How to Share Screen on Teams: Screen, Window or Slides

Below: which share to pick, the exact steps for a meeting, sound, PowerPoint Live and a chat, what viewers really receive, and what to try when sharing fails. Microsoft’s pages were checked on November 1, 2026.

Which share should you pick in Teams?

Teams offers four things to present. Pick by what the audience has to see. The wrong choice is the usual reason a share shows a notification, a second monitor or the wrong slide.

How to share your screen in a Teams meeting

1. Join the meeting or call. Sharing from a chat is covered further down.
2. In the meeting controls, select Share. The panel lists your screens and windows, then PowerPoint Live, Excel Live and Whiteboard.
3. Choose a screen to present everything on it, or a window to present one app and keep everything else private.
4. Move your cursor to the top of the shared screen if you need the presenter toolbar.
5. Select Stop sharing on the presenter toolbar when you are done.

Note: some third-party guides say Teams draws a red border around the shared screen. Microsoft’s pages don’t mention it, so treat it as unconfirmed and check your own screen. Source for the steps: Share content in a meeting in Teams.

Share only one window

Pick a window in step 3. If the window you want is missing from the list, it may be minimised: restore it first. A window share sends that window and nothing around it, which is why a notification, a sticky note or a drawing overlay sitting on top of it won’t reach viewers.

How to share computer sound in Teams

1. Before you share, select Share and turn on Include sound.
2. If you are already sharing, select Share audio on the presenter toolbar.
3. Silence notifications first. Microsoft says all computer sound, including notifications, is heard in the meeting.

Source: Microsoft Support, checked November 1, 2026.

How to present slides with PowerPoint Live

PowerPoint Live shares the file instead of your screen, so viewers get the slides at full sharpness and you keep your notes in front of you.

1. In the meeting, select Share. Microsoft’s PowerPoint Live page calls it Share content.
2. Under PowerPoint Live, choose your file, or select Browse OneDrive or Browse my computer.
3. Present. Your slides appear in the meeting with your notes beside them.
4. Use the Laser pointer, Pen, Highlighter and Eraser while you present.

Two things surprise people. Viewers can move through the slides on their own and select Sync to presenter to come back to you, unless you turn that off before sharing. And a meeting recording doesn’t capture videos, animations or annotation marks from a PowerPoint Live session. Anonymous users can’t present with it, and Teams live events don’t support it. Source: Present from PowerPoint Live in Microsoft Teams.

Want notes and the next slide on one monitor while the audience sees only the show? That is PowerPoint Presenter View, and the keys are on the PowerPoint shortcut sheet.

How to share your screen from a Teams chat

You don’t need to schedule anything: a chat share starts an instant call.

1. Open the chat and select More chat options in the upper-right corner.
2. Select Screen sharing and choose a screen, or select Window to pick one program.
3. Wait for the other person to accept the notification. They see your screen once they accept.
4. Unmute, or turn on your camera, to talk. A chat share opens a muted call.
5. Select Stop sharing in the meeting controls, or Leave the call window.

In a group chat the call keeps going until the last person leaves, and anyone can rejoin with Join in the chat. Linux can’t share a screen from a Teams chat at this time. Source: Share your screen in a chat in Microsoft Teams.

Give or request control

• To let someone click in your screen, select Give control. Select Take back to end it, and only give control to people you trust.
• To drive someone else’s share, select Request control, then Release control when you finish.

What viewers actually see in a Teams share

Teams sends the share at a size and frame rate that change with the content, inside a documented range. Sources checked November 1, 2026.

So a 4K display is shrunk before anyone sees it, and small text suffers most. Our scale arithmetic is on the screen share test, and if the picture still looks soft, follow Teams screen share blurry.

When the built-in way can’t: point, draw and zoom over your share

Teams shares what is on your screen. It doesn’t make a small pointer easy to follow or let you draw on the window you present, and the PowerPoint Live pen works only inside the slides. A free overlay fills that gap:

• Free: a cursor halo and a white flash on every click, so viewers never lose your pointer.
• Free: the Pen, Laser, Arrow, Text and Eraser, opened with Ctrl+Space or the docked toolbar.
• Free for your first 14 days: Live Zoom and Lens, which enlarge the part you are discussing instead of lowering your whole resolution.

Set up SHARA for a Teams share

1. Install SHARA free from the Microsoft Store. There is no account, and it waits in the background for a hotkey.
2. In Teams, select Share and choose Screen, not Window. A window share sends only that window, so SHARA’s ink on top of it isn’t included.
3. Hold Ctrl+Space to open the Wheel at your cursor and pick a tool, or use the docked toolbar.

When SHARA isn’t the right fit

It is Windows only, a window share won’t show it, and viewers can’t draw on your screen with it. For drawing together, use Teams’ own tool: see how to annotate in Teams.

If you can’t share your screen in Teams

• The Share button is missing or greyed out. You are probably an attendee. The organizer sets Who can present in the meeting’s Options › Roles (Roles in Teams meetings). Ask to be made a presenter.
• Nobody hears your video. Turn on Include sound, or use Share audio on the toolbar.
• The picture is blurry or choppy. That is usually the 1080p cap or a low frame rate: see the table above and the blurry-share fixes.
• Nothing helps. Run the screen share checklist, then ask your IT admin whether a policy blocks sharing.

Sharing your screen on Teams: FAQ