Sharing your desktop, screen, or content

To share your screen or content:

  1. Click Share Screen  located in your meeting controls.
  2. Select one of these screen share options:
    • Basic: Share your entire desktop, specific application windows, whiteboard, or iPhone/iPad screen.
      Note: Users can select multiple desktop programs at once instead of sharing their entire desktop, but all selected programs must be on the same screen to be visible. Only the user employing this feature will need to be on version 5.4.3 or higher while viewers can be connected with older versions. Hold the Shift key on macOS or the Ctrl key on Windows to select more than one application.
    • Advanced
      • Slides / PowerPoint as Virtual Background: Allows you to utilize a slideshow presentation as your virtual background, providing a more immersive presentation.
      • Portion of Screen: Share a portion of your screen represented by a green border. The border can be adjusted as needed during the share by clicking and dragging any side or corner.
      • Computer Audio: Only share your computer's audio (your selected speaker in your audio settings). Select the down arrow  to the right of Computer Audio option to view audio options and switch between Mono and Stereo (high fidelity) audio options.
      • Video: Share locally stored video content through Zoom's native video player.
      • Content from 2nd Camera: Share a secondary camera connected to your computer; for example, a document camera or the integrated camera on your laptop.
    • Files: Share a file from a third-party sharing service like Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. Follow the on-screen prompts to sign in to the third-party service and grant Zoom access.
      Notes:
      • These options may be disabled by account Admins, so available options may vary.
      • Alternatively, you can open the file in a web browser then share the browser window. For example, to share a Google Doc, open the Doc in Chrome, then share the Chrome window. The end result is the same as using the sharing options in the Files tab.
  3. (Optional) Enable these features, located in the bottom-left corner of the share window:
    • Share sound: If you check this option, any sound played by your computer will be shared in the meeting. Select the down arrow  just to the right of the Share Sound option to switch between Mono and Stereo (high fidelity) audio options.
    • Optimize for video clip: Check this if you will be sharing a video clip in full screen mode. Do not check this otherwise, as it may cause the shared screen to be blurry.
    • Share to breakout rooms: Allows the host or co-host to share their screen from the main session directly into all open breakout rooms.
  4. Click Share.
    When the sharing process is started and 80% of devices acknowledge receiving the shared screen, you will see a notification banner stating Participants can now see your shared screen, or whatever you have chosen to share.

Notes:

  • Zoom will automatically switch to full screen to optimize the shared screen view. To exit full screen, click Exit Full Screen in the top-right corner or press the Esc key.
  • To disable automatic full screen when viewing a shared screen, adjust the Window size when screen sharing behavior in your desktop client settings.
  • If you selected Content from 2nd Camera, click Switch Camera in the top-left corner to switch the shared camera.

Controls when screen sharing

When you start sharing your screen, the meeting controls will move into a menu that you can drag around your screen.
Note: Some of the options detailed below may not be visible due to account admin restrictions or the feature is only visible to the meeting host or co-host.