I recently posted an introduction to using Zoom, tips on staying safe and secure on Zoom and other features (such as putting participants on hold and changing your background) but I though it was about time I wrote about some of the practical features such as sharing your screen, annotating and using the whiteboard.
Zoom – Annotating, Sharing your screen and using the Whiteboard
Sharing Your Screen
Sharing you screen is a useful feature for all sorts of reasons – whether you (as the presenter) want to run through a presentation, or you want to show someone else a problem you are having with your device or a specific application. During a meeting, you can share your entire desktop or phone screen, part of your screen or a specific application. (You can also share video from a secondary camera or audio from your speakers)
To share your screen –
- During a meeting, click on Share Screen in the meeting controls at the bottom of your screen
- You will then be asked to choose what you want to share
- In the Basic tab you can share your entire desktop, specific application window, whiteboard (see below) or iPhone/iPad screen
- The Advanced tab allows you to choose to share part of your screen (a green resizable box will show you the part of your screen that you are sharing), share music or computer sound only, (i.e. only share your computer’s audio – not your screen), or share Content from 2nd Camera (e.g. an integrated camera on your laptop)
- In the Files tab you can choose the location of a document to share (e.g. Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox)
- Optional – if you click Share Computer Sound, any sound played by your computer will be shared in the meeting with your attendees
- Optional – if you click Optimize for full screen video clip, you will share any video clip in full screen mode (Only select this option if you want to share a video clip as it may cause the shared screen to be blurry)
- Click on Share – Zoom will automatically switch to full screen
- To exit full-screen, click Exit Full Screen in the top-right corner (or press the Esc key)
Note – If you selected Content from 2nd Camera, click Switch Camera in the top-left corner to switch the shared camera.
The Share Screen Menu Bar
Note – By default, any participant in a meeting can share their video, screen, and audio. However, hosts and co-hosts can prevent participants from sharing their screen. To do this, in the host controls click the arrow next to Share Screen and choose Advanced Sharing Options. Under Who can share? select Only Host.
Annotating
You can use the annotation tools on a shared screen or whiteboard in Zoom.
Note – Before using annotation, make sure it has been enabled in the settings. In the Zoom web portal, click on Settings then click on the Meeting tab. Under Meeting (Basic), ensure that Annotation is enabled. (If the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it.)
Annotating (if you started screen sharing)
If you shared your screen or whiteboard, the annotation controls will be displayed. (If you don’t see the annotation tools, click Annotate (if you are sharing your screen) or Whiteboard (if you are sharing a whiteboard).
Annotating (if you are viewing a shared screen)
Click on View Options then choose Annotate.
The Annotating tools
Note – The Select, Spotlight, and Save options are only available if you actually started the shared screen or whiteboard.
Using the Whiteboard
The whiteboard feature will allow you to share a whiteboard that you (and other attendees – if allowed) can annotate (draw/write) on.
- Click the Share Screen icon in your meeting controls at the bottom of the screen
- Choose Whiteboard in the Basic tab
- Click on Share
- The annotation tools will be displayed – if you don’t see the annotation tools, click Whiteboard in the meeting controls to toggle them on and off
- You can use the page controls in the bottom right-hand corner of the whiteboard to create new pages and switch between pages
Note – Only the person that started sharing the whiteboard can create and switch pages.
I hope you enjoyed reading about annotating, sharing your screen and using the whiteboard in Zoom and learned something useful! If you aren’t a fan of Zoom, have a look at Zoom alternatives here. To sign up for zoom, click here.