Screen Sharing

While in a meeting, you can share the following content:

• Entire desktop or phone screen
• A specific application (or Window)
• A portion of your screen
• Whiteboard
• Audio from your speaker
• Video stored on your computer
• Video from secondary camera
• iPhone/iPad screen

If you have an extra monitor you will see two “screens” (as in the example above).

The difference between sharing a ‘Screen’ or a ‘Window’

• If you share a “Screen” or desktop, you can switch between windows and applications and people see it all.
• If you share a “window”, the screen sharing will only show that window. In fact, if you then close that window, screen sharing stops.

Whatever you share will be surrounded by a thin green rectangle.

Sharing SCREEN

This is your entire desktop (or “Screen”) … and everything in it … from the very top to your “taskbar” at the very bottom. So people will be able to see everything on your screen. And, as you switch between windows/programmes, they will see that as well.

Sharing a specific Window

This is a single document, open in a single “Window”. So a Word document, or an Excel document, or a PowerPoint slideshow, or a browser (Google, Safari, FireFox etc) showing a web page or showing a YouTube video, or a photo/picture on your computer (as in this example).

And they will see just that window – even if you overlap it on your screen with other windows

Settings available in the web (in your account) via a browser

Settings available (in your account) during the meeting

Settings for Screen Sharing available during a Zoom meeting

Three things to try to avoid saying

1. “Oh, sorry, I can’t find it … just a moment … while I …” – see the ‘Before the meeting’ section below
2. “I hope I can make this work” – if you can, try to avoid saying this. While there may be an empathy in the “room” for using (struggling with) technology and Zoom, it doesn’t inspire confidence in you as a presenter. So practise, practise, practise. And you can even practise on your own with your computer (as you) and your smart phone (as a participant) – see Using multiple devices on a Zoom event
3. “Can everyone see that okay?” – test it before the meeting with a colleague and/or co-host – and see the Top Tip below in ‘consider using a co-host’ section

Before the meeting

Close all unneeded “windows” or programmes first (so less to search through)

Consider putting copies of all documents you’ll need into a separate folder

Consider bookmarking all the web pages you’ll need in one place

Have all documents, web pages that you want to share in the meeting already open and full screen

Consider using a co-host

Top Tip: ask someone in the meeting to be your “spotter”. They will interrupt you if they can’t see (or can’t see properly) what you are screen sharing. So you can assume things are working unless they say something. Avoiding the oh so common “can everyone see that okay?”

Especially if you’re giving more of a talk, with some fixed diagrams/documents etc consider getting a co-host to do the screen sharing for you. they will, of course, need copies of documents and/or links beforehand.

This is especially important when sharing your screen, as you can’t easily see the chat etc. at the same time.

Consider putting all your content into a slideshow

Then a simple click moves to the next screen

Warning – they may miss you

If you share the screen for too long or it becomes irrelevant to what you’re covering it’s good to come back to your speaking face.

Remember that some people may be using tablets (with smaller screens) or even mobiles (with very small screens) – so remember KISS – keep it simple – not too much text, use a large font and zoom in where possible.

Think Landscape – not Portrait

Computer screens are Landscape – so consider creating documents to share in landscape, to take up as much of screen as possible.

If sharing in Landscape, remind participants using tablets and phones to turn their devices on their side to make the most of their screen.

Fit the surrounding window to the image

Set up the Window that contains your document (image, Word, Excel, video) so that it fits (as best you can) exactly what you want to share …

So when it is displayed on participants’ screens it looks it’s best …

How to move and resize your windows

VIDEO for PC: move and resize windows for PC [3 min] – only watch until 3.10 (anything after this is unnecessary and advanced)

VIDEO for Mac: move and resize windows for Mac [4 min] – only watch until about 3 min (anything after this is about more advanced tricks)

VIDEO for Mac: move and resize windows for Mac [4 min]

“Zoom” your image to make it the right size to share

Use the “View” menu (if the program has one) to zoom into the bit you want to share

GENERAL TIP: To scroll up and down through a document (Word, Excel, Web page) you can use: your “mouse wheel” or two fingers on your pad (other methods on different devices)

ZOOM TIP: To “Zoom” in and out of screens hold down the “Ctrl” key (or “Cmd” key for Macs) and then “scroll up/down” (as described above). This will “Zoom” in and out.

