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Overlays
The input overlay shows the keys and mouse buttons you pressed, drawn on top of your clip like a broadcast HUD. Flashback keeps it separate from the video, so every clip stays clean and you decide at export time whether the overlay appears. This page covers setting it up, how it's stored, and how it's kept private and light.
The Overlays tab, shown on Flashback 0.7.41.
Most recorders burn an input display into the video. Flashback doesn't:
- The clip Flashback saves is always clean. No overlay is drawn into it.
- While the overlay is on, Flashback keeps a small, bounded timeline of which selected controls were held, and saves the part that matches each clip in private clip metadata on your PC.
- When you export (a trim, a Discord copy), you choose whether that copy includes the overlay. You can make one copy with it and one without, from the same clip, at any time.
Clips that carry an overlay timeline are marked EDITABLE OVERLAY in the Library.
- Open the Overlays tab.
- Turn on Record inputs.
- Arrange and style it (below), then click Apply overlay.
The overlay is off by default. It only listens while it's on and the replay buffer is running.
Apply overlay saves only the overlay and hands it to the running recorder, so applying never restarts the replay buffer or throws away what it holds. Changes you've made elsewhere in Settings stay waiting there until you apply them; the Overlays footer tells you when there are some.
Drag the keyboard and the mouse independently anywhere inside the preview frame. Their exact positions and sizes are saved with your overlay, and the preview matches your exported clips exactly, including the overlay's opacity and ultrawide clips.
Starting layouts are one click away: Lower left (default), Lower center, Lower right, Upper left, Upper right and Split corners. They fit the keys you selected and both sizes, then you can drag to fine-tune.
For precise placement with the keyboard:
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
| Space | Switch between the keyboard and the mouse |
| Arrow keys | Move the selected device |
| Shift + arrow keys | Move it in larger steps |
Under Appearance, choose a Visual style:
| Style | Look |
|---|---|
| Pulse glass (default) | Soft glass keycaps in Flashback's blue and mint |
| Clean outline | Thin outlines and quiet neutral surfaces for a low-profile HUD |
| Broadcast contrast | Bright, readable controls that stay clear over busy gameplay |
| Neon edge | A sharper cyan and magenta edge for high-energy clips |
Then size each part on its own:
| Setting | Range | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Keyboard size | 60% to 180% | 100% |
| Mouse size | 60% to 180% | 100% |
| Opacity | 40% to 100% | 88% |
Under Inputs shown, start from a Gaming preset and then switch individual controls on or off in the CONTROL EDITOR:
| Preset | Shows |
|---|---|
| FPS essentials (default) | 1 to 5, Q W E R T, Tab, A S D F G, Shift, Z X C V, Ctrl, Alt, Space, and all five mouse buttons |
| Battle royale | The FPS set plus 6 and Y |
| MOBA / action | 1 to 6, Q W E R T, A S D F G, Shift, Ctrl, Alt, Space, and all five mouse buttons |
| Custom layout | Whatever you pick |
The keys available are the number row 1 to 6, Q to Y, Tab, A to G, Shift, Z to V, Ctrl, Alt and Space. Mouse controls (Left click, Right click, Wheel click, Back, Forward) are drawn as a mouse, not as M1 to M5 keycaps. Selected controls stay visible as a quiet HUD and light up only while physically held. Keep at least one control selected.
In the Editor, a clip with an overlay timeline shows an INPUT OVERLAY section. Leave Include input overlay in exported copy on to draw it into the trimmed copy, or turn it off for clean video. Discord copies follow the same choice. See Editor and Montage.
- Only the controls you selected. Flashback watches only the keys and buttons in your overlay. It never stores typed text, and it keeps no running input history beyond the bounded timeline that matches your clips.
- No hooks, no injection. Input is read with Windows Raw Input on a hidden message-only window. Flashback doesn't install low-level keyboard hooks and doesn't inject anything into games.
- Off means off. When the overlay is off, or the replay buffer is stopped, the input listener isn't registered at all. With only keys selected, mouse movement isn't watched either.
- No recording overhead. The placement editor exists only while the Overlays tab is open, and the overlay is drawn only when you export a copy that includes it.
-
Stays on your PC. The timeline lives in
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Flashback\ClipMetadataand is never uploaded automatically.
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