How to show keystrokes in Tella
You are recording a tutorial in Tella and you want viewers to see the keys you press - Cmd+Shift+4 for a screenshot, the arrow keys in a game, the shortcut that triggers the thing you are demoing. So you go looking for a setting that overlays pressed keys on the recording.
It is a reasonable thing to want. Keystroke overlays are one of the most-requested touches for software tutorials and shortcut demos. Here is the straight answer on where Tella stands, the workaround Tella itself recommends, and how to do it without adding a second app.
Does Tella show keystrokes on screen?
No. As of May 2026, Tella has no built-in feature that displays pressed keys on your recording. This is not a gap we are inferring - Tella’s own help center documents it directly. Their article on showing keys pressed in your video does not describe a Tella setting; instead it tells you to install a separate third-party app:
“You can fix this with a neat little app called Keystroke Pro… it works perfectly alongside Tella.” - Tella help: show keys pressed in your video
Tella is a well-made product, and pointing users to a tool that works is a fair thing for their docs to do. But it does confirm there is no native keystroke overlay in Tella - the keys are rendered by another app running on top of your screen, not by Tella, and not by anything you can adjust after the recording is done.
The workaround in Tella
The workaround is the one Tella’s own documentation recommends: run a dedicated keystroke-display utility (Keystroke Pro, KeyCastr, and similar) at the same time as Tella.
- Install a keystroke app such as Keystroke Pro or the free, open-source KeyCastr.
- Position its overlay where you want keys to appear on screen.
- Start the keystroke app, then start your Tella recording. Tella captures the overlay as part of the screen, the same way it captures everything else.
- Record your tutorial. Every key you press shows up via the overlay app, baked into the pixels Tella records.
This works, and for a one-off it is fine. But be honest about the trade-offs before you rely on it:
- It is baked in at record time. The keystrokes are part of the recorded pixels. If you want to move them, restyle them, or hide them for one section, you cannot - you re-record.
- It will not match your video’s look. The overlay’s font and styling come from a separate app, not from your Tella project’s design.
- It is another tool to set up and keep running. You are managing app permissions, positioning, and start order every session.
- Mistakes are permanent. If the overlay drifts off-screen or covers something important, there is no post-recording fix.
For anything you iterate on - a tutorial series, a demo you update each release - the record-time-only constraint gets old fast.
How to show keystrokes with Tight Studio instead
If keystroke display is part of your normal recording workflow, it helps to have it built into the recorder so it is editable after the fact and styled to match the rest of the video. Tight Studio is a Mac screen recorder and editor with a native Keystroke Display feature - no second app, no record-time-only constraint.
1. Record normally
Record your screen in Tight Studio the way you always would. Tight Studio captures your keystrokes as data alongside the recording, not as burned-in pixels - which is what makes everything below possible after you stop.
2. Turn on Keystroke Display
In the editor, open the Keystroke Display panel and toggle Show keyboard shortcuts. Pressed keys and shortcuts appear over the video on playback.
3. Position and size it
Set the display position - Left, Center, or Right along the bottom - and adjust the font size so the keys are readable at your export resolution without covering the content.
4. Change it any time
Because keystrokes are recorded as data rather than baked in, you can turn the overlay on or off, reposition it, or resize it after recording - no re-shoot. The styling follows your project, so it looks like part of the video instead of a separate utility pasted on top.
Tight Studio is the all-in-one screen recorder for tutorials, demos, course videos, and social cuts, so the keystroke overlay sits alongside click-following zoom, cursor animation, annotations, and AI voiceover rather than being a separate moving part.
Why we built it into the recorder
Keystroke overlays exist for one reason: tutorials. Tutorials get revised. If the keystrokes are burned into the pixels by a separate app, every revision is a re-record, and the overlay never quite matches the rest of the video. Recording keystrokes as editable data instead of baked-in pixels removes both problems.
Tella vs Tight Studio for keystroke display
| Tella | Workaround (Keystroke app + Tella) | Tight Studio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built-in keystroke overlay | No (docs point to a 3rd-party app) | No - external app | Yes (native) |
| Editable after recording | n/a | No - baked into pixels | Yes |
| Styled to match the video | n/a | No - separate app’s look | Yes |
| Reposition / resize later | n/a | No - re-record | Yes |
| Tools to maintain | One + a 3rd-party app | Two | One |
Frequently asked questions
Does Tella have a keystroke overlay?
No. As of May 2026, Tella has no native keystroke-display feature. Tella’s own help documentation recommends installing a separate third-party app (Keystroke Pro) and running it alongside Tella, which confirms the overlay is not produced by Tella itself.
How do I show keys pressed in a Tella video?
You run a dedicated keystroke utility (Keystroke Pro, KeyCastr) on screen while you record in Tella, so Tella captures the overlay as part of the screen. The keystrokes are baked into the recording and cannot be edited, repositioned, or restyled afterward.
Can I add keystrokes to a Tella recording after I record it?
No. Because the keys come from a separate overlay app captured at record time, they are part of the recorded pixels. To change them you re-record. A recorder with a built-in keystroke feature like Tight Studio stores keystrokes as editable data, so you can adjust them after recording.
What is the best Tella alternative for showing shortcuts in tutorials?
Tight Studio is the closest like-for-like alternative on Mac - it has the same category of recording and editor polish as Tella, plus a native Keystroke Display with adjustable position and font size that does not require a second app. The keystrokes stay editable after recording.