Screen Sharing
One of the many helpful features of Zoom is screen sharing. Zoom allows users to share their screen to other participants in the call. This feature is useful for virtual presentations, collaborating online, and more. On this page you will learn how to:
- start your own screen share
- annotate on the presenter’s screen
- request remote control to take control of a presenter’s screen
Table of contents
How to Screenshare
This instruction set shows you how to start a screen share and select which screens to share.
- Host a Zoom meeting or join someone else’s Zoom meeting as a participant.
Click the “Share Screen” button at the bottom of the program.
Click one of the screens shown in the pop-up page to select which screen to share.
You can choose to share an entire monitor screen, a specific program, or an empty whiteboard for participants to annotate.
Note: If you want participants to hear audio from your computer, check the “Share Sound” box at the bottom left of the menu. By default, the “Share Sound” box is unchecked.
Click on the Share button at the bottom right of the pop-up screen to begin screen sharing.
While screen sharing, you will see this green bar on your screen. By default, this bar appears at the top of your screen.
When you hover over the text, you will be able to access more Zoom options. The menu bar contains all of the basic functions that were previously at the bottom of your Zoom program. This includes the “Mute”, “Start Video”, “Participants” buttons. In addition, this menu contains buttons for advanced screenshare features that will be covered later on this page.
Click and drag the green “You are screen sharing” bar to move the menu to another location on your monitor screen.
Moving the menu can be useful if you have a second monitor or if the menu is currently blocking something on your screen.
Click the “Stop Screenshare” button on the menu bar once you are done.
When you want to end the screen share, simply click this button and you will be taken back to the main Zoom meeting interface.
Advanced Screenshare Features
Zoom provides multiple options that allow other participants in the call to interact with a presenter’s screen share. This section of the instruction set will cover annotations and the remote control feature, and these instructions assume you are currently viewing another presenter’s screen.
Annotations
Annotating is a useful feature that allows the presenter or other participants in the Zoom meeting to draw or type on the presenter’s screen while screen sharing. These steps will introduce you to some of Zoom’s basic annotation features.
Click on the “View Options” button at the top of the screen share, then click “Annotate” in the dropdown menu.
After clicking this button, you will see an annotation toolbar.
Hover over the “Draw” button on the annotation toolbar and select a brush type to use.
Draw whatever you’d like on the presenter’s screen by clicking and dragging with your mouse.
You are able to draw lines, shapes, or freehand depending on the option you select in the draw menu. You can also change the drawing colour and line width by hovering over the “Format” button in the annotation tools and choosing an option. You can also use the “Undo” and “Redo” button in the annotation toolbar to undo/redo your drawings.
Click the “Text” button on the annotation toolbar.
Click anywhere on the presenter’s screen and type whatever you’d like.
When you are done typing a line, just click out of the text box to post the text to the screen. Similar to drawing, you can change text colour and size using the Format button. You can also use the “Undo” and “Redo” buttons when neeeded.
Click the “Eraser” button on the annotation toolbar.
Click on some drawings and text to erase them.
Click the “Mouse” button on the annotation toolbar.
The mouse button deactivates any selected annotation tools, allowing you to interact with the Zoom interface normally.
Click the red “X” on the right side of the annotation toolbar.
This will close the annotation toolbar and you will return to the regular screen share interface.
Remote Control
The remote control feature allows a user to take control of the presenter’s screen. After requesting remote control of the presenter’s screen, you will be able to control their mouse and keyboard virtually.
Click on the “View Options” button at the top of the screen share, then click “Request Remote Control” in the dropdown menu.
Note: This will send a request to the presenter asking if they want to let you control their screen. They will need to accept your request before you continue on with the next step.
Click anywhere on the screen share window to take control of the presenter’s screen.
You will be able to use your mouse and keyboard to control the presenter’s mouse or type on the screen.
Click on the “View Options” button at the top of the screen share, then click “Give Up Remote Control” in the dropdown menu to stop the remote control.
You are now comfortable with starting your own screen share and using the Annotation and Remote Control features on other people’s screen shares. Taking advantage of these features can give you much more flexibility during your Zoom meetings.
This is the last instruction set for our guide. Thank you for reading through our guide and we hope this knowledge has helped you.