Share Screen does not allow choice of application window

[Mark_D]

I have been seeing an intermittent issue with Share Screen.  I am the host and usually when I click on Share Screen I see several windows that I can share, most of which are application windows, for applications I have open such as Word or Acrobat Reader.  But yesterday in a class I was teaching, I saw only three choices: Screen, Whiteboard, and iPhone/iPad.  I have seen this issue at least once before, but I am not sure what is causing it.  Can anyone help?  Thank you.

Mark

[RN]

Hey @Mark_D, check your Zoom web portal settings for Meetings --> https://zoom.us/profile/setting --> Disable "Disable desktop screen sharing for meetings you host"

[JoesDadU]

Edited...

I was having the same issue as Mark_D. I also went to that setting and already found it turned off.

Basically, Zoom was forcing me to share my entire screen, or not share at all, and the Screenshare Advanced Settings screen did not show any of my open Windows.        

UPDATE:

Resolved my issue, see separate reply, below. 

Hint:  there are 4 different places where you can affect the behavior of screenshares:  account settings, Zoom client app settings, Zoom settings on a separate device*, and finally In-Meeting Controls. 

* Separate device...You might use the Zoom app on your smartphone, if you switch back and forth between your PC and your phone (like when you are in a meeting, then you need to commute, then you arrive at your destination), but I'm pretty sure the phone apps don't let you continue screenshares initiated on another device.

My setup at the time of this issue:  Windows10Pro, Zoom Version 5.9.6 (3799) (64-bit), 8GB RAM

[Mark_D]

Thanks, good to know I am not alone.  One thing I did before this happened is that I changed my background.  I know I'm grasping at straws, but if you also did that it might be a clue.  Thanks again.  It hasn't happened since.  This is an intermittent bug.

[Mark_D]

OK thank you.  You mean disable disabling it?  It was already in the left-hand position (off), at least when I checked just now.

[JoesDadU]

EUREKA!

I'm pretty sure that I have figured out the answer to Mark_D's question (and mine).

We've been looking in the right place...Settings.   But there are actually 4 different places where you can check and/or change the settings which can affect a Zoom meeting.

1. Account Settings when you log in via the website (in my case, that's Zoom.us).   These are global settings that affect all future meetings, and IF AND ONLY IF you see a popup that says "Setting Changed" it sometimes will affect the settings of a meeting already in progress.  I think the "sometimes" here is based on whether anyone in that meeting joined via the website or Android vs. if everyone joined via a desktop client.
2. This is the part that I think we were missing.  The Zoom Desktop Client has it's own settings.  If you start your meeting as host using the desktop client (which is how I usually do mine), these settings take precedence over the Account settings, so they override those settings until you close and reopen the Zoom Desktop Client.  At that point, I'm not sure, but I think the Account settings MIGHT cause the Zoom Desktop Client settings to revert.
3. In the Zoom Android app (and probably in the Zoom iOS app, IDK), it's pretty much the same as in #2, above, except my Android app settings definitely do not revert to the Account-controlled settings when I turn off and then restart the Android app.
4. Finally, there are the in-meeting settings.  IF AND ONLY IF a setting is visible/available within the in-meeting settings, that setting can temporarily override the Account and Zoom Client and Android settings, but only for the current meeting.

So, what I figured out is this:  Because of my Account settings, certain settings were defaulting to on or off in my Desktop Client.  But I wasn't looking there, so here I was, looking at my In-Meeting Settings/Controls, and "suddenly, without explanation" (now explained), I no longer had as many options available in my In-Meeting Controls.  

See the attached images for the Zoom Desktop Client settings which fixed my problem.  Hopefully this will help you, too!

[Mark_D]

Thanks and I think you are right about this having to do with the desktop client.  I had started my session and then used the desktop client to change the background.  Thank you!  But I'm not sure what setting caused my problem.  I see that under "When I share my screen in a meeting" the option "Show all sharing options" is checked, but I don't know why that causes me not to see the application windows.  Again much appreciated.

[Pam_L]

I have the same issue, but today it happened during a meeting, in that I was able to share all applications at the start of the meeting, then I stopped sharing for a discussion, and when I went back in to share a new application, I was only given the option to share the screens.  It is really acting weird.  This problem has occurred only since I upgraded to Windows 11 but not sure if that was merely coincidental.

[Mark_D]

Sorry it's happening to you too!  For what it's worth, I am running Windows 10 Home, so I don't think it's specific to 11.

[JoesDadU]

As I said in my earlier comment (2022-03-03 06:34 AM),  I believed (and still do) that the core issue, here, is with the fact that there are 4 different places where we can change settings which affect how we screenshare.  I'd love it if Zoom corporate would chime in with a "decision tree" diagram showing order of precedence, exclusion, and predicate decisions.   In other words, it would be great to know which of these 4 settings locations must happen prior to another happening, which of the location settings can be decided on contemporaneously (and thus be able to toggle one another back and forth), and which of these 4 settings locations can actually prevent another decision location from having access to the full decision complex for screenshares.

What does this have to do with your issue, Pam_L?  Good question.  Something you said resonated with something Mark_D said in his original post.   You're both talking about being meeting Hosts at the time that this issue ocurrred for you.  Pam_L, you also mentioned that you were switching from sharing multiple applications, to not sharing, and back to sharing again.  So, I'm thinking about collaborative meetings involving multiple apps, and I'm wondering...

