Slack has now given paid users the ability to share their screen in a Slack video call. To use the feature, follow these three steps:
- Start a Slack call by clicking the phone icon toward the top of the screen.
- In the call, click the share screen icon toward the bottom of the call screen.
- If you’re using multiple monitors, choose which screen you want to share.
At this point, you should be sharing your screen. However, for a detailed look at these steps, read below.
SEE: Slack: The smart person’s guide
On May 16, Slack officially unveiled the addition of screen sharing to video calls in a company blog post. The feature could go a long way to making Slack more competitive against incumbent conference call systems from companies like Cisco and Citrix.
It’s important to note at the onset that, at the time of this writing, screen sharing is only available only the paid version of the Slack desktop apps for Mac and Windows, according to the post. Users will not be able to screen share through the browser-based version of Slack. Additionally, admins must have the Slack calling feature enabled for their team in order to use screen share, the post said.
To start a screen share, the first step is to start a call. On the left-hand side of the screen, select the channel or direct message you wish to call. To begin the call, simply click the phone icon at the top of the screen.
Once the call is connected, the user must click the share share screen button at the bottom of the screen. It is the icon that looks like a little monitor.
At this point, the screen share should be active. However, if the user wishing to share their screen has multiple monitors, Slack may ask them to choose the screen they wish to share.
All of the Slack users on a call will see the entire screen of the presenter, along with the movements of their cursor. The presenter’s video feed will be disabled during the screen share, and brought back once the screen share ends, the post said. Additionally, the presenter’s Slack notifications will be muted during screen share, so other viewers can focus on the presentation.
To end the screen share, simply click the blue screen share icon at the bottom of the screen.
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