Teleprompter for Windows

Set up in under a minute

No installer, no admin rights, no updates. Windows asks about the microphone once per browser.

1. Open sayscroll.com in Edge, Chrome, or Firefox and paste your script.
2. Press Present and click Allow on the microphone prompt.
3. If nothing happens, open Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone and make sure "Let desktop apps access your microphone" is on, then reload.

Recording and streaming on Windows

For a straight talking-head video you don't need any other software: the built-in recorder captures your webcam and microphone in the browser and saves takes to your PC. For streams and multi-scene productions, the prompter runs happily beside OBS.

The prompter only needs to hear you; it never interferes with the recording app's audio. Takes from the built-in recorder download as regular video files — nothing is uploaded.

Dual monitors and eye line

Most Windows webcams sit on top of the main monitor, so the prompter should be a tall, narrow window at the top-centre of that screen, with everything else on the second display. If the camera is on a tripod, put a small monitor or a tablet directly beneath the lens and run the prompter fullscreen there.

• Press F for fullscreen and Esc to leave it; Windows key + Shift + arrow moves the window to another monitor.
• Keep the column narrow — six to eight words per line — so your eyes don't sweep left to right.
• A laptop screen tilted back a few degrees puts the text closer to the camera line.

Habits that stop a read from looking read: how to look natural on camera.

Beam-splitter rigs and mirroring

A beam-splitter prompter puts glass in front of the lens and reflects a monitor into it, giving perfect eye contact. Any Windows tablet or monitor works as the source: run Sayscroll fullscreen and turn on horizontal or vertical mirroring so the reflected text reads correctly. You keep the rig and lose the scroll wheel and the operator.

Browser prompter vs installable teleprompter software

Installable Windows teleprompter software has been around for decades and does fixed-speed scrolling well, often with a remote or foot-pedal option. What it cannot do is hear you. Sayscroll's voice tracking follows your delivery word by word, waits when you pause, and re-syncs after ad-libs — and because it lives in the browser, the same tool works on your PC, your Mac, and your phone.

• Runs in Edge, Chrome, or Firefox
• Voice-paced scrolling, no remote or pedal
• Fullscreen, adjustable size and width, mirroring
• Built-in recorder — takes save to your PC

How voice tracking behaves in detail is on the voice-controlled teleprompter page; the category comparison is in the best teleprompter apps in 2026.

Troubleshooting on Windows

When the text does not follow, it is a setting almost every time. Work down this list before anything else.

• No movement at all: Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone — both "Microphone access" and "Let desktop apps access your microphone" must be on. Then allow the site in the browser.
• Wrong microphone: Bluetooth headsets and webcams often win by default. Choose the device in the browser's site permissions, not only in the Sound control panel.
• Another app has the mic: some conferencing and recording apps take exclusive control. Close them, or in Sound → Recording → Properties → Advanced untick "Allow applications to take exclusive control".
• Follows, then stops: 30 seconds of silence pauses the mic — press Resume. If you were talking, Focus assist or a power-saving mode may have muted the input; check the mic level meter in Sound settings.

Any PC or laptop

Desktop, laptop, or 2-in-1 — a browser and a microphone are all you need; speech recognition runs in the cloud, so an older machine is fine. Voice following needs an internet connection, and the mic pauses itself after 30 seconds of silence to save your speech time. Try it with a short script on the free teleprompter page.