How to Share Your Screen on Zoom

Screen sharing is one of the most used features in Zoom, whether you are presenting slides, walking through a document, or showing something on your screen to a colleague. Here is how to start, control, and stop screen sharing in Zoom, including some useful options most people miss.

How to Share Your Screen (Basic Method)

1. Join or start a Zoom meeting
2. Click the green Share Screen button in the meeting toolbar
3. A window appears showing what you can share — your full Desktop, individual open windows, or other options
4. Click what you want to share and click Share
5. A green border appears around the shared content to confirm sharing is active

To stop sharing, click the red Stop Share button in the floating toolbar that appears at the top of your screen.

Share a Specific Window Instead of Your Whole Desktop

Sharing your full desktop exposes everything on your screen — notifications, other open documents, your taskbar. For most situations, sharing a specific window is more professional:

1. Click Share Screen
2. In the sharing picker, select the specific application window you want to share (e.g. your PowerPoint, your browser, a document)
3. Click Share

Only that window will be visible to participants. If you switch to another window, participants will briefly see a pause until you return to the shared window.

Share a Specific Browser Tab

Zoom lets you share a single browser tab, which is useful when you want to share a web page without exposing your other tabs or browser history:

1. Click Share Screen
2. Click the Advanced tab at the top
3. Select Web Browser — this shares a browser window without showing your other tabs

Share a PowerPoint Presentation

For presentations, the cleanest approach is:

1. Open PowerPoint before joining the meeting
2. In Zoom, click Share Screen and select the PowerPoint window
3. Start your slideshow in PowerPoint as normal

Participants will see your presentation in full screen. You can still see your Zoom controls in the floating toolbar at the top. If you are using Presenter View in PowerPoint, share only the presentation window — not your full desktop — so participants see the slides, not your speaker notes.

Using Zoom’s Whiteboard

Zoom includes a built-in whiteboard for collaborative drawing:

1. Click Share Screen
2. Select Whiteboard from the options
3. Click Share

Participants can annotate on the whiteboard if the host enables it. Go to More > Allow Participants to Annotate in the meeting controls.

Enabling Sound When Sharing Video

If you are sharing a video and want participants to hear the audio, tick the Share sound checkbox in the share screen picker before clicking Share. Without this, they will see the video but not hear it.

Can Participants Share Their Screen?

By default in Zoom, only the host can share their screen. To allow participants to share:

1. Click the ^ arrow next to the Share Screen button
2. Select Advanced Sharing Options
3. Under “Who can share?” select All Participants

Related Zoom Guides

• How to Record a Zoom Meeting
• How to Schedule a Zoom Meeting
• How to Use Zoom Backgrounds
• How to Share Your Screen in Teams