How to share screen on Teams

One of the great functions of a Teams meeting is the ability to share your screen with those in the meeting. This allows you to provide live demonstrations such as presenting a report, deliver a presentation or author a document live with your colleagues.

The share screen option is available for one-on-one meetings or scheduled meetings with large groups. I personally use the screen share function in every one of my online courses so that all participants can watch my demonstrations before they have a go themselves on their own computer system.

Start a Teams call or meeting

First thing we want to do is start a Teams call or meeting. For this example we are going to start a call with a contact.

1. Open Microsoft Teams and click the Chat button.
2. Select the person you wish to share screen with.
3. From the top right corner select the Video call button:

4. The person will need to answer your call:

5. Now that the call is connected, you will see the toolbar for the meeting.

Share screen in Teams meeting

Now that you are connected into a Teams meeting, you can choose to Share your screen with other attendees.

1. Click the Share button:

2. The Share content screen will appear.
3. Here you can choose what you want to share, your entire screen, or an individual program window. You can also choose to share apps such as Microsoft Whiteboard or Content from camera.
4. Choose the Screen or an individual program Window you wish to share:

5. A red border will appear around the screen or window that you have chosen to share. The other person will be able to see your screen and can even watch your mouse moving on the screen:

Give control of your screen

Another nifty option you can use when sharing your screen on Teams, is the ability to give other users control of your computer. Obviously this is a great tool to use for troubleshooting or technical issues where it may be easier to allow someone else access to your system to fix things but it also is important to remember that you should only ever give control to a trusted user – not even someone claiming to be from Microsoft who randomly called you, FYI this is a known scam.

To give control of your screen in a Teams call or meeting:

1. Make sure you have already shared your screen during the call or meeting.
2. Move your cursor to the top of the screen where you will see a notice saying “You’re sharing your screen”.
3. Hover over the notice till you see the meeting toolbar appear. (Unfortuantely it is not possible to take a screen shot of the screen sharing toolbar to show an example here).
4. Click the option to Give control.
5. You will see a list of people in the meeting, choose the person you wish to give access to.
6. The other person will now be granted control of your computer. When the other person moves the mouse, the cursor on your computer will move.
7. To cease control of your computer, move your cursor to the top of the screen till you see the meeting toolbar and click Cancel control.
8. Alternatively anyone in the meeting can go to the Teams toolbar and choose Take control. A request will appear on your computer where you will have to Give control, or you can Deny.

Now that you know how to share your screen in Teams, try it out in your next meeting to enhance collaboration. Have questions or tips of your own? Drop them in the comments below!