Teleprompter

Write what you'll say, and mark where each slide should go live. The prompter scrolls under your camera at a steady pace or follows your voice, and when it reaches a cue, the slide changes. You keep your eyes on the lens.

Write the script

1. Open the Document inspector and click Write Script… in the Script section. Once there's a script it reads Edit Script…. You can also choose File ▸ Edit Script… (⌥⌘E).

2. Type what you'll say. The bar at the top counts words and cues, and estimates the running time at your prompter speed.

3. Click Done. The script is saved in the show document, and every edit can be undone.

Import a script

Choose File ▸ Import Script…, or Import… in the Script section or the script editor. ArcLight reads plain text, Markdown, RTF and Word (.docx) files. If the show already has a script, pick Replace Script or Add to End. Markdown formatting is dropped and the words are kept.

Cue slides from the script

A cue takes a slide live when the prompter reaches it. There are three ways to add one:

• Type / at the start of a word and pick a slide from the menu.
• Use Insert Cue at the top of the script editor.
• Type the slide's name in double brackets: [[Interview]]. Names ignore case and extra spaces.

A cue shows as a chip, such as ▸ Interview. Cues point at the slide itself, so renaming or reordering slides doesn't break the script. If you delete a slide, its cue reads Missing slide, and the Script section warns you how many cues point to deleted slides.

When you import or paste text, [[Name]] becomes a cue if a slide has that name. A name that matches no slide stays in the text as you typed it, and ArcLight tells you which ones. If two slides share a name, the first one in the show is used. Copying from the script editor writes cues back out as [[Name]], so you can edit a script in any text editor and bring it back.

Step graphics and builds

Double braces add a trigger: it steps a web graphic or runs a build, and never changes the slide. Triggers show as purple chips, such as ◆ value or ◆ Next build.

A trigger looks for its graphic on the slide cued just before it, so write the slide cue first. See Web graphics for the details.

Where the prompter appears

• Under the notch. By default it docks at the top center of the screen, around the notch on a MacBook, so you read right next to the camera. On a Mac without a notch it hangs just under the menu bar.
• Floating. Drag the docked prompter away, or click Float, and it becomes a window you can move and resize. Drop it near the top center of a display, or click Dock, to dock it again. Double-clicking also switches between the two. ArcLight remembers where it was.
• Full screen. With a second display connected, choose it under Full Screen in the Prompter section. Turn on Mirror for a beam splitter for a glass rig. The prompter never goes full screen on the display your ArcLight window is on. Press Esc, or move the pointer and click Close Prompter, to turn it off.

Choose View ▸ Show Prompter (⌃⌘T) to show or hide it. The prompter's windows don't take focus, so clicking its controls doesn't pull you out of your call.

Fixed speed or follow your voice

Pick the scrolling mode in the Document inspector's Prompter section, or with the Voice | Speed switch on the prompter.

Fixed Speed

The script scrolls at a steady pace, from 60 to 300 words per minute. Set it with the Speed slider, the − and + buttons on the prompter (10 words per minute at a time), or Play ▸ Prompter Faster and Prompter Slower.

Follow Voice

The prompter listens through the microphone you choose and keeps your place as you speak. It waits while you ad-lib and catches up when you're back on script. A cue fires only once the words just before it are heard clearly, so a misheard phrase can't cut to the next slide early.

• Speech is recognized on your Mac. The first time, macOS asks for microphone and speech recognition access.
• The first time you use it, macOS may need to download a speech model. The prompter shows Downloading speech model… until it's ready.
• The microphone turns on when the prompter starts, and off when you pause.

Start, pause and move around

Move the pointer over the prompter to see its controls. They also stay visible whenever it isn't scrolling.

The same commands are in the Play menu: Start Prompter, Prompter Faster, Prompter Slower, Next Cue, Previous Cue and Prompter Back to Top. You can give them global shortcuts in Settings ▸ Shortcuts, or put them on a Stream Deck. See Running the show.

In the Prompter section you can also set the Text Size (14 to 72 points) and the Countdown (none, 3, 5 or 10 seconds). The prompter shows elapsed time and time remaining. In voice mode, the remaining time uses how fast you've actually been reading.

With the show

When you press Play and the show has a script, the prompter appears in the Play screen's side panel, next to the program feed. Click Pop Out, or choose View ▸ Pop Out Prompter, to move it into its own window under the camera or floating. Pop In on its bar (or Bring Back in the Play screen's panel, or View ▸ Pop In Prompter) brings it back. It keeps running either way, and only one prompter is on screen at a time. If you close the prompter yourself, it stays closed on the next Play until you show it again.

To start scrolling automatically, turn on Start when the show plays or Start when recording starts in the Prompter section.

Rehearsal and live

Cues do different things depending on whether the show is playing:

So you can read the whole script with the show stopped, watch the editor follow along slide by slide, fix what doesn't land, then press Play and do it for real.