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OBS Plugin: Hide Desktop Icons While Streaming

       to protect your privacy when using Display Capture

Supported platform: Windows


Just a simple plugin that will automaticall hide icons on your desktop while streaming or recording is active. It does the same as toggling Show desktop icons in the right-click menu on the desktop.

When you start streaming or recording, the desktop icons will hide for the duration of your stream or recording. When Stop Streaming/Recording is clicked, the icons will show again.

If, for any reason, the desktop icons don't get restored again (due to a bug in this plugin or OBS crashing), you can always manually show the desktop icons by right-clicking on your desktop.

How it works

Click on Start Streaming/Recording button in OBS → desktop icons are automatically hidden

Click on Stop Streaming/Recording button in OBS → desktop icons are automatically shown

If you configured desktop icons to hide when recording or streaming, they will show only after both streaming and recording is stopped.

For example: if you're currently streaming and wish to record a highlight, you don't have to worry about your desktop icons showing when the recording is stopped, as the icons will be neatly hidden until you stop the long-running stream as well.

Help, I don't see my icons!!

Don't worry, it's very simple to fix 🙂

  1. Right-click on your desktop
  2. Select View
  3. Enable Show desktop icons as shown in the image below:

Windows desktop context menu

Configuration

This plugin can be configured by clicking on Tools in the OBS toolbar and then selecting AutoHide Desktop Icons.

By clicking on the checkboxes, you can configure desktop icons to hide while streaming or recording. The settings apply when saved, including if you're currently streaming or recording.

You can also configure to hide desktop icons only when a display capture source is visible.

Configuration window