How to show keystrokes on screen on Windows
Short answer
Windows has no built-in way to show your keystrokes on screen, so viewers of a recording or screen share cannot see the shortcuts you press. You need a small overlay app that draws each key as you type. AppRig adds a click-through keystroke overlay you toggle with Ctrl+Shift+K, positioned wherever it suits your recording or stream layout.
The manual way
Windows has no setting that echoes your key presses on screen. The closest built-in option is the On-Screen Keyboard (press Win+Ctrl+O, or turn it on under Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard). It lights up keys as you press them, but it covers a big chunk of the screen and is hard for viewers to follow, so it is a stopgap at best.
The usual workaround is to say each shortcut out loud, or add captions in a video editor afterwards, which can take longer than the recording itself. If you want a free dedicated tool, open-source keystroke overlays such as Carnac have been around for years and do the basic job.
The faster way with AppRig
AppRig’s Keystroke Display draws the keys you press in an overlay on top of everything. Press Ctrl+Shift+K from anywhere to switch it on and off. The overlay is click-through, never steals focus and stays out of Alt-Tab, so it does not get in the way while you work. The Caption style shows your typing as a subtitle-style line with shortcuts like Ctrl+S as inline keycaps, and Stack keeps a short history of recent keys on screen. Caption, Stack and Show symbols are free, and AppRig Pro adds the Single and Pill styles for a bigger or higher-contrast look.
You can turn on Shortcuts only to hide plain typing, pick a colour, opacity and font size up to 120 px, and snap the overlay to any corner or edge with a 3x3 position grid plus fine offset sliders, so it sits in a spare corner of your stream or recording layout.
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Common questions
Why does Windows not show keystrokes on screen?
Windows has no presenter or tutorial mode that echoes your keys on screen. The On-Screen Keyboard highlights keys as you press them, but it takes up a large part of the screen and was built for accessibility, not recordings. For tutorials, demos and streams, a dedicated keystroke overlay that shows just the keys in a corner is the practical route.
Is a keystroke display app a keylogger?
It works the same way at a technical level, because it has to see every key you press in order to show it. The difference is what happens next: a good keystroke display only draws keys on screen and does not save or send them anywhere. Use one from a source you trust, and switch it off before typing passwords on a recording or stream.
Can I show only keyboard shortcuts and not everything I type?
Many keystroke display tools have a shortcuts-only option that ignores plain typing and shows only combinations with Ctrl, Alt or the Windows key. That keeps the overlay readable when you are demonstrating a shortcut-heavy workflow, and it avoids broadcasting things like search terms or chat messages you type during a session.
Will the keystroke overlay show up in OBS or Teams screen sharing?
Yes, if you capture or share the whole display. An overlay drawn on top of your desktop is part of what a display capture or full-screen share sends. If you capture a single window instead, the overlay usually will not appear, so switch to display capture when you want viewers to see your keys.
Related questions
AppRig does this and more, all in one local-first Windows app. See what AppRig does →