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pmaddern
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April 28, 2022
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Attendee couldn't share screen

  • April 28, 2022
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I attempted to have a Zoom meeting with a sole client in a large organisation here in the UK. They could see my screen share as the Host but when I asked them to share their screen, the client said that when they clicked on the 'share' button and selected the window to share (in this case their desktop), there was no icon that allowed them to proceed. I do software training and because of this issue, the connection was not practical and I had to abort the meeting.

 

Is this known issue with attendees in secure corporate environments?

    Best answer by Ray_Harwood

    I've never seen that... and tried to replicate with no luck, no matter what I selected in the Screen Share window.  If Screen Sharing is disabled for non-Hosts, they immediately get a warning pop-up, and never get to the "Select a window" screen. 

     

    Even being a few versions back on the Zoom client shouldn't affect something like this... the interface hasn't changed in ages.

     

    Not sure what the issue could be - sorry!  Would be interesting to see if this happens again with the same user.  I've had several presenters contact me saying "My screen share doesn't work", but it magically works when I walk them through the 3 steps.  Let me know if you figure anything out on this... it's interesting!

    3 replies

    Ray_Harwood
    Community Super Champion | Customer
    Ray_Harwood
    Community Super Champion | Customer
    April 28, 2022

    Hi, @pmaddern -

     

    I facilitate a lot of Zoom sessions, for my own use and for clients, and Screen Sharing issues have to be at the top of the list!

     

    I do find that new Zoom users and those that have not ever shared screens before are confused by the process/workflow required. 

    I always approach my Screen-Share coaching efforts with these three steps:

    1. "Click the green Share Screen button at the bottom.  You might have to hover your mouse near the bottom of the Zoom window to see it."  This step is rarely the issue... but you're probably not surprised that some people have a hard time getting even this far!
    2. "Locate the small representation of the window or application you want to share, and click on it to highlight it."  The subtle difference between Screens (I have 4 monitors!) and applications in the "Basic" window does confuse some people, but most are able to at least pick "Screen 1" and move on.
    3. "Find the BLUE 'Share' button located in the screen selection window, and click that BLUE button."  I find many people turn their attention again to the very bottom of the Zoom window, and NOT to the pop-up "Select a window or application that you want to share" window.  Emphasizing "the BLUE button" usually helps them find the right one, and one-click later, they're Screen Sharing!

    I'm unaware of any corporate environment setting that would directly affect any user's ability to go through these 3 steps.  Unfortunately I've always found these situations to be the result of confusion or lack of knowledge on the part of the user (I hate to say "user error").

     

    I hope that helps you in the future with your meeting guests!

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    pmaddernAuthor
    Newcomer
    April 28, 2022

    Thanks a lot Ray, I'm going to look into this again.

    P
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    pmaddernAuthor
    Newcomer
    April 28, 2022

    Now I recall that I think the attendee said the share icon was greyed out

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      pmaddernAuthor
      Newcomer
      April 29, 2022

      I've never seen that... and tried to replicate with no luck, no matter what I selected in the Screen Share window.  If Screen Sharing is disabled for non-Hosts, they immediately get a warning pop-up, and never get to the "Select a window" screen. 

       

      Even being a few versions back on the Zoom client shouldn't affect something like this... the interface hasn't changed in ages.

       

      Not sure what the issue could be - sorry!  Would be interesting to see if this happens again with the same user.  I've had several presenters contact me saying "My screen share doesn't work", but it magically works when I walk them through the 3 steps.  Let me know if you figure anything out on this... it's interesting!


      Update - hosted a meeting with the same client today with the same link as I gave the client the other day when I reported the client couldn't share. I set up the meeting as a recurring meeting with no fixed date. This time, the client was able to share after I gave her a screenshot showing the blue button she needed to locate after clicking on 'Share'. So the failure the other day must have been 'user error' after all.

       

      But then, there was another problem. When I clicked on the drop - down next to 'view options' on my side, there was no 'request remote control' option.  Neither did the client have a remote control icon in her Zoom menu with all the icons? In my In Meeting (Advanced) settings, 'Allow meeting host to provide 1:1 remote support to another participant' was enabled. Also  the setting 'Join from your browser link' I show as disabled, meaning the client couldn't have joined via the web version which I know has limitations versus the desktop version.

       

      I did establish afterwards that my desktop client from where I started the meeting was out of date and I have now updated it. However, when I tested this feature on two computers in my home office network, both the foregoing remote control options were available despite me running an older version of the desktop client at the time.

       

      Zoom is excellent but I feel it takes quite a bit of investigation to get things working at full stretch :)-

      Ray_Harwood
      Community Super Champion | Customer
      Ray_Harwood
      Community Super Champion | Customer
      April 29, 2022

      As I was reading your response, I thought, “sounds like an out of date copy of Zoom”.  I’ll stick with that, I think!

       

       Yes, I’ve said a number of times: “The good news is that Zoom is making frequent upgrades to the Zoom platform; the bad news is that they’re making frequent upgrades to the Zoom platform!” The old adage “gotta take the bad with the good” comes to mind.   I’ve learned a lot just by helping out on the Zoom Community. 

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