How to Show Mouse Clicks in a Mac Screen Recording

To show mouse clicks in a Mac screen recording with the tools built into macOS, press ⇧⌘5 (Shift-Command-5), choose a recording mode, open Options and select Show Mouse Clicks before you start. macOS then draws a black circle around the pointer each time you click, and that circle becomes part of the video file.

The built-in option is fixed once you record. You can't change its look, add a sound, or remove it afterward. If you want click effects you can change later, you need an editor that adds them after recording. Both methods are covered below.

Show mouse clicks with the built-in macOS option

The Screenshot toolbar and QuickTime Player use the same recording controls, so the option is in the same place in both.

1. Press ⇧⌘5 to open the Screenshot toolbar. In QuickTime Player, choose File > New Screen Recording instead.
2. Click Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion. The click option only appears in a recording mode.
3. Click Options.
4. Select Show Mouse Clicks so it has a checkmark.
5. Click Record.
6. To stop, click the stop button in the menu bar or press ⌃⌘Esc (Control-Command-Escape).

Every click in the finished video now shows a black circle around the pointer. Recordings started with ⇧⌘5 are saved to your Desktop by default, and you can pick another folder in the same Options menu. For more on this, see where screen recordings go on Mac.

What the built-in option can't do:

• Change the color or size of the circle.
• Add click sounds.
• Add the circles after recording. If you forgot to turn it on, you have to record again.
• Remove the circles later. They are burned into the video.

If a black circle is all you need, the built-in option is enough. Our QuickTime screen recording guide covers the rest of that workflow.

Highlight clicks after recording in Screen Bolt

Screen Bolt (our app, macOS 14 or later) handles the cursor differently. It hides the system cursor while capturing and saves every cursor position and click in the project file. The editor then redraws the cursor from that data. That makes click effects into settings. You can switch them on, off or change them at any point before export, without recording again.

1. In the Screen Bolt recording bar, choose Display, Window or Area, then click the red record button.
2. Click Stop in the recording bar when you're done. The editor opens by default. This is controlled by After recording in Settings ▸ Recording.
3. Open the Cursor panel in the sidebar, or press ⌘6 (Command-6).
4. Turn on Highlight on Click. It is off by default.
5. Pick a Color for the highlight. The default is yellow.
6. Play the clip to check how it looks, then click Export.

Because the clicks are stored as data, you can try a different color, export one version with highlights and one without, or come back to the project later and export again.

Press effect, click color and other cursor settings

The Cursor panel has several settings that change how clicks look on screen:

Some practical points:

• The press effect is already on. For subtle clicks it may be all you need. For obvious clicks, add Highlight on Click too.
• Pick a color that contrasts with your app. Yellow is hard to see on a white or pale interface. Preview a few seconds that include a click before you export.
• A larger cursor makes clicks easier to follow in videos people watch at small sizes, such as a Slack embed or a social feed. See how to make the cursor bigger in screen recordings.
• Smooth Movement evens out the pointer's path between clicks. Cursor smoothing explains how it works.

Clicks also create zooms. With Create zooms automatically on (the default), Screen Bolt turns clicks into zoom regions after recording. If you want highlights but no zooms, right-click the zoom track and choose Delete All Zoom Regions. You can also turn off Auto Zoom on Click in the Zoom panel, which disables every zoom region, including any you added by hand. To use zooms on purpose, see how to zoom in on a screen recording.

Add click sounds

A click sound tells viewers something happened even when they aren't watching the pointer. macOS has no built-in option for this. Screen Bolt plays click sounds from the recorded click data, so each sound lands on its click.

1. In the editor, open the Sounds panel.
2. Under Click Sounds, turn on Enable.
3. Choose a Preset: Soft Tap, Mechanical, Bubble Pop, Keyboard, Tactile, Snappy, Thump, Chirp, Plop or Snick.
4. Set the Volume. The default is 60%.
5. Click Preview to hear the sound, then play the timeline to hear it in context.

Click sounds are mixed into the exported audio. The same panel has Zoom Sounds (a whoosh at each zoom in and out) and Keyboard Sounds (typing sounds). All three are off by default.

Click sounds need no extra permission. Keyboard sounds need Input Monitoring. The full setup is in how to add click and typing sounds to screen recordings.

Which method fits your video

Use the built-in option if you're sending a quick recording to a colleague, a black circle is clear enough, and you won't want to change it later.

Use Screen Bolt if you're making a tutorial, product demo or help-center video, want a click color or sound, or want to try different looks without recording again.

The free version of Screen Bolt includes every editor feature, but exports carry a watermark and are limited to 3 minutes at 720p. See Free vs Pro for details.

If clicks don't show up

Show Mouse Clicks isn't in the Options menu. The Screenshot toolbar is still in screenshot mode. Click Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion first, then open Options.

The built-in recording has no circles. The option wasn't selected when the recording started. Circles can't be added afterward, so turn on Show Mouse Clicks and record again.

Screen Bolt shows no highlight, press effect or click sounds. The video was probably made in another app and opened with Create project from video... or Open project.... Imported videos have no cursor data, so cursor effects, click sounds and auto zoom only work on recordings made in Screen Bolt. Edits to an imported video also aren't saved. Record the take in Screen Bolt instead.

The exported file has no highlight even though you recorded in Screen Bolt. If After recording is set to Export to file, Screen Bolt skips the editor and renders with default styling, and Highlight on Click is off by default. Open the project (File > Open last project, ⌥⌘Z), turn on the highlight and export from the editor.

The highlight is hard to see. Pick a color that contrasts with the area you click most, or raise the cursor Size.

You turned off Show Cursor but the cursor still appears in the export. This is a current limitation: turning Show Cursor off hides the cursor in the preview only.

Click sounds are too loud or too quiet in the export. Change Volume under Click Sounds. The volume slider next to the playback controls only affects playback in the editor, not the exported file.

FAQ

Can I add mouse click highlights to a recording I already made? Not with the built-in tools, because macOS only draws clicks while recording. Screen Bolt can add them after the fact, but only to recordings made in Screen Bolt, since it relies on the click data it saves during capture.

Does Screen Bolt need a special permission to track clicks? No. Mouse positions and clicks are tracked without an extra permission. Screen Recording permission is needed for every recording, and Input Monitoring only for keyboard sounds.

Do click effects show up in GIF exports? Yes, GIF export includes your edits. GIFs are silent, so click sounds won't be heard. GIF export requires Screen Bolt Pro.