TalkProp documentation
A native macOS teleprompter. Paste a script, set a comfortable reading speed, and read — with scroll-wheel scrubbing under your fingers and a one-line ticker mode when you need it. This page walks through how it works.
Installation
TalkProp comes two ways. The download from bendansby.com/apps/talkprop is a standard .dmg — open it and drag TalkProp.app to your Applications folder. The Mac App Store version installs and updates the usual way.
Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later. The direct-download build checks for updates on its own; you can also check anytime via TalkProp → Check for Updates….
The two windows
TalkProp is a two-window app. A compact Controls window holds the toolbar — play/pause, rewind, the speed and size sliders, and the mode toggle. A separate Prompter window shows your script: a TextEditor in edit mode, and the rolling captions on a black background in play mode.
Keeping them apart means you can put the prompter full-screen on one display (or behind a camera) while the controls stay on another, out of shot. If the windows ever drift somewhere awkward, Reset Window Layout (⌘⇧R) snaps them back to their anchored positions.
Loading a script
In edit mode the Prompter window is a plain text editor — type or paste your script straight in. To load one from disk, use File → Import Script… (⌘⇧O) and pick any plain-text file; it replaces whatever's currently in the editor. If the file can't be read, the previous script is left untouched and an alert explains why.
Toggle between editing and rolling with ⌘E (or the mode button in the toolbar).
Setting the speed
The speed slider sets how fast the text rolls, from 15 to 180 points per second. The current rate is shown live in points per second next to the slider, so you can dial in a pace and reproduce it next time.
Because position is tracked in points rather than lines, changing the speed never makes you lose your place — the text keeps rolling from exactly where it was.
Scroll to scrub
This is the part that makes TalkProp feel different. Scroll up or down anywhere on the rolling page — wheel or trackpad — to scrub through your script by hand. Flick down to jump ahead, flick up to rewind. Lift off and the prompter resumes rolling at your set rate.
Press Space to play and pause at any time, and Esc to rewind to the top.
Text size
The size slider sets the font height from 18 to 200 points. ⌘+ and ⌘− step it up and down by 4 points at a time. Like speed, changing the size keeps your place — the text just gets bigger or smaller around the reading line, it doesn't reflow you somewhere else.
Vertical scroll vs. horizontal ticker
TalkProp rolls two ways, and ⌘O flips between them:
- Vertical scroll — the classic teleprompter: lines rise up the screen past the reading line.
- Horizontal ticker — a single line scrolling right-to-left, like a news crawl. Good for a narrow strip along the top or bottom of a display, or a chyron under a camera.
The speed and size controls work the same in both modes.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Play / pause |
| Esc | Rewind to top |
| ⌘E | Switch between edit and play mode |
| ⌘O | Switch between vertical scroll and horizontal ticker |
| ⌘⇧O | Import a script from disk |
| ⌘+ / ⌘− | Bigger / smaller text |
| ⌘⇧R | Reset window layout |
| scroll wheel / trackpad | Scrub through the script (anywhere on the rolling page) |
Accessibility
TalkProp honours macOS accessibility settings:
- VoiceOver + Voice Control. The controls window, the editor, the menus, and every dialog use standard AppKit / SwiftUI controls with their labels intact.
- Dark Interface. The controls window adapts to the system appearance; the prompter rolls light text on black in both, for maximum legibility on camera.
- Differentiate Without Color. No state is encoded by colour alone — buttons pair SF Symbols with text labels, and the live rate readout is shown as a number, not just a slider position.
Languages
TalkProp is localized into English, Deutsch, Español, Français, Italiano, 日本語, 한국어, Português (Brasil), Українська, Русский, and 简体中文. It picks the right language automatically based on your System Settings → General → Language & Region preferences.
To pin TalkProp to a specific language without changing system preferences, open System Settings → General → Language & Region → Applications, click the + button, and pick TalkProp.
License
TalkProp ships through three channels — pick the one that fits how you like to pay for software:
- Direct download. Every feature works from the first launch — no trial clock, no locked controls, no watermark on screen. An unlicensed copy shows a brief license reminder every fifth time you switch into play mode; a one-time license clears it for good. Buy via TalkProp → Buy License… in the app menu; activate via Enter License…. Activation needs the internet briefly, then works offline; TalkProp revalidates quietly in the background so refunded or revoked keys stop working.
- Mac App Store. Paid through Apple's standard pipeline — buy it once, no separate license key.
- Setapp (coming soon). Subscribe to TalkProp directly through Setapp — pick a cadence (monthly, quarterly, or annual) or pay once. No separate license key; Setapp delivers updates automatically.