Stagemark user guide: menus, shortcuts and settings

This guide covers the Mac version. The Windows version, coming soon, works the same way from the system tray, with the Win key in place of ⌘. See the Windows guide.

Install

1. Open the downloaded disk image and drag Stagemark into the Applications folder.
2. Open Stagemark. It has no Dock icon: its icon appears in the menu bar, and everything is in the menu that opens when you click it.
3. Turn on Launch at login in the menu if you want Stagemark ready whenever you plug in a monitor. It can only cover a monitor while it's running. This is off by default.

Stagemark needs macOS 13 Ventura or later and runs on Apple silicon and Intel. Monitors that are already connected when it starts are treated as if you had just plugged them in.

Permissions

Showing a window alone doesn't need Accessibility. After you turn on Screen Recording in System Settings, macOS may need you to quit and reopen Stagemark, and the menu says You may need to relaunch the app after turning it on. Do this before your talk, not in front of the audience. On macOS 15 and later, macOS asks about once a month whether to keep allowing it.

Pick the windows to show

• Open Pick windows in the menu and click a window. Open windows are listed front to back. Click a checked one to remove it, or choose Clear picked windows.
• Or look at the window you want and press ⌃⌥⌘A (Send front window). It's added to the list and becomes the one that's shown.
• Picked windows are listed under Windows to send (one at a time). The checked one is shown. Click another to switch, or use Next window ⌃⌥⌘] and Previous window ⌃⌥⌘[.

Stagemark remembers a picked window by its app and title, and keeps following the same window when its title changes, for example when you switch browser tabs.

To check what the audience will see, choose Open preview window. It shows the same picture in a normal window on your laptop, with or without a monitor plugged in.

Plug in a monitor

With Cover a connected monitor in black and ask turned on (it is by default), this happens when you plug in a projector, TV or monitor:

1. Stagemark covers the new monitor in black at once, without waiting for macOS to finish setting it up. If it came up mirroring your screen, Stagemark turns mirroring off first, for this login session, so your whole screen never goes out.
2. A dialog, An external monitor is connected, asks how to use it: - Start output (↩): show the picked window. - Keep it black (esc): leave it covered. Start output later with ⌃⌥⌘P, or lift the cover with Remove cover (restore). - Use as extended display: lift the cover and use it as a normal extended display. - Use mirroring: turn mirroring on while the monitor is still covered, then lift the cover.
3. Tick Don't ask again for this monitor and Stagemark does the same every time you plug in this monitor. Use as extended display suits a desk monitor.

Stagemark recognizes a monitor by its maker, model and serial number, so two monitors with the same name are told apart. Monitors you've decided on are listed under Monitors that aren't asked. Click one to be asked again. Turn off Cover a connected monitor in black and ask to leave new monitors to macOS.

Several monitors

• Each monitor you plug in gets its own black cover, and Stagemark asks about them one at a time. Each answer applies only to that monitor.
• Output goes to one monitor at a time. A covered monitor stays covered when you plug in another one or move output to a different monitor.
• If you plug in a monitor while output is live, it's covered and asked about too. Choosing Start output moves output to it, and the monitor you were using stays black.
• Output monitor sets which monitor output goes to when you press ⌃⌥⌘P. Automatic (first external monitor) uses the first one.

What stays on your laptop

• Stagemark never covers the main display, the one with the menu bar. If turning off mirroring leaves the external monitor as the main display, Stagemark makes your laptop screen the main display again for this login session, then covers the monitor. If that doesn't work, it turns mirroring back on and says so at the top of the menu.
• If the covered monitor sits directly below your laptop screen in the display arrangement, Stagemark moves it above while it's covered, so the Dock can't slide onto the covered screen. The arrangement goes back when the cover is lifted.
• With Accessibility permission on, windows that were on a monitor when it's covered move to your laptop screen, so nothing ends up hidden under the cover.

Present

• While the picture is frozen you can type a password, switch tabs or tidy up. The audience keeps seeing the frozen picture. You can also switch to the next window while frozen, then unfreeze.
• The first line of the menu shows the state: ● Live — and the monitor's name, with (frozen) or (black screen) at the end while those are on.
• The external monitor is view only. Click and type in the original window on your laptop.
• Window titles and app names are never shown on the audience screen.
• With Accessibility permission on, Stagemark remembers where the picked windows are when output starts or stops, for the current monitor setup. Plug in the same monitor next time and they go back to the same place and size.
• When output starts, apps of picked windows that aren't running are opened in the background, without coming to the front. Whether an app reopens the same document or tab is up to the app.

If the audience screen stays black

If the picked window is minimized, on another desktop (Space) or closed, the audience screen simply stays black. Stagemark never puts a message on the big screen. Instead:

• the menu bar icon turns into a warning triangle,
• the top of the menu, under the ● Live line, says what's wrong and how to fix it, for example ⚠️ The window is minimized or on another desktop — Restore it or go to its desktop to continue,
• the preview window shows the same message.

Bring the window back and output continues by itself. If the window was closed, output picks up again when a window with the same title opens. Stagemark never switches to a window with a different title on its own, because it could be your mail or another document. If that app has only one window open, the menu offers it as ↳ Send this window instead: followed by the window's name, and shows it only after you click.

When output stops

Choose what happens under When output stops:

• Keep the external monitor covered (default): the monitor stays black after you stop, so your desktop and any windows on it stay hidden. The menu says Output stopped — the external monitor stays covered. Press ⌃⌥⌘P to resume, or choose Remove cover (restore) when you're done. Unplugging the cable also removes the cover.
• Restore (turn mirroring back on if it was on): stopping lifts the cover right away.

