Contents

1. Cheatsheet

Every default shortcut is Ctrl + Alt + <letter> and can be changed from the tray menu's Hotkeys item. This page is meant to be printed or kept open on a second screen.

Ctrl+Alt+1 through Ctrl+Alt+9, then Ctrl+Alt+0 for a 10th, instantly switch to that numbered profile in the tray menu's Profiles list. See Profiles.

Drawing mode shape keys (hold + drag)

All shape keys are individually configurable in Settings > Drawing mode, and PointCue prevents assigning the same key to two tools.

2. Getting started

PointCue runs from the Windows system tray (the icon group near the clock). Click the tray icon to open the menu and turn tools on or off; each toggle shows a checkmark when active. Right-click behaviour is the same as left-click for opening the menu — the special case is a plain left-click, which instantly hides every enabled visual pointer aid (see Tray menu & pause-all), letting you quickly clear the screen without hunting through the menu.

Open Settings from the tray menu to adjust any tool — sizes, colours, opacity, position, and shortcuts. The settings window lists every tool in a tree on the left, grouped by what it does; changes apply instantly so you can see the effect on your screen as you adjust. A Standard / Pro toggle above the profile bar switches every page between just the commonly-used options (Standard) and every option, including fine shape/colour/thickness tuning (Pro) — remembered across restarts, independent of any profile.

Open Hotkeys from the tray menu to remap any shortcut; every shortcut requires at least one modifier (Ctrl, Alt, and/or Shift), and PointCue blocks assigning the same combination to two different actions. Its own "Reset to defaults" button restores every shortcut to its original key in one click, separate from the main Settings window's Factory reset.

3. Global Theme

Global Theme is a shared palette of up to 10 colours plus a shared shape/opacity/thickness that other tools can optionally follow, so the whole overlay looks coordinated without recolouring each tool by hand. A growing set of curated presets is available (Amber, Autumn, Blue, Candy, Chartreuse, Classic, Cool, Cyberpunk, Desert, Earth, Forest, Grayscale, Green, High Contrast, Indigo, and more, applying to colours 1–5), a colour wheel for one-click monochromatic shading across all 10 colours, or set each colour yourself.

• Up to 10 theme colours — a primary accent plus nine secondary colours other tools (like Drawing mode markers) can cycle through.
• Shape, thickness, opacity — a shared shape (circle or 3–20-sided polygon, with corner rounding, aspect ratio, and rotation), border thickness, and opacity that Halo and other tools can optionally match instead of using their own settings.
• Frame style — unlike the rest of Global Theme, this one is a single app-wide look rather than a per-tool option: Flat (a plain solid-colour line, the original look), or one of four bevelled looks that shade every themed frame — Halo, Magnifier, Spotlight, Window spotlight, Webcam, Countdown timer, Keystrokes, Mouse strokes, Clock, and the Drawing mode text tool's frame — with a diagonal light/dark gradient along the stroke: Raised (lit from the top-left, looking popped-out), Inset (the same gradient reversed, looking pressed-in), Ridge (a dark band through the middle of the stroke), or Groove (a light band through the middle).
• Transition — an app-wide default for how a value's changing character(s) animate, with a "Transition speed" slider for how long it takes. Clock, Countdown timer, and Stopwatch each match this by default but can override it independently via a "Match Global Theme" toggle on their own settings page. None (instant, the default), Cross-fade, Dim to, Slide up/down/left/right, Zoom in/out, Flip vertical/horizontal, Rotate vertical/horizontal, Iris, Blinds, or Bounce. Only the character(s) that actually changed animate — the background, border, and any unchanged characters stay put.

Every tool that supports a "Match Halo" / "Same as Halo" / "Match Global Theme" style toggle switch will follow the shared theme automatically until switched off, at which point it reverts to its own independent settings.

Almost every one of these colour toggles (Pointer trail colour/spark/colour-shift target, Click ripples' and Mouse strokes' Left/Right/Middle/Scroll colours, Laser pointer, Custom pointer, Spotlight frame, Window spotlight frame, Magnifier border, Keystroke border, Countdown timer border, and Webcam border) also shows a "Theme colour" dropdown next to it, so you can choose which of the 10 that slot follows instead of always defaulting to theme colour 1 — letting a fully-matched set of tools spread across the palette instead of repeating a single colour everywhere. Halo's own colour and glow are the shared reference point the palette is built from, so they stay tied to theme colour 1 rather than offering the same dropdown.

