Use SHARA with PowerPoint
To use SHARA in PowerPoint, start your slide show and hold Ctrl+Space to pick the Laser or Pen. SHARA draws on its own layer above your apps. Its halo also stays on screen while a slide show or Presenter View is in front, and on duplicated displays, instead of fading when idle.
Draw over a slide show#
Do this once before you present. SHARA is a transparent layer above your Windows apps, so it does not need a PowerPoint add-in. We have not tried every PowerPoint version, so run through it once on your own machine.
- Make sure SHARA is on. The halo follows your pointer, and Ctrl+Win+Z turns all of SHARA off and on.
- Start the slide show. On the Slide Show tab, choose From Beginning, or press F5.
- Hold Ctrl+Space and release on the Laser or the Pen. With a Chinese input language, use Ctrl+Alt+Space.
- Draw on the slide. The Laser trail fades by itself after about 2.6 seconds. Ctrl+Z undoes the last Pen stroke.
- Clear the ink before the next slide with Ctrl+Win+B, so old marks do not sit over new content.
PowerPoint has its own pen and laser (Ctrl+P and Ctrl+L). They are separate from SHARA’s and work only inside the slide show. Draw on PowerPoint while presenting lists Microsoft’s keys.
When the halo stays on screen#
By default SHARA hides the halo when you are idle or typing, so it does not sit on your work. In a presentation you do the opposite: you stand still while you talk. SHARA checks two things and pauses that auto-hide while either is true: a PowerPoint slide show or Presenter View is the window in front, or your displays are duplicated.
| Setup | Halo auto-hide | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| PowerPoint slide show in front | Paused. The halo stays visible. | Nothing. Draw as usual. |
| Presenter View in front | Paused. The halo stays visible. | Nothing. Draw as usual. |
| Displays duplicated (Win+P, Duplicate) | Paused. The halo stays visible. | Nothing. The audience sees what you see. |
| Displays extended (Win+P, Extend), another app in front | Not paused. The halo hides when idle, as in the default setting. | Click the slide show window, or set Automatic hiding to Never. |
| A Zoom, Teams or OBS window share | Not detected. The halo hides when idle. | Set Automatic hiding to Never for the call. |
The pause only stops the halo from fading. It never turns on a halo you switched off with Ctrl+Win+Z, and it does not change any setting.
Duplicate or extend your displays#
Press Win+P to open Windows’ projection menu. Its four modes are PC screen only, Duplicate, Extend and Second screen only (Microsoft Support, “How to use multiple monitors in Windows”).
- Duplicate shows the same picture on every screen. SHARA’s halo and ink are on that picture, and auto-hide stays paused.
- Extend gives each screen its own area. Auto-hide is paused only while a slide show or Presenter View is the window in front.
Draw on the screen the audience is looking at. In Extend mode that is the slide show screen; move your pointer onto it first.
Keep the halo always on#
If the halo still fades, for example in a Teams or Zoom window share, turn auto-hide off for the day.
- Open SHARA Settings from the tray icon.
- Click Halo display settings on the halo preview.
- Set Automatic hiding to Never. The halo then stays on screen until you turn SHARA off.
The cursor halo page explains Auto, Idle and Type, and the Inactivity timeout (1 to 60 seconds, 10 by default).
Questions#
Does the SHARA halo disappear during a PowerPoint slide show?
Why does the halo fade when I present on a projector?
Does my SHARA drawing get saved in the PowerPoint file?
Can attendees see SHARA in PowerPoint Live in Teams?
Is SHARA free to use with PowerPoint?
If it doesn’t work
If viewers cannot see your drawing, start with viewers can’t see your drawing. Sharing the slide show in a call: Teams and Zoom. The SHARA FAQ has the short answers.
More in Works with: SHARA with Teams · SHARA with Zoom · SHARA with Google Meet.