. Nothing on the computer changes, the call stays fully visible, and screen sharing can't reveal your script because it isn't on the computer at all.
- Move the reading line near the top of the phone screen, so the line you read is the one closest to the webcam.
- Keep the phone as close to the lens as you can; portrait gives a narrow column that keeps eye movement small.
- Tap the phone to pause, or pair a Bluetooth clicker with it. With EasyPrompter Pro you can also drive the phone from the computer: press Remote control on the computer, pick your phone, then press Start, and pause or change the speed without touching the phone.
The phone teleprompter guide has more on stands, screen timeout and placement.
Set up EasyPrompter for a call, step by step
- Open the prompter on the device you'll read from: go to studio.easyprompter.app and paste your script. No account is needed. The free teleprompter doesn't save the script, so keep your own copy.
- Set the speed. Calls work best a little slower than recorded video, often around 120 to 140 words per minute. Read a paragraph aloud and adjust. Our guide to teleprompter reading speed explains how to find yours.
- Set the look. Pick a font size you can read comfortably from where you sit, white or yellow text on black, and wide side margins. If you wear glasses, a dark background also cuts the glare of a white page in your lenses.
- Move the reading line up toward the top, so your eyes stay near the lens.
- Read it through once with Preview, and fix any sentence you trip over.
- Join the call and hide self view if your meeting app allows it.
- Start the prompter when it's your turn, and place it with one of the setups above.
Screen sharing without showing your script
Zoom, Teams and Meet all let you share either your entire screen or a single window (Meet in Chrome can also share one tab). If you share the entire screen, everyone sees whatever is on it, including the prompter. So:
- Share a window, not the screen. Choose the slide deck, document or browser window you want people to see. The prompter stays private as long as you never share the screen it's on.
- Keep the prompter in its own browser window, not a tab next to the page you're presenting, so you don't share or switch away from it by accident. Switching to another tab hides the prompter and pauses it.
- Slides and a script on one screen is tight. If you need to present slides and read at the same time, the simplest answer is a second device: the computer shares the slides, and a phone or tablet under the webcam shows the script.
- The Mac app's island. The Mac app asks macOS to keep its eye contact island out of screen sharing. Where macOS allows it, people on the call don't see it, but don't rely on it without a test.
- Test it first. Share the way you plan to with a colleague and check what they see.
Mute, chat and keyboard focus
On one computer, the prompter and the meeting app take turns having keyboard focus. Keys, and any Bluetooth clicker paired with the computer, go to whichever window you clicked last.
- Pause before you click away. Press Space to pause, then click into the meeting to unmute, answer chat or change slides. Click back on the prompter before you use its keys again.
- Know your meeting's mute shortcut. Zoom uses Alt+A on Windows and Cmd+Shift+A on a Mac, Teams uses Ctrl+Shift+M, and Meet uses Ctrl+D (Cmd+D on a Mac). They work when the meeting window is active.
- Mind the space bar. In Zoom, holding Space while muted can unmute you for a moment. If Zoom has focus when you meant to pause the prompter, that's what happens.
- Use the prompter's own keys. Space plays and pauses, ↑ and ↓ change the speed by 10 words per minute, and ← goes back to the start of the paragraph to re-read it. The full list is in the keyboard shortcuts section of the user guide.
A second device avoids all of this. The computer's keyboard stays with the meeting, and the phone or tablet takes taps or its own clicker.
Teams, Google Meet and webinars
Everything above applies to Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex and other video call apps. EasyPrompter doesn't plug into any of them: it runs separately, and the meeting app simply sees you through the webcam.
- Calls in the browser. If you join Meet or Teams in a browser, open EasyPrompter in a separate browser window rather than a tab in the same window, so both stay visible.
- Webinars and town halls. These are mostly one-way, which suits a full script for the opening, key messages and close, with the Q&A as talking points. Rehearse once in the actual webinar tool.
Write for a call, not a stage
A call is a conversation, even when you speak for five minutes. Script the parts where wording matters, such as the opening or a status update, and use short talking points for anything interactive. Blank lines show on the prompter as space, which makes good breathing points.
- Write short sentences that sound like you talking. How to write a teleprompter script has examples and templates.
- Check the length before you're on: a two-minute slot is roughly 240 to 280 words at a relaxed call pace. The speech time calculator does the sum for you, and EasyPrompter shows an estimated reading time under the script.
- Starting from nothing? The AI script writer in Pro drafts a script in the Presentation or Announcement format, sized to your reading speed. Read it through and make it yours.
Same update every week? The free teleprompter forgets the script when you close the page. EasyPrompter Pro saves your scripts and syncs them across devices, so a standing update or a webinar opening is ready on your laptop and your phone. See pricing for the plans.
Five-minute pre-call checklist
- Script pasted and read through once in Preview; your own copy saved elsewhere
- Speed set and tested aloud, slightly slower than you'd record
- Side margins wide, reading line high, text readable from your seat
- Prompter right under the webcam, meeting window below or on the other screen
- Self view hidden; webcam at eye level; light in front of you
- Sharing a window, not the screen the prompter is on
- Mute shortcut known; you know which window has keyboard focus
- Phone or tablet charging and set to stay awake, if you use one
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a teleprompter on Zoom without anyone noticing?
Mostly, yes. Put the text right under the webcam, keep the column narrow, move the reading line near the top and sit a little further back. Eye contact does the first two for you: it shows the two lines you're reading in a narrow island under the camera. Eye movement is then very small. Rehearse once so you can look up at the ends of sentences.
Will people see my teleprompter if I share my screen?
Only if you share the screen it is on. Share a single window, such as your slides, instead of the entire screen, or run the prompter on a phone or tablet under the webcam so it is never on the shared computer. In the Mac app, the app asks macOS to keep the eye contact island out of screen sharing; where macOS allows it, people don't see it. Check once with a test share.
Can I use my phone as a teleprompter for Zoom?
Yes. Join the call on your computer and open EasyPrompter in your phone's browser. Prop the phone right below the webcam and move the reading line to the top of the phone screen. With Pro you can control the phone from the computer.
Does EasyPrompter work with Microsoft Teams and Google Meet?
Yes. EasyPrompter doesn't connect to any meeting app; it runs in its own browser window or on another device, and the call sees you through your webcam as normal. The same setup works for Zoom, Teams, Meet and Webex.
How fast should a teleprompter scroll on a video call?
Slightly slower than you would record a video, often around 120 to 140 words per minute. Start there, read a paragraph aloud and adjust in steps of 10 with the arrow keys until the text keeps pace with you.
Can I keep the teleprompter on top of the Zoom window?
Yes, in the Mac app. Turn on Eye contact with the camera picture off, and the lines you're reading sit in a small island under the notch, above Zoom and every other app, with clicks going through it. In a browser, EasyPrompter is a normal window, so the window you clicked last is on top. Place it beside or above the meeting window, use full screen on a second monitor, or run it on a phone or tablet under the webcam.
Set up your prompter before the next call
Open EasyPrompter on your computer, phone or tablet, paste your script and press Start. It is free, with no download and no account needed.