Settings > Global Theme

4. Cursor & pointer tools

Settings > Halo rings

Settings > Pointer trail

Shared "Move out of the way": for any tool pinned to a fixed spot on screen, enabling this jumps it to the opposite corner whenever the pointer gets close, so it never blocks what you're pointing at.

5. Screen tools

Settings > Magnifier

Settings > Blackout screen

6. Keystrokes & Mouse strokes

Settings > Mouse strokes

7. Drawing mode

Ctrl+Alt+D toggles Drawing mode, which lets you draw directly over whatever is on screen — ideal for annotating during a live demo or recording. While active, a small help bubble shows the exit shortcut and key shape reminders; press F1 at any time to show or hide the full on-screen key list. An optional outer glow can be turned on in Settings > Drawing mode — it uses each stroke's own colour rather than a separate setting, so it never fights whatever colour you actually drew with.

Settings > Drawing mode

Drawing toolbar

An optional small floating icon palette can appear alongside Drawing mode — one icon per shape tool (Freehand, Line, Rectangle, Circle/Oval, Arrow, Polygon, Highlighter, Marker, Move). It's off by default: turn on "Drawing toolbar" in Settings > Drawing mode to have it appear automatically every time you enter Drawing mode, or leave it off and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+D to show or hide it just for the current session, regardless of that setting. Click an icon to make that tool the active default: it stays selected until you click it again (back to Freehand) or pick another tool, so you don't need to hold a key for every single stroke. Holding a different tool's key still works as a one-off override without disturbing what's selected on the toolbar.

• Polygon from the toolbar — since there's no key to release, close it by right-clicking, pressing Enter, or clicking back on the first corner once you've clicked all its corners.
• ↔ button — flips the toolbar between a horizontal row and a vertical column.
• Docking — drag the toolbar near any screen edge and it snaps flush against it (and switches orientation to match: horizontal at top/bottom, vertical at left/right).
• AH button (auto-hide) — only enabled once docked; when on, the toolbar slides to a thin sliver at the edge a moment after the pointer leaves it, and slides back out when you hover near that edge again.
• Position, orientation, dock edge, and auto-hide are all remembered the next time you enter Drawing mode.

Basic controls

• Left mouse button — draw a freehand stroke.
• Right mouse button — erase drawings under the pointer (or, mid-polygon, close it instead). Pressing Enter, or clicking back on the polygon's first corner, also closes it.
• Mouse wheel — change line thickness.
• Ctrl + mouse wheel — cycle through drawing colours.
• Ctrl+Z — undo the last stroke (also available as the Ctrl+Alt+U global shortcut, which works outside Drawing mode too).
• Ctrl+Alt+C — clear every drawing.
• Esc — exit Drawing mode.

Markers

Numbered markers are great for "step 1, step 2, step 3" style walkthroughs. Three settings control their appearance:

• Marker colours — optionally cycle each new marker through the 10 Global Theme colours instead of the current drawing colour.
• Marker style — Filled circle, Outlined circle, Square, or Pin (the bulb sits above the clicked point instead of covering it).
• Marker labels — Numbers, uppercase or lowercase letters (A, B, C… then AA, AB…), or Roman numerals.

Text annotations

Click with the Text tool to open a small popup: type your annotation, optionally check "Show frame around text" for a solid background/border behind it, then click Place (or press Ctrl+Enter) to drop it at the point you clicked. Framed text is easiest to read over busy backgrounds; unframed text relies on its outline colour for legibility.

Font, size, and style (Regular/Bold/Italic/Bold Italic) are set once in Settings > Drawing mode, along with 3 independent colours - the text itself, its outline, and the frame border - each with its own "Same as Global Theme" option. All of it applies to every placed text annotation - a live "ABC abc 123" preview (shown both unframed and framed) shows exactly what you'll get before you place anything.

