Support & FAQ

Reload the call page. Overlaysmith has to be in place before the call page loads, so a tab that was already open when you installed it won't pick it up. Reload the tab, or leave and rejoin the call.

If it still doesn't appear: check that the site is one of the supported platforms, and that the popup shows ON with an image selected. The toolbar icon is grey while the overlay is off.

No. Overlaysmith works on the video you send from your own browser, so it doesn't depend on who set up the meeting. The host doesn't need to allow it, and nothing is installed on their side. If you're invited to a call on a platform you don't normally use, join it in the browser and your overlay comes with you.

The meeting's rules still apply, of course — some events and workplaces have guidelines about what you show on camera.

Google Chrome on a desktop or laptop, and a video call on a supported platform, in the browser. Chrome on phones and tablets doesn't run extensions.

Google Meet, Microsoft Teams (web), Jitsi Meet, Whereby, Yep and Zoom (in the browser) — each tested on a real call with a second participant on another device. The platform list has the details, including how each one handles background effects.

Not supported: desktop apps like Zoom, Teams or Discord (Overlaysmith works inside Chrome only). Zoom works when you join from the browser instead of the app.

Those browsers can install extensions from the Chrome Web Store, but Overlaysmith is built and tested in Google Chrome only. It may work elsewhere; it isn't tested there.

Not unless you allow it. Open chrome://extensions, find Overlaysmith, open Details and turn on Allow in Incognito.

That's by design. Overlaysmith adds your image to the video you send, not to your own preview tile. Every platform mirrors your own tile, so an image there would read backwards to you — and your tile is not what anyone else sees.

To check what participants see, turn on Outgoing preview in the popup. A small panel shows your real outgoing video, image included — and before your call starts, a rehearsal of it (see below).

On Zoom it's different. Zoom's web version doesn't let extensions reach your video on its way out, so Overlaysmith adds your image before Zoom receives your camera. Your own tile shows it too — backwards, because Zoom mirrors your tile. Participants see it the right way round. To see it correctly yourself, turn off Mirror my video in Zoom's video settings.

A 16:9 image — for example 1920×1080 — that is transparent wherever your camera should show through. Your image is laid over the whole frame, so where you put things in the image is where they appear on your video. PNG, WebP, AVIF and GIF all work. Larger images are resized automatically.

An image with a solid green background works too — the green is removed when you add it, like a green screen.

No image? On the Manage images page, Type a lower third makes one from a title, a subtitle and a color, and Describe one for an AI tool gives you a prompt for the AI image tool you already use (see below).

Platforms crop the sides of your video to fit their layouts. In a grid of squares, only the middle part of your frame is visible; on a phone in portrait, only a narrow middle strip. Everyone chooses their own layout, and there's only one outgoing video, so it can't be arranged differently for each viewer.

The image cards on the Manage images page show two pairs of guide lines. Keep anything important between the inner lines and it survives every layout, phones included. The page's Guide tab explains it in more detail.

Yes. Pick a different image, or Off, from the toolbar popup at any time. No rejoining needed.

Yes. On the Manage images page, under When a call page opens, choose Start with no image. Each call then begins with the overlay off, and you pick the image you want from the toolbar icon — handy if you switch between images, and a guard against joining a work call with last night's image still on.

Keep my last image on is the default: whatever you chose last is on at the start of your next call. Either way the toolbar icon is grey when the overlay is off.

Yes. Turn on Outgoing preview while you're in the call's waiting room or lobby. The panel shows your image on your camera, labelled Rehearsal · not sending — nothing goes out until your call starts sending video. When it does, the label changes to What participants see.

Participants may see your video cropped to fit their layout, so keep what matters between the inner guide lines.

Drag it out of the way: grab the panel by its top bar and move it anywhere on the screen. It stays where you put it for the rest of the call, and goes back to the corner the next time the page loads.

Amber: your image is being sent — this is what participants see.

Grey: nothing is being sent yet — a rehearsal before the call, or waiting for your camera. On Zoom it stays grey, because whether Zoom is sending at that moment can't be seen from the page.

Rust-red: the overlay has paused itself and your normal video is going out (why).

No. Screen sharing is never touched — only your camera video.

