Helpful Tips for Screen Sharing

  • Save documents you plan to share to your desktop. In the event there is an outage of the file management service you use, you will want to have access to your documents.

  • Compress all images used in your slides to keep file size manageable.

  • If sharing anything with audio during screen sharing, be sure to click “Share Computer Sound” when selecting the item you plan to share; be sure to also click “Optimize Screen Sharing for Video Clip” if sharing a video.

  • For a smooth transition to screen sharing (w/ no notes), consider these steps (IMPORTANT NOTE: practice this well in advance of your event):

    • Open your presentation and enter slide show mode (i.e., full screen presentation with no notes visible)

    • To navigate back to Zoom, click F3 on a Mac or click the windows button on a Windows PC. This will allow you to move away from slide show mode, while still keeping the presentation ready for screen sharing.

    • Once you press "Screen Share", your presentation may appear multiple times (i.e., edit mode + slide show mode) as an option, be sure to select the correct version (slide show) for a seamless transition.

  • To screen share with notes visible, follow these steps: 

    • Open your presentation and enter slide show mode (i.e., full screen presentation with no notes visible); once there, look for a "Presenter Mode" option (usually visible in the lower left when clicking the "..." button. Each computer may be different so explore.

    • Be sure that your presentation is the only other thing that is open beside Zoom or that it appears right behind your Zoom window with everything else minimized. This method of screen sharing will default to showing whatever is open behind your Zoom window. If nothing is there, it will show your desktop.  

    • Once in presenter mode, navigate back to Zoom by clicking F3 on a Mac or clicking the windows button on a Windows PC. This will allow you to move away from slide show mode, while still keeping the presentation ready for screen sharing.

    • Upon clicking screen share, select the "Advanced" tab, then "Portion of Screen."

    • Drag and re-size the green box so that it wraps around only the area you want to share. The green box is an indicator of what the audience is seeing. An orange box means you have paused screen sharing.

  • Try to keep everything in one presentation. If you'd like to highlight a website, consider using a screen grab image in your slide deck rather than visiting the actual website.

  • Be mindful of the intellectual property rights of any photos, videos, music, etc. used in your presentation – do you have proper permission to use them?