Running the show

Press Play and the editor window becomes your control room: the program, the next slide, your notes and timers. ArcLight renders one clean program picture and sends it everywhere at once: the virtual camera, a recording, and a full-screen window on another display.

Play and stop

Select the slide to start from, then click Play in the toolbar, choose Play ▸ Play Show, or press ⌥⌘P. To stop, click Stop, press ⌥⌘P again, or press Esc.

While playing, these keys drive the show from any of the document's windows:

Play ▸ Next Slide (⌘]) and Play ▸ Previous Slide (⌘[) do the same from the menu.

The Play screen

While the show plays, the editor window swaps its editing tools for show controls:

• The program, as large as it fits, with transitions and builds exactly as your audience sees them.
• Next: the slide that comes after this one, or End of show.
• Notes: the live slide's presenter notes. You can type in them during the show; they save as you type. Click the program to give the keys back to the show.
• Script: if the show has a script, a Script / Notes switch shows the teleprompter here. See Teleprompter.
• Timers: elapsed time, recording time while recording, and the clock.

The toolbar shows Previous and Next, Stop, Record, and a Live menu with the slide number (for example Live · 3 of 12). Choose any slide from that menu to take it live. You can also click a slide in the navigator to take it live.

Edit while playing

Click Edit in the toolbar, or choose Play ▸ Edit While Playing (⇧⌘E). The navigator, canvas and inspectors come back while the show keeps running. Edits to the live slide go straight to the program; selection handles never do.

A bar above the canvas shows what's live, with Previous, Next, Program, Record, Done and Stop Show. While you edit, the arrow keys edit layers, so only a clicker's Page Up and Page Down move the show. Press Esc or click Done to go back to the Play screen.

Program output and presenter view

Output settings are in the Document inspector: click Document in the toolbar and find Program Output.

• Program: Automatic puts the program full screen on a display other than the one the editor is on, when you have one. Choose a display by name to pick it, or Off to keep the program off your displays.
• Presenter: choose a display to give it its own presenter view: the current slide, next slide, notes or script, timers, and Previous, Next and Stop buttons. It's off by default, since the editor window already shows the same while playing.

With one display, nothing opens: the editor window is your monitor, and the virtual camera and recording still get every frame. With a second display, View ▸ Show Program Output, or the Program button in the toolbar, shows or hides the program window without stopping the show. It works even when Program is set to Off. ArcLight never puts the program on the editor's own display.

Use ArcLight in Zoom, Meet and Teams

ArcLight installs a virtual camera called ArcLight Camera. Any app that takes a camera can use it.

1. Install it once. In the Document inspector, under Virtual Camera, click Install Virtual Camera. ArcLight must be in your Applications folder. If macOS asks, click Open System Settings, allow the extension, and click Check Again.

2. Choose it in your call. In Zoom, Meet, Teams or Webex, pick ArcLight Camera as your camera.

3. Press Play. With Send program while playing on (the default), the call sees your program.

When the show isn't playing, ArcLight Camera shows a "starting soon" card, so you can pick it before you start. Zoom mirrors your own preview of it; the people in the call see it the right way around.

The same section has Reinstall and Uninstall once the camera is installed.

Record the program

Click Record in the toolbar, or choose Play ▸ Record Program (⇧⌘R). If the show isn't playing yet, recording starts it from the selected slide. Press the same button or keys to stop. Stopping the show also stops the recording.

Recordings are QuickTime movies (.mov) at the show's canvas size, named like ArcLight 2026-09-26 at 14.05.12.mov. Set them up under Recording in the Document inspector:

Frames come straight from ArcLight's renderer, not from a screen capture, so windows and menus on your screen never end up in the recording.

The teleprompter during the show

If your show has a script, the prompter can start by itself: turn on Start when the show plays or Start when recording starts in the script settings. While playing, the prompter sits on the Play screen; Pop Out moves it to its own window and Bring Back (or Pop In on the prompter's own bar) returns it. The Play menu has Start Prompter, Prompter Faster, Prompter Slower, Next Cue, Previous Cue and Prompter Back to Top. Details are in Teleprompter.

Global hotkeys

Global shortcuts work system-wide, even while Zoom, Meet or Keynote is in front, and need no Accessibility permission. They control the show that's playing, or the ArcLight document you used last. Change them in Settings ▸ Shortcuts: click a shortcut and type a new one (it needs ⌃, ⌥ or ⌘), press Delete to clear it, or click Restore Defaults. A warning sign means another app or macOS already uses that shortcut. Turn them all off with Enable global shortcuts.

Clickers

Most presentation clickers send Page Down and Page Up, or the arrow keys. ArcLight treats them as next and previous while playing, including while you edit live. Keep an ArcLight window in front for a clicker; to control ArcLight while another app is in front, use the global hotkeys or a Stream Deck.

Stream Deck

Settings ▸ Stream Deck lists every command with its hotkey and a link you can copy. There are two ways to set up a button:

• Hotkey action (recommended). Add a System ▸ Hotkey button and press the command's global shortcut. It works while you present in another app and never changes focus.
• Open action. Add a System ▸ Open button with an arclight:// link. ArcLight runs the command and hands focus back to the app you were in.

Links also work from Terminal, Shortcuts or any script that can open a URL:

open "arclight://next"

Prompter links go to the document whose prompter is on screen. Everything else goes to the show that's playing, or the ArcLight document you used last.