Display full screen

Use “full screen mode” when possible – so your content takes up all the screen – PDFs, Word and some browsers (Google Chrome, Safari etc) allow you to do this

Hide the “Ribbon” on Office programs

Share just a “region” of your screen

For part of a document or if you have a large resolution screen

• Click ‘Advanced’ Tab
• Click ‘Portion of Screen’
• Click ‘Share’
• You’ll now see a green rectangle …
  • click-and-drag the top to move it round your screen
  • click-and-drag the edges to change it’s size

The view of the person doing the Screen Sharing

While screen sharing (from a Mac or Windows computer/laptop), video of the other participants will move to an adjustable video panel.

Note: If you can’t see the video panel, click the ‘More …’ button on your menu and click ‘Show Video Panel’.

You can move this video panel around and change the layout using the small buttons at the top (see image).

Help from Zoom on Video layout options while screen sharing

Participants view (tablets and phones)

If sharing in Landscape, remind participants using tablets and phones to turn their devices on their side to make the most of their screen.

Participants view (computers and laptops only)

They should initially see the screen share on the left, side-by-side with a grid of participants on the right …

And they can click and drag the dividing line between them, to make one or other take more screen space.

If the participants’ videos are along the top of their screen, they can click ‘View Options’ at the top of their screen (next to the green message – “you are viewing XXX’s screen”) and then click on ‘Side-by-side mode’ …

Help from Zoom on Side by Side Mode for Screen Sharing

If they still can’t see the dividing line, but the videos are down the right side (e.g. MacBook pro seemed to have this problem) – still get them to go click ‘View Options’ at the top of their screen (next to the green message – “you are viewing XXX’s screen”) and then click on ‘Side-by-side mode’

Sharing a video stored on your computer (or connected device)

New as of Feb 2021

e.g. downloaded video, recorded on your phone

• Click on the ‘Advanced’ tab
• Click on ‘Video’ and ‘Share’ (or double-click on ‘Video’)
• Search for and open the video on your computer (or connected device – like USB stick)
• Participants will now see the video
• Adjust volume if necessary and press Play

This is MUCH simpler than opening the video in a video player on your computer, and then sharing that window (and remembering to turn on “Share computer sound” and “Optimise for video clip” – this feature does all this automatically)

Sharing a video on YouTube or Vimeo etc

See the next section for details of this

Sharing audio

e.g. YouTube video (where people don’t need to see the images), recorded sound file, downloaded music track

Click on the “Advanced” tab at the top of the share screen page

Click on “Music or Computer Sound Only”

You do not need to (in fact cannot) turn on “Share computer sound” as described above, as it’s assumed to be needed by Zoom and is automatically enabled. This ensures that the sound gets sent directly from computer to computer.

Singing or playing an instrument

For this there is a different option called “Preserve Original Sound”

Built into Zoom is an “audio enhancement” feature that reduces background noise, cancels echo, and maximises the spoken voice (rather than the dynamic nature of music).

This feature is on by default, and though it’s excellent for regular conference calls, it adversely affects the quality of audio over Zoom calls.

If it’s not on,

• Click on the up arrow next to your microphone icon on your menu
• Click on ‘Audio settings’
• Click on ‘Advanced’
• Turn it on (see image …)

Article on how to preserve original sound

Youtube: Optimize Zoom Audio Settings for a Remote Music Lesson [3:40 mins]

YouTube and Vimeo videos are usually displayed in a window along with lots of other information and other video suggestions. And you just want to share the video itself.

So there are three ways of doing this.

1. Share the video “URL” (or address) via the Zoom Chat and let everyone play the video on their own computers – you will have to Mute everyone for this otherwise everyone will hear the audio of everyone else’s video playing! [see yellow areas in picture]
2. Share a “Region” of your window (that contains the video) [see green area in picture]
3. Use “Full Screen” mode in YouTube or Vimeo and share your screen (this requires knowledge of how to switch between windows) [see red area in picture]

IMPORTANT: Whichever you choose, when you’re ready to share, make sure you turn on “Share computer sound” and “Optimise screen sharing for video clip” (the two tick boxes at the bottom left of the Zoom Screen Share window).