Remove cover (restore) lifts every cover and puts back the windows Stagemark moved off the monitor. If Stagemark turned mirroring off to start output, it turns mirroring back on first, while the monitor is still covered, so the desktop never flashes on the projector. If the monitor was already an extended display before you started, it stays extended, and it shows your desktop once the cover is gone.

Quit

Choose Quit Stagemark. If output is live or a monitor is covered, Stagemark asks first: Quit Stagemark? The cover goes away, so the external monitor will show your desktop or your Mac's screen. Choose Quit or Cancel.

When it quits, Stagemark puts a monitor it moved in the display arrangement back in place, turns mirroring back on if When output stops is set to Restore (turn mirroring back on if it was on), and lifts the covers last. It does not bring back windows it moved off the monitor, because they would reappear on the uncovered screen in front of the audience.

Arrange windows

The Arrange window submenu moves the window in front, with the same keys as Magnet. Stagemark asks for Accessibility permission the first time.

• Restore size before arranging puts the window back where it was before you first arranged it, even after several moves in a row.
• Next monitor and Previous monitor keep the window at the same relative place on the other monitor.
• If you already use Magnet, Rectangle or another arranging app, turn off Use arrange shortcuts (turn off if another app uses them). The menu items keep working.
• If another app already uses one of Stagemark's shortcuts, the top of the menu lists the ones that couldn't be registered.

Swipe the title bar

With Swipe the title bar with two fingers to arrange turned on (the default), put the pointer on a window's title bar and swipe with two fingers on the trackpad or Magic Mouse.

• Swipe far enough and the direction and place appear under the pointer, with a see-through preview of where the window will go. Lift your fingers to move it. Come back to where you started before lifting to cancel.
• Any window can be swiped, not only the one in front.
• A two-finger scroll that starts on a title bar isn't passed to the app. Scrolling the content below works as usual.
• Swipe near the middle of the title bar. Resting the pointer on the green button opens macOS's own tiling menu.
• The direction follows your natural scrolling setting. It doesn't work with a wheel mouse.

Window positions

Stagemark can remember where each window goes for each monitor setup, such as the laptop alone and the laptop with your desk monitor. Positions are relative to the monitor, so they still fit when the resolution changes. This needs Accessibility permission.

• Remember front window's position ⌃⌥⌘S saves the monitor, position and size of the window in front for the current monitor setup. In the menu it reads Remember position: and the window's name.
• Put all windows back in place ⌃⌥⌘L moves every remembered window now.
• Put windows back automatically (at launch and when monitors change), on by default, also does it when Stagemark starts, when an app launches or opens a new window, and when monitors change.
• Saved for this monitor setup lists what's remembered. Click one to forget it.

A window with the same title gets its place first. For apps whose window title keeps changing, such as chat and mail, the place goes to the app's window if it has only one. Stagemark moves windows of running apps only, and only windows on the current desktop (Space); full-screen windows can't be moved. Covered monitors are skipped.

Free trial and license key

You can try every feature free for 7 days. The menu shows Buy Stagemark… with the days left, such as Free trial: 5 days left. Deleting and reinstalling the app doesn't restart the trial.

When the trial ends, the top of the menu says Your free trial has ended — Buy Stagemark…. Starting output, sending windows, arranging, swiping and window positions stop working, and plugging in a monitor no longer covers it or asks. Stop output, Remove cover (restore) and Restore size before arranging (including the ↓ swipe) always work, so you're never stuck with a black projector.

1. Choose Buy Stagemark…. The checkout opens in your browser: $9.99, once, through Lemon Squeezy.
2. Lemon Squeezy emails you a license key.
3. Choose Enter license key…, paste the key and click Activate.

The menu then shows Licensed. Stagemark checks the key with the license server when you activate it and every 7 days after that. If you're offline, it stays activated. To move to another Mac, choose Licensed ▸ Deactivate on this Mac…, then enter the key on the other Mac.

Updates

Check for updates… looks for a new version now, and Check for updates automatically does it in the background. A new version found in the background shows up as a line at the top of the menu, such as Version 1.1 is available — Update…, instead of a window. Stagemark never opens the update window while output is live. Updates are signed, and Stagemark checks the signature before installing.

The Mac version goes online only for the license key and for updates. Nothing you show is recorded or sent anywhere.

FAQ

Why is the projector black?

Either Stagemark is keeping it covered (output hasn't started, you chose Keep it black, or output was stopped), or output is live but the picked window can't be shown. The top lines of the menu say which. To show a window, pick one and press ⌃⌥⌘P. To use the monitor normally, choose Remove cover (restore).

Can I click or type on the external monitor?

No. It only shows the window. Click and type in the original window on your laptop, and the projector follows.

How do I stop Stagemark asking about my desk monitor?

When it asks, tick Don't ask again for this monitor and choose Use as extended display. To be asked again, click the monitor under Monitors that aren't asked.

Does it work with the laptop lid closed?

No. Stagemark never covers the main display, so with the lid closed and only an external monitor in use there's nowhere to show the window.

What happens if I quit while presenting?

Stagemark asks first. If you quit, the cover goes away and the external monitor shows your desktop or your Mac's screen. Windows Stagemark moved off that monitor stay on your laptop screen.

I already use Magnet or Rectangle. Do the keys clash?

They use the same keys. Turn off Use arrange shortcuts (turn off if another app uses them) in Arrange window and keep your app. Stagemark's output shortcuts keep working.