Sharing your screen or desktop on Zoom

Share your screen, desktop, or other content during a Zoom meeting, even while your video is on.

Screen sharing during Zoom meetings is designed with a collaborative environment in mind. This feature gives only the users, who choose to share their screen, full control over their own screen and what other meeting participants can or cannot see. Meeting hosts cannot monitor your screen activities unless you choose to share your screen.

Zoom video conferences allow you to share content, including:

Notes:

Requirements for video conference sharing

Notes:

Table of Contents

How to screen share during a Zoom meeting or webinar

Windows | macOS

Sharing your desktop, screen, or content

  1. In the meeting or webinar controls toolbar, click Share .
    The screen share modal will open. 
  2. At the top of the screen share modal, click Screens, Documents, or Advanced.
    Note: Some options may not be available if they are disabled by admin in account settings.
    • Screens tab
      • Share your entire screen or specific application windows. Hold the Shift key (macOS) or the Ctrl key (Windows) to select more than one application.
    • Documents tab
      • Whiteboard (classic): Share a classic whiteboard.
      • Docs: Share a Zoom doc to collaborate together during a meeting.
      • Document repositories: Share a file from a third-party sharing service like Google Drive or Dropbox. Follow the on-screen prompts to sign in to the third-party service and grant Zoom access. 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.
    • Advanced tab
      • Video file: Share locally stored video content through Zoom's native video player.
      • Second camera: Share a secondary camera connected to your computer; for example, a document camera or the integrated camera on your laptop.
      • 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.
      • iPhone/iPad via AirPlayShared your iOS screen through AirPlay.
      • iPhone/iPad via cable: Shared your iOS screen through a wired connection.
      • Portion of screen: Share a portion of your screen represented by a green border. You can adjust the border as needed during the share by clicking and dragging any side or corner.
  3. (Optional) In the Layouts panel on the right, choose from presenter layout options.
    Note: These options are not available to all screen share content types.
  4. (Optional) Below Share options, enable the following features as needed:
    • Share sound: If you select this option, any sound played by your computer will be shared in the meeting. Click the down arrow icon  to switch between Mono and Stereo (high fidelity) audio options.
    • Optimize for video sharing: Select 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.
  5. (Optional) Select Show Zoom windows if you want to the Zoom app during screen share, which can be useful if a participant is helping you use Zoom.
  6. 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.
  7. (Optional) On the meeting controls menu, hover over You are screen sharing, then click the drop-down arrow , to view the screen shared with your participants. To stop viewing the screen shared, click the up arrow .

Notes:

Controls when screen sharing

When you start sharing your screen, the meeting controls will move into a floating toolbar that you can move 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.

How to show Zoom windows during screen share

By default, the Zoom window is not shared while sharing your screen. Showing the Zoom window during screen share can be useful if a participant is helping you use Zoom.

To show Zoom windows during screen share:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
  2. In the navigation menu, click Settings.
  3. In the In Meeting (Basic) section, make sure Show Zoom windows during screen share is enabled. This setting will allow the setting to appear in the desktop app.
  4. Sign out of the Zoom desktop app and sign back in. Alternatively, you can exit the client and re-open it.
  5. Click your profile picture then click Settings.
  6. Click the Share Screen tab and make sure Show Zoom windows during screen share is enabled.

When using dual monitors

If you are using a dual-monitor setup, you can turn on the dual monitors feature to see the screen sharing on one monitor and participants on the second.

Note: On macOS 10.15 Catalina, you need to allow Zoom access to screen recording to share your screen. You can do this in your System Preferences. Select the Security & Privacy option, click the Privacy tab, scroll down to Screen Recording, and finally check the option for zoom.us.