8. Whiteboard / blackboard backgrounds

While in Drawing mode, press B (configurable) to cycle the canvas background through three states:

1. Desktop — the normal, transparent view showing your live screen underneath (the default).
2. Background colour 1 — a solid colour fill (default white — a "whiteboard").
3. Background colour 2 — a second solid colour fill (default black — a "blackboard"), then back to Desktop.

Both colours are fully configurable via a colour picker or by picking a colour straight off your screen. The same drawing tools, shapes, and markers work identically on top of any background. The background always resets back to Desktop the next time you turn Drawing mode off, so you never accidentally leave a solid colour covering your screen.

9. Screenshots

Ctrl+Alt+J (or the tray menu's "Save screenshot") saves a screenshot — including any drawings currently on screen — and works whether or not Drawing mode is active.

• Capture mode — Full screen, a specific monitor, or drag-to-select a custom area (dragging works just like the Windows Snipping Tool).
• File naming — a configurable name prefix and an automatic timestamp down to the second, e.g. PointCue_Screenshot_2026_03_05_14_30_05.png — never overwriting an existing file (a numeric suffix is only ever added for the rare case of two saves landing in the same second).
• Destination folder — choose any folder; defaults to a "PointCue Screenshots" folder inside Pictures. An Open button next to the folder path opens it directly in File Explorer, creating it first if it doesn't exist yet.
• Confirmation sound — a built-in synthesized sound (Shutter, Chime, Pop, or None) plays after saving — not a Windows system sound. Use the Test button in Settings to preview it.
• Frame — an optional border baked directly into the saved PNG, with a configurable corner radius (sharp corners up to fully rounded), thickness, and colour (with the usual "Same as Global Theme" option). Everything outside the frame's rounded outline is cut to full transparency in the saved file, so the screenshot drops onto a slide or web page as a clean rounded card.

All of this is configured under Settings > Capture > Screenshots.

Settings > Screenshots

10. Screen recording

Ctrl+Alt+V (or the tray menu's "Screen recording" toggle) starts or stops recording the screen to an MP4 file, encoded with Windows' own H.264/AAC encoder — no extra software required.

• Capture mode — Full screen, Specific monitor, drag-to-select Area (same choices as Screenshots), or Specific window — whichever window is focused the moment recording starts, at that window's on-screen size for the whole recording. It doesn't follow the window afterwards if you move, resize, or cover it, the same way Specific monitor doesn't follow anything either.
• Audio — optionally include microphone audio, system audio (whatever is playing on your PC), or both, mixed together into the recording. Pick a specific microphone, or use the system default.
• File naming and folder — same timestamped naming scheme as screenshots (PointCue_Recording_2026_03_05_14_30_05.mp4, and so on), saved by default to a "PointCue Recordings" folder inside Videos. An Open button next to the folder path opens it directly in File Explorer, creating it first if it doesn't exist yet.
• Pause / Resume — Ctrl+Alt+Z (or the tray menu's "Pause recording" / "Resume recording" item, enabled only while recording) pauses capture without ending the file. The paused interval is simply never recorded — no frozen frame, nothing to edit out afterwards.
• On-screen indicator — a small "REC 00:00" badge (or "PAUSED 00:00" while paused) appears while recording so you always know its state, but it is specifically excluded from the recording itself, so it never appears in the saved video. Its own opacity is adjustable, and "Move out of the way" jumps it to the opposite corner when the pointer gets close.
• Frame — an optional border baked directly into the recorded video, with a configurable thickness and colour (with the usual "Same as Global Theme" option). Unlike Screenshots' frame, video has no transparency channel, so this is a plain rectangular border rather than a rounded, cut-out corner — nothing outside it is cropped away.
• Capture spotlight — while recording anything other than Full screen, dims everything outside the recorded rectangle on your own screen for as long as the recording runs, so it's always obvious what's actually in frame — even with the frame above turned off. This is a live guide only: it's drawn strictly outside the recorded bounds, and the recording only ever reads pixels inside them, so it can never end up in the saved file.

Settings > Screen recording

All of this is configured under Settings > Capture > Screen recording.

11. Voice recorder, Mic meter & Volume mixer

Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V (or the tray menu's "Voice recorder" toggle) starts or stops a standalone audio-only recording, independent of Screen recording — use it on its own to capture narration, a call, or a quick voice memo without a video file alongside it. Saves straight to an AAC .m4a file, the same format and OS encoder Windows' own Voice Recorder app uses.

