Screen Sharing
The basics of sharing your screen on Zoom are summarized below. Please reference this list of Zoom support pages related to screen sharing Links to an external site. for more information.
How to share your screen
As the host, you can share your screen at any time by clicking the green Share Screen button:
You should see this button at the center of the toolbar:
Sharing your entire screen
To share your entire screen, open the Share Screen menu and select Screen. All participants in the Zoom meeting will see almost exactly what is on your screen (but they will see their own Zoom window and settings, not yours).
You may want to close out of any applications with pop-up notifications (e.g. email) before using this option.
If you are using two monitors, select the screen you would like to share. Zoom will number them for you, and the one that is selected will be indicated by a rectangle like the one shown below for Screen 1.
Sharing a portion of your screen
To share only a portion of your screen, open the Share Screen menu, click the Advanced tab, and select Portion of Screen.
After you share a portion of your screen, a green box will appear. You can move the box and adjust its size. Participants in the Zoom meeting will see only what is inside that box (nothing else on your screen).
Sharing a specific application (e.g. presentation, website, etc.)
To screen share a specific application, open the Share Screen menu and select the desired application window. When you do this, all participants in the Zoom meeting will see only that application (nothing else on your screen).
Sharing so you can see your speaker notes
If you select Portion of Screen when you share your screen as described above, you can share only the slides but still be able to reference your speaker notes. You can do this with your presentation by opening your slides as shown above or running Presenter View/Slideshow mode.
Alternatively, if you are using two computer monitors, you can enable the Dual Monitor feature and share only the slideshow window (see Viewing Options During a Meeting).
These are simple ways to be able to see your speaker notes on Zoom meetings, but you could also use PowerPoint Live or use Presenter View with Google Slides. You can find more information here:
Sharing videos
To play a video, click the Share Screen button and select the application window where the video will play. If your video is embedded in a PowerPoint, select that window.
Be sure to select Share Computer Sound at the bottom-left corner of the Share Screen window if you want the Zoom participants to hear the audio. (If you forget to do this, you can either start a new Share Screen and select this option, or you can click More on the menu bar and select Share Computer Sound.) You can also select Optimize Screen Sharing for Video Clip and/or use lower video quality settings in your video player (e.g. 480p rather than 1080p) to prevent video choppiness and lagging.
If you need students to watch long videos, consider allowing them to watch on their own computers rather than screen sharing the video to avoid video quality problems like those described above.
Can students and participants share a screen?
Depending on the settings of a meeting, participants may or may not be able to share their screen. The host can change these settings at any time by clicking the green ^ next to the Share Screen icon. If sharing is enabled for participants, students can share their screen in the main session and in breakout rooms.
You do not need to make someone the host of a meeting to give them screen sharing permission. Instead, you can enable screen sharing for participants (as described above) or make particular users co-hosts of the meeting. (Only certain features and settings are available to the host. You don't want an invited speaker to be the host of the meeting and have to stop their talk to manage the Waiting Room or handle other Zoom logistics!)