PresenterTools User Guide

About PresenterTools

PresenterTools does more than make the mouse pointer stand out. It is built for every situation where you explain something on screen: screen sharing in online meetings, presentations in a meeting room, IT training and hands-on sessions.

It simply draws a transparent layer on top of the screen, so you keep using PowerPoint, Excel, your browser or a terminal exactly as before. Turn on only the features you need and switch between them without interrupting your talk.

Requirements and availability

Starting and the control panel

When you start PresenterTools, a small control panel opens and an icon appears in the notification area at the bottom right of the screen. The first time, the control panel appears at the bottom right of the main monitor. Its position and width are remembered for the next start.

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Each button turns its feature on or off. The button color shows the current state at a glance.

Shown	Meaning
ON	The feature is on.
OFF	The feature is off.
READY	The laser is standing by. Press the drawing key to start drawing.
ACTIVE	The laser is drawing.

• The small text under each item is the shortcut assigned to that feature (nothing is shown if none is assigned).
• The × button only hides the control panel; PresenterTools keeps running. To show it again, press Ctrl+Shift+F10 or double-click the notification area icon.
• The height of the control panel follows its content. You can change only its width.

Notification area menu

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Menu	Description
Show control panel	Shows the hidden control panel.
Master ON/OFF	Turns all display on or off at once.
Turn Key Display OFF	Makes sure key display is off.
Settings...	Opens Settings.
Exit	Exits PresenterTools.

Cursor highlight

Draws a colored ring around the mouse cursor so its position stands out. The ring follows the cursor as you move it. The Windows mouse cursor itself is not changed.

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• Choose the shape, "Ring" or "Filled circle (highlighter)". You can also change the color, opacity, diameter and line width.
• For Teams sharing or projectors, a diameter of about 60–100 is easy to see.
• While the laser is drawing, the ring is hidden so that it does not overlap the laser dot.

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Click effects

Shows a ripple that grows and fades where you click, so your audience can see "I clicked here". This is useful when you walk through a procedure. Left and right clicks differ in color, shape and line style.

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Options that make it even clearer

In the Click Effect tab in Settings, you can add the following (both are off by default).

• "Left click" / "Right click" labels: show the button name near the click position (as in the images above). Handy when you also want to say which button was clicked.
• A mark while a button is held down: when you hold a button for 0.2 seconds or more, a translucent circle follows the cursor until you release it. Ideal for explaining drags, such as selecting a range or moving a file.

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You can also change the ripple colors, size and duration. The click itself still goes to the app, so you work as usual.

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Laser

While you hold a key you assign, the cursor trail is drawn like a glowing laser pointer. The line fades from its tail, so there is nothing to erase. Circle a figure in a chart or underline the row you want people to look at.

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1. Click [Settings] in the control panel and open the Laser tab.
2. Click the "Laser drawing" box and press the key combination you want to use (for example Ctrl+Shift+F1; choose a combination you do not use elsewhere).
3. Click [OK]. The key appears under Laser in the control panel as "Draw:".
4. Make sure Laser in the control panel shows READY, then move the mouse while holding the key. While drawing it shows ACTIVE.

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Drawing mode

• You can also assign a mouse side button (XButton1 "Back" / XButton2 "Forward") to drawing. An assigned button can no longer be used for Back / Forward in browsers.
• Clicks and drags still go to the app while you draw.
• You can change the color, line width and trail time (how long the line takes to fade).

Magnifier

Shows a small window with the area around the cursor enlarged, right next to the cursor. Use it to show figures in a table, small text in a settings dialog or a piece of code, anything you want people to actually read. Since the whole screen is not zoomed, your audience never loses track of where you are.

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• Turn it on or off with the Magnifier button in the control panel. You can also assign a shortcut or a mouse side button.
• Choose a zoom of 200%, 300% (default) or 400%. The buttons in the control panel change it instantly, even while it is shown.
• The red cross in the window marks the cursor position. The zoom (for example ×3) is shown in the upper right.
• You can change the window size (480 × 300 by default) in Settings.
• The magnifier is always off at startup. The screen is captured only while it is on, and the image is used only for display.

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Key display

Shows the text you type and the shortcuts you press in large letters at the bottom of the screen. In command-line training, shortcut tips sessions or step-by-step demos, people who cannot see your keyboard still see exactly what you entered.

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How it is shown

• Characters you type are shown as one line of text. Backspace removes one character.
• Pressing Enter adds "↵" at the end, and the text disappears shortly after. The text also disappears 5 seconds after your last key press.
• Shortcuts with Ctrl, Alt or Win (for example Ctrl+C) and special keys such as Tab, Esc, the arrow keys and F1–F24 are shown as keycaps. Pressing the same keys again adds "×2", "×3" and so on.
• The text is up to 80 characters. Longer text is shown from the end, with the beginning replaced by "…".
• You can change the position (bottom center, bottom left, bottom right, top center, top left, top right), font size, text color, background color and opacity, and display times.
• PresenterTools' own shortcuts are not shown by default.

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Using it with Teams

PresenterTools draws on top of your own screen whether or not you are sharing it. When you share your screen (the entire monitor) in Teams, everything it draws is shared as well.

• With two monitors, work on the monitor you are sharing. Key display appears on the monitor with the window you are working in.
• If you do not want others to see the control panel, place it on a monitor you are not sharing, or hide it with the × button (shortcuts keep working).
• It works the same way on meeting-room projectors and large displays.

Shortcuts

Shortcuts work even when PresenterTools is behind other windows or the control panel is hidden. Only the two below are assigned by default. For the other actions, assign free keys that are easy for you to press.

Assigning a shortcut

In the General tab in Settings (or the tab for each feature), click a box and press the keys you want to assign. Combine the key with Ctrl, Alt or Win (F13–F24 can be used alone). Backspace, Delete or [Clear] removes the shortcut.

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• Keys you assign can no longer be used in other apps (for example, an app that uses Ctrl+Shift+F9). If that is a problem, choose another key.
• Keys already used by another app or Windows cannot be registered. In that case, "Already used by another app or Windows" is shown, and the control panel shows "⚠ shortcut(s) could not be registered". Choose a different key.
• While a shortcut box is selected, all PresenterTools shortcuts are paused so that the keys you press go into the box. They work again when you select another item or switch to another window.

Settings

Open Settings with [Settings] in the control panel or "Settings..." in the notification area menu. The settings for each feature are grouped on tabs.

• Visual settings such as colors and sizes are applied to the screen as soon as you change them, so you can adjust them while you watch.
• Click [Apply] or [OK] to keep the changes. Click [Cancel] to close and go back to how things were when you opened Settings.
• The version is shown in the lower left of Settings.
• Click "User Guide (web)" in the lower left to open this guide in your browser (the Japanese guide when the display language is Japanese, otherwise the English guide).
• PresenterTools is open-source software released under the MIT License (from version 1.4.0). In the lower left, click "MIT License" to see the full license text, "Source code" to open the public repository on GitHub, or "Third-party notices" to see the notices for .NET and other software.

Restoring settings

Each of these takes effect when you click [Apply] or [OK].

Language

Under "Language" on the General tab, choose "Use the Windows display language" (default), "English" or "日本語". The change takes effect after PresenterTools restarts. When you click [Apply] or [OK], you are asked whether to restart now.

Troubleshooting

Privacy

PresenterTools does not communicate over the internet. Mouse and keyboard input and the screen images captured by the magnifier are used only for what is shown at that moment; they are never saved to files or sent anywhere. For details, see the Privacy Policy.