# Quickstart

> Download Curtains, allow Screen Recording, pick your windows and share them in your meeting as one window.

Source: https://curtains.app/help/quickstart/

Curtains puts the windows you pick on one canvas, in a window called **Curtains Presenter**. Your meeting app shares that one window. From then on you add, remove and arrange windows in **Curtains Studio**, and the meeting keeps sharing the same window, so you never go back to its share picker mid-call.

## 1. Download and open Curtains

[Download Curtains](https://curtains.app/download/) for macOS 13 or later. There's one version for Apple silicon and one for Intel; see [which one you need](https://curtains.app/help/install-and-permissions/#apple-silicon-or-intel). Open the disk image, drag Curtains into your Applications folder, then open it from there.

The first time it opens, Curtains says what it does and, outside the EU, the UK and Switzerland, tells you it sends anonymous usage stats, with a switch to turn them off. In the EU, the UK and Switzerland it asks first, and nothing is sent unless you say yes. Either way you can change it later in Settings.

*Image: The Curtains welcome screen: “Share many windows as one.” A diagram shows two app windows combining into the Curtains Presenter window, which goes to a meeting. Below it, a Get started button.*

## 2. Allow Screen Recording

macOS asks before any app can see other windows. Click **Allow Screen Recording**, then switch Curtains on in **System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen Recording**.

*Image: The Allow Screen Recording step: “macOS asks before an app can see other windows. Curtains only captures the windows you choose, and what it captures never leaves your Mac.” A note reads “Not allowed yet,” above the Allow Screen Recording button and Skip for now.*

*Illustration: System Settings at Privacy & Security, Screen Recording, with the switch next to Curtains turned on.*

macOS may then say Curtains needs to quit and reopen. That's expected: click **Restart Curtains**, and the permission takes effect. On macOS 15 and later the list is called **Screen & System Audio Recording**.

> **Note**
>
> Curtains captures only the windows you pick, and what it captures never leaves your Mac.

## 3. Pick windows to start a draft

Click **Choose windows to share**. Studio opens, with your open windows in **Sources** on the left, grouped by app.

Click a window to pick it. Your first pick starts a **draft**: the window shows on the stage straight away, but nothing is shared yet. The stage bar says **Not shared yet**, and only you see this preview. Keep clicking to add windows, in the order you want them shown; click a picked window again to take it off.

*Image: Curtains Studio in a draft. In Sources, three windows are picked and numbered 1 to 3: a Google Docs page in Chrome, session.rs in Visual Studio Code, and Onboarding flow in Figma. The stage shows the three windows side by side on a green canvas, with Not shared yet and Go Live at the top right. The footer reads “3 of 6 picked, not shared yet.”*

> **Tip**
>
> Option-click a window to Prepare it: it joins blurred, so you can reveal it when you're ready.

Free shares up to two windows at a time. Pro, Lifetime, Pro for teams and the 14-day trial share up to six. See [Plans](https://curtains.app/help/plans/).

## 4. Arrange your windows

The **Layout** panel on the right sets how the windows are arranged (if it's folded away, click **Layout** in the rail on the left edge): **Grid** tiles them all, **Focus** makes one large with the rest in a filmstrip, **Follow** shows the window you're using with the others in a strip on top, and **Free** lets you drag and resize them on the preview.

*Image: The Layout panel: four layout cards, Grid (selected), Focus, Follow and Free, then Next layout and the Fit all windows button.*

In Grid, drag a window on the preview onto another to swap them. Double-click a window to **Focus** it: it becomes the big one, and in Grid, Follow and Free it fills the canvas until you double-click it again. You can also draw, blur and pick a theme now: whatever you set up is exactly what viewers see when you go Live.

## 5. Go Live

When it looks right, click **Go Live** at the top right of the stage. Curtains Presenter, which opens blank behind your windows when Curtains starts, fills with your windows and is Live, set up as you left it.

*Image: The top of the stage in a draft: the layout, theme, drawing and blur menus on the left, and on the right “Not shared yet” next to a red Go Live button. Below, the preview of the canvas.*

Curtains Presenter opens behind Studio. Leave it there and don't minimize it: meeting apps can share a window that's covered, but not one that's minimized.

The stage bar now shows **Live** and **Paused**, with **End**. While Paused, viewers see a holding card instead of your windows; **End** makes Curtains Presenter blank again instead of closing it, so your meeting app keeps sharing the same window.

## 6. Share Curtains Presenter in your meeting

In your meeting app, share a window, not your entire screen, and pick **Curtains Presenter**:

- **Google Meet:** Present now › A window › Curtains Presenter
- **Zoom** and **Teams:** Share › Window › Curtains Presenter
- **Slack huddle:** Share screen › Window › Curtains Presenter

*Illustration: A meeting app's share dialog, “Choose what to share,” on its Window tab. Curtains Presenter is selected, showing a green canvas with three windows; two other windows are listed beside it. Cancel and Share buttons at the bottom right.*

The line under Studio's preview keeps the reminder: share the window named Curtains Presenter, which can stay behind Studio.

That's it. From now on, change what viewers see from Studio: pick or unpick windows in Sources, switch layouts, draw, blur, or pause. The meeting keeps sharing the same window.

## Next steps

- [Studio tour](https://curtains.app/help/studio-tour/): every part of Studio, and where to find it.
- [Floating remote and menu bar](https://curtains.app/help/floating-remote-and-menu-bar/): control the session while your meeting is in front.
- [Layouts](https://curtains.app/help/layouts/) and [Focus](https://curtains.app/help/focus/): arrange the canvas while you present.
- [Draw on your windows](https://curtains.app/help/draw-on-your-windows/) and [Blur and hide](https://curtains.app/help/blur-and-hide/): point things out, and keep private things private.
- [Keyboard shortcuts](https://curtains.app/help/keyboard-shortcuts/): go Live, pause and switch layouts from any app.