• Audio — records your microphone by default; system audio (whatever's playing on your PC) can be included too, mixed together with the microphone the same way Screen recording mixes its own audio. Pick a specific microphone, or use the system default.
• File naming and folder — same timestamped naming scheme as screenshots and screen recordings (PointCue_Voice_2026_03_05_14_30_05.m4a, and so on), saved by default to a "PointCue Voice Recordings" folder inside Music. An Open button next to the folder path opens it directly in File Explorer, creating it first if it doesn't exist yet.
• Pause / Resume — Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Z (or the tray menu's "Pause voice recording" / "Resume voice recording" item, enabled only while recording) pauses capture without ending the file. The paused interval is simply never recorded.
• On-screen indicator — a small "VOICE 00:00" badge (or "PAUSED 00:00" while paused) appears while recording, excluded from any screenshot or screen recording the same way Screen recording's own indicator is. Placement offers the same named fixed spots as Keystrokes/Countdown timer/Webcam, or NearPointer to follow the cursor. Its own opacity is adjustable, and "Move out of the way" jumps a fixed placement to its opposite corner when the pointer gets close. A live level meter underneath the badge (green through amber to red as it approaches clipping) fills with the actual peak of the mixed audio in real time, so it's obvious at a glance that sound is really coming through rather than just trusting the timer.

Settings > Voice recorder

All of this is configured under Settings > Capture > Voice recorder. Free tool.

Mic meter Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L

A small on-screen badge showing your live microphone input level, independent of Voice recorder or Screen recording — turn it on just to keep an eye on mic level (checking it before a call, watching for clipping, confirming you're not muted) without recording anything to a file. A live level meter (green through amber to red as it approaches clipping) fills in real time from the raw peak of the selected microphone's captured audio, the same style as Voice recorder's own meter. Configurable microphone device, placement (follow the pointer or pin to a fixed spot, with "move out of the way" support), and opacity. All of this is configured under Settings > Annotation & input > Mic meter. Free tool.

Volume mixer Ctrl+Alt+Shift+X

A small on-screen panel with two live, draggable sliders — Mic and Speaker — covering only your current default (active) input and output devices, not a full per-app mixer. Drag either slider to set that device's system volume live; click its icon to mute/unmute. Two shortcut buttons open Windows' own fuller controls: Mixer launches the classic per-app volume mixer, and Sound settings opens the Sound control panel's device list for full device management. Automatically follows along if you switch your active mic or speaker mid-session, rather than pinning to a specific device. Its slider colour matches the shared Global Theme accent. Configurable placement (follow the pointer or pin to a fixed spot, with "move out of the way" support) and opacity. All of this is configured under Settings > Annotation & input > Volume mixer. Free tool.

12. Countdown timer, Stopwatch, Webcam, Media display & Clock

13. Profiles

Profiles let you save different complete settings setups — for example one for teaching, one for demos, and one for screen recordings — and switch between them from the tray menu.

• Save / load / delete named profiles from the Settings window.
• Export writes the selected profile to a .pointcue file, so it can be backed up or shared with someone else.
• Import reads a .pointcue file back in.
• Factory reset restores every setting to its original default.
• Quick-switch hotkeys — Ctrl+Alt+1 through Ctrl+Alt+9, then Ctrl+Alt+0 for a 10th, instantly switch to that numbered profile, counting down the tray menu's Profiles list in order (shown next to each profile's name there; a profile hidden from that menu doesn't take a number). Nothing happens if you don't have that many profiles yet, and each of these shortcuts can be remapped in Hotkeys like any other.
• Hotkeys are shared across every profile — they aren't part of what makes each profile different. Changing a shortcut anywhere updates it for every profile at once, so switching profiles never changes what a shortcut does.

Under Settings > General > Startup, "Run at Windows login" launches PointCue automatically when you sign in. This is a single on/off switch for the whole install (via the standard Windows Run registry entry) rather than something saved per profile.

Ctrl+Alt+I (or the tray menu's "Desktop icons hidden" toggle) instantly hides or reveals the icons on the Windows desktop itself — not any PointCue overlay — useful for tidying your screen right before sharing it. This is independent of every profile and every other setting.

