Use MY cursor when someone ELSE is sharing screen

[BlakeS]

This question doesn't seem to exist anywhere on the internet. So hope someone has an idea to this. Scenario:

I am the host. my guest shares screen. I want to use my mouse cursor to point things out. NOT remote sharing, NOT me controlling actions on guests screen. Simply a movable pointer/cursor to tell guest where to go/click.

Does anyone know if this is possible?

[newl · Accepted solution]

Hello @BlakeS ,

You can accomplish what you want during Screen Sharing using the "Annotation" feature.

Zoom's annotation will allow you to use an "Arrow" to show/highlight an area of the screen to the the other meeting attendees without controlling thier mouse.

I have added a link to the Zoom documentation that can walk you through the process of using annotation.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115005706806-Using-annotation-tools-for-collaboration

Hope this helps!

@newl 

[amyfeit]

The arrow is okay, but you would have to place an arrow and then erase it.  Other screen sharing softwares allow you to use your mouse to guide people through a complex problem (i.e. while using a program) by showing your mouse and pointing out where to click.  Is there any features like this available currently?

[user291026]

I agree with Amy. When I am tutoring students and attempting to help them visualize the movement of data in a computer program, the arrow that requires placing and erasing is insufficient, and drawing a curved arrow is time consuming, and doesn't become visible on the student's computer until I've finished drawing the arrow. Simply displaying the current position of my cursor on the student's screen would be a far better option.

[user291026]

I agree with Amy. The arrow that requires placing and erasing is not sufficient in situations where I'm tutoring computer science students and I'm trying to help them visualize the movement of data in a program. Drawing a curved arrow with the pencil tool is better, but it's time consuming and the arrow doesn't appear on the student's screen until I've lifted the left mouse button, so they can't see the path I was trying to describe until I've already drawn the whole thing. Adding an option to display the current position of my mouse cursor on the student's screen would be a much better option.