How to share the video URL

• Copy the URL or address from your ‘address bar’ at the top of your browser window (the yellow area in the picture above)
• Paste into Chat
• Remember to Mute everyone

How To Upload & Share YouTube Video On Zoom [2.50 mins] – the first part of this video shows you how to share the video URL with people via Chat

How to share just a region of your screen

How To Upload & Share YouTube Video On Zoom [2.50 mins] – the second part of this video shows you how to share just a region of your screen

• Click ‘Advanced’ Tab
• Click ‘Portion of Screen’
• Click ‘Share’
• You’ll now see a green rectangle …
  • click-and-drag the top to move it round your screen
  • click-and-drag the edges to change it’s size

How to turn on “Full Screen” mode in YouTube or Vimeo

Both of these players have a “Full Screen” button at the bottom right of each video (see button highlighted in red in the picture above)

And remember, to return to normal, press ‘Esc’ on your keyboard.

How to switch between windows/apps when in Full Screen mode

On a PC

Use the Alt+Tab key combination (while holding down the ‘Alt’ key, tap the ‘Tab’ key, once or multiple times, to see each window you have open in turn.

Video about switching between windows or Apps on a PC [2.20 mins] – just watch up to 1 min – it includes using Alt+Tab and using the Taskbar (which you won’t see if you have your video in Full Screen).

On a Mac

Use the Cmd+Tab key combination – while holding down the ‘Cmd’ key, tap the ‘Tab’ key, once or multiple times, to see each window you have open in turn.

Excellent video about switching between windows or Apps on a Mac [3.30 mins]

The whiteboard feature allows you to share a whiteboard that you and other participants (if allowed) can annotate/write/draw on.

The annotation tools will appear automatically, but you can press the Whiteboard option in the meeting controls to show and hide them.

Use the page controls in the bottom-right corner of the whiteboard to create new pages and switch between pages.

Note: Only the participant or host that started sharing the whiteboard has access to create and switch pages.

You can save the Whiteboard as a picture file and distribute it later.

This is an extract from https://harvard.service-now.com/ithelp?id=kb_article&sys_id=4c3290f6db5b845430ed1dca4896197f

If you usually do “boardwork” as part of a class session, you have a number of options.

Try the basic Annotation Tools (text box, free form draw/pen, shapes, and highlighter) to guide students or explain a concept.

Screen share a camera input so that two cameras can be used at once during a Zoom meeting, with one focused on your writing. You can also join your Zoom meeting on your phone to be able to use its camera as a second camera.

Use the Whiteboard feature, which works best when used with a tablet and a stylus.

Create a PowerPoint slide or other simple backdrop file on which you can type notes, and share those notes using Screen Sharing.

Create a “shared board” — perhaps managed jointly with teaching fellows — using Google Drive.

Prerecord the illustration as a video, then play it during class.

As you think about these options, keep in mind whether you need the boards to persist and be distributed to the students after class.

When you are Screen Sharing, you (and others) can “draw” on the screen – this is called “Annotate” and displays an extra menu …

IMPORTANT: to return to controlling the screen – click “Mouse” on the far left of the Annotate menu

Warning when scrolling

Any marks you make with the annotate tool stay on the screen where you draw them. So if you scroll up or down or go to another page, the marks you drew stay in the same place on the screen. they do not scroll with the document.

What it looks like on a Tablet or Phone

And below is what it looks like on a phone and on tablet (although larger of course).

People need to tap their screen to display the Annotate button (Pencil) and tapping this displays the Annotate menu

If people want to see the other participants during screen share, they can swipe left …

An example of using Annotate

… for “non-business purposes” – with my Grandson …

We now have a separate page for this topic

You cannot share your screen in separate breakout rooms – just in the one room you’re in.

However, you could share text and/or a link to an online document in Chat and people can then use copy and paste OR open the document and switch screens.

This might be a little complicated for some people – but hopefully one person in each room will be able to do this … and people can ask for Help from you if no-one in the room can do this.

See Breakout rooms for further details.

You can even share your actual Zoom screen with people

• Go to your local settings
  • next to your Video button is a small up arrow – click on this
  • Choose “Video Settings”
• Choose “Share Screen” on the far left list
• Tick “Show Zoom Windows during screen share”

Buy an extra webcam (camera)

So you can quickly switch between camera views (using the Zoom video button – bottom left) – depending upon what each camera is pointing at:

• A flipchart or whiteboard that you can freehand draw on (both need to be well lit and the latter can suffer from reflection on the screen
• To where you are standing rather than sitting
• Another person in the room