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Hide widgets and Presentation Mode

Press ⌃⌥⌘H to hide every widget. Press it again to show them.

Hiding never removes or moves a widget. When widgets come back, they are exactly where they were.

Hide all widgets

Use any of these:

  • Press ⌃⌥⌘H. The shortcut works in any app, even when the Widgetscape window is closed.
  • Click the Widgetscape icon in the menu bar and choose Hide Widgets. Choose Show Widgets to bring them back.
  • Go to Appearance › Visibility and turn on Hide all widgets.

Change the shortcut

  1. Go to Appearance › Visibility.
  2. Under Hide Widgets, click the shortcut next to Keyboard shortcut.
  3. Press the new keys. A shortcut needs ⌘, ⌃ or ⌥, or a function key such as F5.

The new shortcut shows in the row. While recording, press Esc to cancel. To remove the shortcut, press Delete or click ⓧ next to it. To go back to ⌃⌥⌘H, click the button that appears in its place.

If another app already uses the keys, the row says Another app uses this shortcut. Pick different keys.

Presentation Mode

Presentation Mode hides the widgets you don’t want others to see while you present. Turn it on before a talk or a demo.

To turn it on, use either of these:

  • Click the Widgetscape icon in the menu bar and choose Presentation Mode.
  • Go to Appearance › Visibility and turn on Presentation mode.

Presentation Mode has no shortcut by default. To add one, go to Appearance › Visibility, and under Presentation Mode, click Record Shortcut.

Choose what Presentation Mode hides

In Appearance › Visibility, set Hides to one of these:

  • All widgets (default)
  • Widgets with personal data: widgets that can show your events, messages, notes, files, photos or activity, such as Calendar, Agenda, Day Timeline, Email, Reminders, Clipboard, Photo Frame, Sticky Notes and File Shelf.
  • No widgets

The list under Hidden in Presentation mode shows every widget on your desktop. Select or deselect a widget to make an exception. Use Default for All removes your exceptions. Picking another option under Hides also starts the list over.

You can set the same choice on a widget’s settings page: click Layout and use Hide in Presentation mode.

In a stack, hidden widgets are skipped and the others keep showing. See Stacks.

Screen sharing and recording

Widgetscape can hide widgets while your screen is shared or recorded. By default, it hides the same widgets as Presentation Mode.

To change it, go to Appearance › Visibility and set When your screen is shared or recorded:

  • Do nothing
  • Hide the same widgets as Presentation mode (default)
  • Hide all widgets

While Widgetscape watches for sharing, a row there shows Not sharing now, or Sharing detected and where it comes from, such as “From Zoom”.

Widgetscape notices calls, Zoom screen sharing and OBS. A call counts when a meeting app or a browser uses the microphone, or when the camera is on. It doesn’t notice every app that records the screen. When sharing ends, widgets come back after a few seconds.

To show your widgets during one share, choose Show Widgets While Sharing in the menu bar menu, or click Show Anyway in Appearance › Visibility. They hide again the next time you share.

The menu bar icon

While widgets are hidden, the Widgetscape icon in the menu bar turns into an eye with a slash. The top of its menu says why:

  • Widgets Hidden: you hid all widgets.
  • Presentation Mode On: Presentation Mode is on.
  • Widgets Hidden While Sharing: your screen is shared or recorded.

The menu bar icon appears while the Widgetscape app is open and Show menu bar icon is on in Settings › General. Closing the Widgetscape window quits the app and removes the icon; ⌃⌥⌘H keeps working. See Settings.

When hiding turns off

Hide all widgets and Presentation Mode turn off when you log out. Your widgets show again the next time you log in.