1) Is there anyone else who shares your company's Zoom account?  If so, could they have made a settings change at "zoom.us" during your Zoom meeting which simultaneously overrode your in-meeting settings/controls?  If someone else has corporate account access, they would not necessarily need to be a participant in your meeting to affect your meeting. 

2) I doubt this, because you didn't mention a co-host, and because you probably would have thought of this, yourself, but... did your meeting have any co-hosts?  Because co-hosts have the ability to change in-meeting settings.  A newbie with co-host privileges could have easily altered one of your settings by accident. 

3) To check if your issue is relevant to your recent upgrade to Win 11, you might try an A/B test.  On another computer which is running Windows 10, make sure it is running the same version of the Zoom client as yours, then log into zoom as yourself, duplicate your Win 11 Zoom settings on the Win 10 Zoom  setup, and watch whether the issue recurs.  If it's not just a Win 11 issue, you will find the same issue on the Win 10 machine.  Finally, 4) how were you connected to the internet?  Was it through a local server?  If so, someone may have been adjusting server settings, and they may have blocked one of the ports that affects multithreaded screenshares, probably without being aware that it could affect your Zoom meeting. 

[Pam_L]

Thank you for the tips JoesDadU, but it looks like all settings are correct at my end.  I've connected with Zoom support and it's now been upgraded up a tier in the support process. I have two computers with exactly the same zoom settings on both the zoom client and zoom account, and the problem is only happening on one of them.  And it is random - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  If support resolves this I will let you know.

[Jac_W]

I have experienced the same issue for the last week and it's driving me mad! Looks so unprofessional when hosting a meeting for work.  Seems to happen in larger meetings and I also have a white band keep coming up across the bottom of the laptop where the tool bar usually is.  

I'd be grateful if you would share any response you receive from Zoom Support.  Many thanks

[Pam_L]

I haven't had any solutions provided by zoom. One thing I just realized is that when this problem started a few weeks ago, I also started to get the attached icon popping up randomly on my taskbar.  I didn't know what it was and thought it was something windows 11 related, but yesterday I figured out it is the Zoom Share Host, and in a meeting yesterday it was not there at the start of the meeting when my sharing apps was working, and then halfway through the meeting when I lost the ability to share apps, that icon had appeared on the taskbar.  Is anyone else seeing that icon only when the app share is missing? 

[Jac_W]

For some reason I’m unable to open your png attachment to see, but I’m also experiencing intermittently, a white banner flashing  across the toolbar and seems the issue of the disappearing files to screen share happens after that. I was even wondering whether it was a network issue at one point. 

[Jac_W]

Hi Pam - guess no update from Zoom?  I'm still experiencing same issues despite following all instructions on their help chat line !

[Pam_L]

Hi Jac,

I guess it is a yes/no answer.  I upgraded to the version 5.10.1 and the problem seems to have been fixed.  However by coincidence I haven't had to share my screen a lot lately and haven't hosted any webinars, so I am not sure if I would notice if it wasn't working.  When I confirmed to Zoom support that I had downloaded this version but wasn't sure it yet if it would fix my problem, the agent more or less said "good and I'll mark the ticket as resolved and close it." !!??!!

In any event, I see that the auto-saving of the chats has started working again and on the zooms in the past few weeks I haven't had any sharing issues, so fingers crossed that they fixed the problem with the new version.  Also note that he sent me a program to totally clean out all traces of zoom on my computer before I downloaded the new version so you may need to do that.   

[Jac_W]

Thank you so much Pam.  I still had the same issues yesterday evening using latest software.  Like you I was instructed to do the same as yourself yesterday, so I'll see next meeting whether it has resolved and I'll post on here.  Very grateful for your assistance !

[CK_K]

Any word from Zoom Support?

I have been having this problem on and off in the last six months.  I am running 5.10.4.  Three days ago I was able to share a PowerPoint window in a one-on-one meeting.  Today in a group meeting of about 14 people, I could only share screens.

I am the sole owner of my Zoom account and did not change the settings between the two meetings.  I tend to believe that it's not what the user does that causes this 'can share screens only' problem but Zoom app itself.  I will submit a ticket myself if I don't hear anything here in two weeks.

[Pam_L1]

Hi

I connected with Zoom support and they finally provided a tool to clean out all zoom from the computer and then I reinstalled the program, and since then I have not experienced the problem.  I am in version 5.11.1.  (I think they fixed something at their end in the meantime but didn't admit it.)

I am not sure if simply updating your version will work but you can try it.  You may need to do the full clean out of all zoom components like I did.

[CK_K]

Thanks for the update, Pam.  I just updated to the latest version (5.11.4) as you suggested.  I will be doing more Share Screens in the next few weeks and will have a chance to see if the problem is fixed or not with this version of the Zoom Client.

While typing up this reply, it dawned on me that there was one difference between my two meetings.  I was using Recording when I started Share Screen in my second meeting (the one with the problem).  I will post my experience here in about a month's time.

[CK_K]

I have been hosting Zoom meetings about once a week in the last month.  This 'can share screens only' is unpredictable.  I did not use recording in any of the meetings.  Once I was able to share an app window.  All other times I could only share entire screens (I have two screens).

I am now convinced that it's a Zoom problem, not a user or setting issue.

[Pam_L]

Oddly I can't open it either.  Trying a jpg this time.

[Jac_W]

Thanks for trying with JPG Pam but still won't open in this forum for some reason.   

Like you I believe all my settings are correct, especially as I have capability to share everything I require when the meeting first starts and then it all disappears.    I have also reported to Zoom support, so fingers crossed they can address this soon.