Ctrl+Alt+N (or the tray menu's "Taskbar hidden" toggle) does the same for the entire Windows taskbar — Start button, pinned/running app icons, system tray, and clock — on every monitor. There's no way to hide only the pinned icons while leaving the rest of the bar visible, so this hides the whole thing.

Several tools — Halo rings, Spotlight, Window spotlight, Magnifier, Click ripples, Keystrokes, Countdown timer, Stopwatch, Mouse strokes, Drawing mode, Webcam, and Clock — have their own optional outer glow, each with its own on/off switch and independent colour, configurable on that tool's own settings page.

Manage tools (Settings > General > Manage tools) lists every core tool with a "Shown" switch, on by default. Turning one off makes it disappear completely rather than just tidying up a menu: its tray entry, its floating quick-toggle toolbar entry, its own Settings page, its row in the Hotkeys editor and the Hotkey cheat-sheet, and its keyboard shortcut (which simply stops responding) all go at once - and if it happened to be switched on, it's switched off in that same step. A shared tray submenu (Audio, Capture, Timers) disappears too once every tool inside it has been hidden this way, and the Drawing submenu disappears the moment Drawing mode itself is hidden. Turning a tool back on restores it everywhere, and Factory reset brings everything back.

14. Tray menu & pause-all

The tray icon menu lists every tool as a checkable toggle, grouped with dividers - Cursor & pointer, then Screen tools - followed by a "Drawing" submenu (Drawing mode, Undo last drawing, Clear drawings), Keystrokes, Mouse strokes, Cursor position, an "Audio" submenu (Mic meter, Volume mixer), a "Capture" submenu (Save screenshot, and Screen recording's and Voice recorder's own start/pause actions), a "Timers" submenu (Countdown timer and Stopwatch's start/stop, pause/resume, and reset actions), Clock, Webcam, Media display, a "Workspace" submenu (desktop icons/taskbar/toolbar visibility plus "Pin active window on top" - none of the four have a Settings page of their own, so this was already just a loosely-related cluster kept together by convention), Quick help, Profiles, Settings, a "Hotkeys" submenu (Edit hotkeys..., plus the Hotkey cheat-sheet toggle), and Exit - each submenu grouped so the main menu stays short enough to fit on screen. Any tool hidden via Manage tools (above) is skipped entirely when this menu is built, and a submenu left with nothing shown inside it disappears too.

The floating quick-toggle toolbar (below) mirrors the same grouping with its own divider lines. A currently-active (checked) tool's row also gets a slight background tint across its full width, alongside the existing ring around its icon and underlined label, so active tools stand out at a glance in a long menu.

Shift+click any tray menu item for a tool with its own Settings page to jump straight there instead of toggling that tool - a quicker way in than opening Settings and navigating the tree by hand. Items with no settings page of their own (drawing actions, workspace decluttering toggles, Pause/Resume actions, Profiles, and the rest of the menu below it) don't respond to this.

Left-clicking the tray icon instantly hides every currently-enabled visual pointer aid in one action — Halo rings, Halo glow, Spotlight, Pointer trail, Click ripples, Scroll ripples, Keystrokes, Mouse strokes, Magnifier, Laser pointer, Webcam, and Custom pointer. Left-click again to bring back exactly the ones that were on before. This deliberately does not affect Drawing mode, the Countdown timer, or an in-progress screen or voice recording, since those are things you're actively using rather than passive visual aids you'd want to sweep away in one click.

The tray icon itself dims slightly whenever every visual aid above is off, so you can tell PointCue's status at a glance without opening the menu.

Ctrl+Alt+E (or the tray menu's "Toolbar" toggle) opens a small floating panel with the same checkable tools as the tray menu, shown as toggle switches instead of a menu list — a way to flip tools on and off without opening the tray menu each time. Drag its top bar to move it anywhere on screen, click its gear icon to jump straight to Settings (also Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S from anywhere), and click its × to hide it again; both its position and whether it's shown are remembered the next time PointCue starts. Like the pause-all shortcut, it only covers on/off tools — not action items like Screen recording or the Countdown timer.

15. Tips & troubleshooting