Presenting in Zoom
This article covers the following topics:
Screen Sharing in Zoom
- The host and participants can share their screen by clicking Share in the meeting controls.
- Choose the screen you want to share. You can choose an application open on your computer, a web browser window, the desktop, a whiteboard, or an iPhone/iPad.
- (Optional) Enable these features:
- Check Share Computer Sound to any sound played by your computer shared in the meeting.
- Check Optimize for full-screen video clip if you will be sharing a video in full-screen mode. Do not check this otherwise, as it could make the shared screen blurry.
- Click Share.
Sharing a Portion of the Screen
-
Click Share Screen.
-
Select the Advanced tab at the top of the window.
- Click Portion of Screen.
- A green box will appear, to drag over the part of the screen you would like to share. Screen sharing will pause and the the box will turn orange as you drag it to a new location.
Share Screen Menu
When you start sharing your screen, the meeting controls will move to the top of the screen. You can click and drag this to another location on the screen if you would like.
The functions of these controls are described in the image above from left to right.
- Mute/Unmute: Mute and unmute your microphone.
- Start Video: Start and stop your video.
- Security: View options on how to manage the security of your meeting. See image below.
- Participants: View and manage the participants (if you are the host)
- Chat: View and manage the chat.
- New Share: Start a new screen share. You will be prompted to choose which screen you want to share again.
- Pause Share: Pause your shared screen
- Annotate: Display tools to annotate your screen
- More: Access a menu of less commonly used options, shown in the image below.
Other participants may report seeing gray boxes obscuring the screen while you are screen sharing. These gray boxes are the windows for your Zoom controls and chat. This can be fixed by changing your screen sharing settings:
- Click the green New Share button in the control panel.
- In the window that pops up, deselect Optimize for sharing video.
- Select the window you want to share, and click Share in the lower right hand corner.
For more information about screen sharing, please see this Zoom "Sharing Your Screen, Content, or Second Camera" documentation.
Sharing a Pre-Recorded Video
Zoom allows participants to share video with audio to participants.
- Click Share in the meeting controls.
- Select the video from the available screens. We suggest having the video open in a separate tab, to make it easier to find.
- Select Optimize for Full-Screen Video Clip from the bottom of the "Share" window. This should automatically select Share Computer Sound as well. If it doesn't, select that option as well.
- Click Share.
Sharing a PowerPoint
By default, your PowerPoint presentation will take up your whole screen, hiding the "Chat" and "Manage Participants" controls. Follow these instructions to contain your presentation in a browser window, rather than on a full screen.
- Open the PowerPoint you want to present.
- Click Slide Show in the top menu toolbar, then click Set Up Slide Show.
- Under "Show type," select Browsed by an individual (window) and click OK.
- Open your presentation by opening the "Slide Show" tab, then click Play from Start or Play from Current Slide.
Your presentation will display in a window. - Start or join the Zoom meeting you are presenting in.
- Click Share Screen in the meeting controls.
- Select the PowerPoint window and click Share.
For more information about screen sharing a PowerPoint, please see this Zoom "Screen Sharing a PowerPoint Presentation" documentation.
Chat
The chat function allows you to send messages to other users in a meeting. You can send messages to the entire group or to an individual. The host can choose to decide who participants chat with or disable chat entirely. The chat can be saved manually or automatically.
Accessing the Chat
- Click Chat in the meeting controls.
- This will open the chat window on the right of the meeting display. You can type a message to send to the entire group ("Everyone") or click the drop-down arrow next to "To:" if you want to send a message to a specific person.
- When new chat messages are sent to you or everyone, a preview of the message will appear and "Chat" button on your host controls toolbar will flash orange.
While Screen Sharing
- To open the chat while screen sharing, click More in the meeting controls and select "Chat."
- A floating chat window will appear.
- If you receive chat messages while screen sharing, the "More" button will flash orange.
Chat Settings
To change the chat settings:
- Click Chat in the meeting controls.
- Click the three dots to display in-meeting chat settings.
- You can access the following options:
- Save chat: Saves the chat as a file
- Allow attendees to chat with:
- No one: Disables chat
- Host only: Only the host can send messages to everyone. Participants can still send private messages to the host
- Everyone publicly: Participants can only send public messages, but can still send private messages to the host
- Everyone publicly and privately: Participants can send public or private messages to anyone
For more information about chat, please see this Zoom "Using In-Meeting Chat" documentation.