Time Overlay Desktop · Early access
A presenter timer only you can see, even while you share your screen
Time Overlay Desktop puts a small, always-on-top countdown on your own display and leaves it out of the screen share. Your audience sees your slides. You see how much time is left.
Join the waitlistWindows and macOS · in development · no spam, one email when the beta opens
01
Share your slides on one laptop and the clock disappears
Presenter view is built for a second monitor. On a single laptop you can only keep it to yourself by sharing just the slideshow window, and the moment you share your whole screen for a demo, your notes and clock are on camera. Meeting-app timers are tucked into the call controls or shown to everyone, a phone timer pulls your eyes off the camera, and any timer window you can see ends up in the shared picture.
Time Overlay Desktop keeps the countdown on your display but asks the operating system to leave its window out of screen capture, so it never reaches the shared picture.
02
How it will work
Step 01
Set your time
Pick a countdown, a count-up, or an agenda with several segments. Choose where the timer floats and how large it is.
Step 02
Share as usual
Share your full screen or a window in Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Webex or anything else. The timer stays above your slideshow on your side only.
Step 03
Stay on time
Color cues turn green, amber and red as you approach the end, with an optional gentle flash when time is up. No sound reaches the call.
03
Who it is for
- Presenters giving a talk from a single laptop, without presenter view.
- Webinar and online-conference speakers who must finish inside a fixed slot.
- Coaches, consultants and therapists running fixed-length sessions on video calls.
- Teachers and trainers pacing a live online class.
- Sales and product teams keeping demos and discovery calls on schedule.
04
Planned for early access
- Floating, always-on-top timer that sits above full-screen slideshows.
- Countdown, count-up, time of day, and multi-segment agendas.
- Green, amber and red thresholds you set yourself.
- Global hotkeys to start, pause, add a minute or hide the timer.
- Click-through mode so the timer never blocks your slides.
- A share-preview check that shows exactly what the audience receives before you go live.
05
Platforms and honest limits
The beta targets Windows 10 (version 2004) and later, Windows 11, and current macOS releases. We are testing capture exclusion against Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex, OBS and the built-in screen recorders on both platforms.
Hiding a window from capture is an operating-system feature, not a guarantee. Some capture paths, certain graphics drivers, and of course a camera pointed at your screen can still record it. That is why the app includes a share-preview check, and why we will publish the results of our compatibility tests.
06
Join the early-access waitlist
Tell us how you present. It shapes what we build first.
07
Presenter timer questions
- Is Time Overlay Desktop available now?
- Not yet. It is in development for Windows and macOS. Join the waitlist and we will send one email when the beta opens.
- Will the audience really not see the timer?
- The timer window asks the operating system to exclude it from screen capture, so standard screen sharing in Zoom, Teams and Google Meet should not include it. Because some capture setups behave differently, the app shows a share preview so you can confirm before presenting.
- Does it work over PowerPoint, Keynote and Google Slides?
- Yes, that is the main use case. The timer is designed to float above full-screen slideshows, including PowerPoint, Keynote and Google Slides in a browser.
- Can I use it in an interview or exam?
- Time Overlay Desktop is built for people presenting their own work. Do not use it to break the rules of an interview, exam or any meeting you take part in.
- How much will it cost?
- Pricing is not final. The waitlist asks what you would pay, and waitlist members will hear about launch pricing first.
- How is this different from the Time Overlay web generator?
- The web generator creates transparent timer video files for editing and streaming. Time Overlay Desktop is a live timer for presenting. The web generator and Time Overlay Pro are unchanged.
08
Private timers in Zoom, Teams, Meet and slide apps
A presenter timer in Microsoft Teams that only you can see
Teams has a built-in meeting timer, but every presenter can see it and it does not work in webinars or town halls. Here are your options for a private one.
A Zoom timer only you can see
Zoom's meeting timer and Timer app can both be private. Here is what each one counts, where it shows while you share, and when you need something else.
A Google Meet timer only you can see
Google Meet's built-in timer shows to every participant. If you want a countdown only you can see while you present, here are the options.
Use Presenter view while screen sharing on one screen
How to keep your notes and timer to yourself while you share slides in Zoom, Teams or Meet on a single laptop, and where each method breaks.