Yes, when the effect is already set before you join. Changing an effect during a call is handled differently by each platform: some carry on normally, some slow down, and on some Overlaysmith pauses itself and sends your normal video so your call isn't interrupted. The platform list says which is which.

Zoom is the exception: its blur and backgrounds are applied on top of your image, so blur softens it and a virtual background can replace it. Turn Zoom's effects off while you use an overlay.

Yes — add a veil. In Manage images, open the Add veil… menu on any image's card and pick white or dark, soft or strong. A veiled copy appears next to the original; choose it from the toolbar icon like any other image. The veil fades the sides of your video, where your room is, and leaves the centre clear. It costs nothing extra during a call, so it works when blur slows your computer or you'd rather not change effects mid-call.

It isn't a blur: detail fades, but bright things like a window still show, and it doesn't follow you, so a hand moved out to the side goes under it too. Phones show only the centre of your video, so they barely see it; wider views see all of it. A veiled copy can't be veiled again — two veils would stack into a solid wall.

Open the Manage images page and choose Describe one for an AI tool. Pick the kind of overlay — lower third, sign, side panel or frame — and click Copy prompt. Paste it into the AI image tool you already use, type what you want at the end, and save the image it makes. Then drop that image onto the Manage images page.

The prompt tells the tool where things must go so they survive the crop on other people's screens. The look — style, colors, wording — comes from what you type.

Any tool that makes images from a description. Most of them only make images when you're signed in. The one requirement is the file you get back: it needs a transparent background, or a solid green one if you chose Green screen.

A checkerboard you can see in the image is painted on — it isn't real transparency, and a JPEG can't hold transparency at all. Overlaysmith will warn that the image covers your whole video.

Choose Green screen instead of Transparent, copy the prompt again, and ask the tool for a new image. It will fill the empty areas with flat green, and Overlaysmith removes the green when you add the image — the import note says green background removed.

AI tools tend to make text wider than asked, so on phones the ends can be cut off. For lower thirds and signs, the Manage images page gives you a follow-up line: paste it into the same chat and the tool is asked to make the text fit the middle third of the frame. Some tools follow it well; others keep the same image, and a fresh attempt is the way to go.

Check the result against the guide lines on its card: text between the inner lines survives every layout.

Make the first version with Side panel, then use the follow-up line in the same chat to move the highlight to the next item, and so on — one image per step. During the call, switch images from the toolbar popup as you move down the list. A side panel sits at the edge on purpose, so it shows when people focus on you and is cut off on phones and in small grid tiles.

Turn off background blur and effects first. They run their own video processing, which competes with the overlay for your camera. If the problem continues, leave the call and rejoin with effects set the way you want them before you join.

Overlaysmith detected that the platform rebuilt its video — usually because a background effect was changed mid-call — and stepped aside so your camera keeps working normally. Your video is fine; the image is just off for this call. Leave and rejoin with the effect already set the way you want it, and the overlay comes back.

Overlaysmith redraws each frame of your outgoing video with your image on top, which most computers handle easily. On slower machines, combining it with heavy background effects can cause lag. If that happens, a lighter effect — or none — helps. To hide your room without an effect, use a veil.

The free version shows a small overlaysmith.com mark at the top center of your video while an overlay is on. It is never shown when the overlay is off, or when Overlaysmith has paused itself. Every feature is otherwise the same.

Buy the clean version: $1.99, once. No subscription and nothing to cancel. Payment is handled by ExtPay, an independent payment service for Chrome extensions.

Yes, on computers you personally use. The license is tied to the email address you buy with; sign in with the same email on another computer to unlock it there.

Email support@overlaysmith.com within 14 days of purchase. Refunds are handled case by case and processed through ExtPay. The terms have the details.

Only into the call you joined, exactly as it would without Overlaysmith. Your image is added on your own computer; the extension has no code that sends your video, images or calls anywhere else. There are no Overlaysmith servers.

No. There's no AI in the extension, and nothing on your video is generated or analysed. The prompt templates are plain text copied to your clipboard when you click Copy; you choose where to paste them. Overlaysmith never contacts an AI tool and never reads your clipboard.

On your computer, in Chrome's extension storage. They're never uploaded. Deleting an image removes it; uninstalling Overlaysmith removes everything. The privacy policy lists exactly what's stored.