Record a product demo

Record a product demo video on your Mac, from a tidy desktop to a finished, on-brand file ready for the place you post it.

To record a product demo video on Mac that looks finished, start with a tidy screen and the right shape. Keep your talking points in view, mark each step as you go, and export at the exact size for where it’s going. This recipe walks through the whole path in five stages.

Each stage links to its full page. You’ll touch recording, zooms, the cursor, captions and export.

1. Set the stage before you record a product demo #

Clean recording leaves desktop icons, the Dock and notifications out of the video. Nothing on your Mac changes; they’re only hidden from the recording.

1. Open the Capture Bar with Option+Shift+5.
2. Check that Clean is on. It’s the sparkles button, and it’s on out of the box.
3. Turn on Mac sound only if your demo needs sound. It starts off in the out-of-the-box setup, so notification sounds stay out too.
4. Recording a whole screen? Choose Display, open the screen menu and turn on Leave Out the Menu Bar.
5. Optional: open Settings (Cmd+Comma) → Recording → Focus and choose a Shortcut, such as one that turns on Do Not Disturb. ScreenCameo runs it just before each recording.

2. Frame it in the right shape #

Pick the shape before you record and the editor starts with it, so there’s nothing to fix later.

1. Choose Window or Area in the Capture Bar.
2. Pick a size or a shape from the menu next to it.
3. Click Record, then click the window you want to record.
4. For an area, drag on the screen instead. Or click a window to fit the area to it, or type the width and height in pixels.
5. Click Record under the area, or press Return.

3. Keep your script in view #

Script Notes is a small floating panel with your talking points. It scrolls by itself while you talk, and it’s never in the video.

1. In the Capture Bar, click ⋯ → Show Script Notes.
2. Type or paste your notes, then click Done.
3. Click the size button to pick a Text size from 16 to 40 pt (22 pt to start).
4. Pick a Scroll speed: Off, Slow, Medium or Fast. Medium is the default.
5. Click play to start scrolling. Scrolling pauses while the recording is paused.

4. Mark steps and fix fumbles while you record #

The recording pill sits on screen while you record. Its buttons let you fix a fumble now, so there’s less to edit later.

1. Press Option+Shift+8 at each step you’ll want to find later, or click the flag in the pill. A flag appears on the editor’s timeline.
2. Fumbled a sentence? Click the 10-second arrow (Undo last 10 s) and say it again. The last 10 seconds are cut when you stop.
3. Need a moment? Pause with Option+Shift+7, or click the microphone in the pill to mute only your voice.
4. Want a fresh start? Click Restart, then click again to confirm. The take goes to the Bin and the countdown starts again.
5. Click the timer to stop, or press Option+Shift+6.

5. Finish fast #

After recording, ScreenCameo opens the editor. For a quick clip, you can skip it and get a card in the screen corner instead.

1. Open Settings → Recording → After recording and set When you stop to Show a quick card.
2. On the card, click Copy MP4 to copy the polished video at 1080p, with your default look, zooms and cuts. Paste it into Slack or an email.
3. Or click Save… to put it in a folder, Edit to open the editor, Another Take to record again, or Discard.

In the editor, the automatic zooms and the cursor are already done. Add captions if people will watch without sound.

1. Press Cmd+E to open Export.
2. Under For a platform, click a tile: X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Shorts · Reels · TikTok or Product Hunt.
3. Each tile exports the exact size, frame rate and bitrate, and warns you if the video is too long for that platform.

Add your brand #

Set your brand once and every new recording picks it up. Open Settings → Brand to add your logo, up to six colours, a font, and intro and outro title cards. The brand page covers each one.

Shortcuts on this page#

See every shortcut

If something’s off#

My desktop icons and the Dock are in the video

Turn on Clean in the Capture Bar before you record. It can’t be added afterwards.

The window didn’t resize

Allow Accessibility for ScreenCameo in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, then record again.

Script Notes doesn’t scroll

Check that Scroll speed isn’t Off, then click play in the panel. It waits while the recording is paused.