Linux

Share your desktop, screen or content

To share your screen or content:

  1. Click Share Screen from your meeting controls.
  2. Select one of these screen share options:
    • Basic: Share your entire desktop, specific application window, or whiteboard.
    • Advanced
      • 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.
      • Music or Computer Sound Only: Only share your computer's audio (your selected speaker in your audio settings). Select the down arrow ˅ just to the right of Music or Computer Audio option to view audio options and switch between Mono and Stereo (high fidelity) audio options.
  3. (Optional) Enable these features, located in the bottom-left corner of the share window:
    • Share Computer 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 Computer Sound option to switch between Mono and Stereo (high fidelity) audio options.
    • Optimize Screen Sharing 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, you will see a notification banner stating Participants can now see your shared screen, or whatever you have chosen to share.
  5. (Optional) On the meeting controls menu, hover over You are screen sharing, then click the drop-down arrow , to view the screen shared with your participants. To stop viewing the screen shared, click the up arrow .

Notes:

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.

When using dual monitors

If you are using a dual-monitor setup, you can turn on the dual monitors feature to see the screen sharing on one monitor and participants on the second.

Zoom Web App

Sharing your desktop, screen, or content

To share your screen or content:

  1. Click Share Screen located in your meeting controls.
  2. Select the browser tab, app window, or entire desktop.
    Note: The process and window for choosing what to share varies slightly by web browser. Follow your browser's on-screen prompts to choose what to share.
  3. (Optional) In the bottom of the share window, click the Also share tab audio toggle to include any sound played by this browser tab in the meeting.
    Note: This option is currently only available with the Chrome web browser.
  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.
  5. (Optional) On the meeting controls menu, hover over You are screen sharing, then click the drop-down arrow , to view the screen shared with your participants. To stop viewing the screen shared, click the up arrow .

Notes:

Android

Note: Some of these options can be disabled in your account settings, under Integrations.

How to share content

To share content:

  1. Tap Share in the meeting controls.
  2. Tap the type of content that you want to share.
  3. Tap one of the following options.
    • Photos: Share a photo from your file manager or photo apps (e.g. Google Photos). Depending on the apps installed on your Android device, you may see different share options.
    • Documents: Select a locally stored PDF or image to share it.
    • Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or Microsoft OneDrive for Business: Select a file to share from the selected file sharing service. You will need to grant Zoom access to your account.
      Note: Only PDFs and images are supported.
    • Website URL: Enter a URL to open a browser and share the website.
    • Bookmark: Share bookmarks stored in the Zoom app.
      Note: Bookmarks are not synced with your account and are deleted when you sign-out of the mobile app.
    • Screen: Share a view of your phone's entire screen.
    • Camera: Allows sharing of your video camera or an attached webcam.
    • Share Whiteboard: Share a whiteboard you can annotate on.

How to share your screen

To share your entire screen, including any application on your Android device:

  1. Tap Share share-screen-button-green.png in the meeting controls.
  2. Tap Screen.
    The Android system will display a notification informing you of what the screen share will have access to.
  3. Tap Start Now to confirm.
    The screen share will start and Zoom will continue to run in the background. You can now choose the app that you would like to share.
  4. At the bottom of your screen, tap Annotate to open the annotation tools or tap Stop Share to stop sharing and go back to meeting controls.

How to share device audio

Note: Ensure that the sound generated by the app you are sharing is allowed to be captured by non-system applications. Some apps may block sound from being shared for security and privacy reasons.

To share device audio:

  1. Follow the instructions to begin sharing your screen.
  2. Tap the Share Audio option, found between the options to Annotate and Stop Share.
  3. Tap again to disable or tap Stop Share to end the share completely.
iOS

On iOS, you can share the following options:

Note: Some of these options can be disabled in your Account settings, under Integrations. If you need to share your entire screen on an older version of Zoom, see sharing iOS Applications.

How to share content

To share content:

  1. Tap Share Content share-screen-button-green.png in the meeting controls.
  2. Tap the type of content that you want to share.
    For example, if you select Google Drive, this will bring up a series of documents that can be shared.
  3. Select the document you want to share and then Share in the top right corner.
  4. The content is now shared into the meeting.

Notes: