How to Share Screen on Teams: 2026 Guide
To share screen on Teams: select Share in the meeting controls, flip on Include computer sound if there's audio, then choose a screen, a window, PowerPoint Live, Excel Live or Whiteboard from the tray that slides up. Done in two clicks.
What makes Teams different is what sits next to the screen thumbnails. PowerPoint Live, Excel Live and three presenter modes are right there in the same tray, and most people scroll past all of them for years.
Share content in Teams, step by step
- Select Share in the meeting controls — the icon is a rectangle with an arrow pointing up out of it. The tray opens along the bottom.
- Pick a presenter mode first if your camera is on. Content only, Standout, Side-by-side and Reporter sit at the top of the tray, and the choice has to come before the content.
- Toggle Include computer sound if you're about to play anything with audio. It's off every time you open the tray.
- Choose what to present: a screen, one window, a PowerPoint file, an Excel workbook, or Microsoft Whiteboard. Recent decks appear in the tray already.
- Stop when you're done. A red border marks what the room can see, and Stop sharing lives on the small presenter bar.
PowerPoint Live, Excel Live, and the rest of the tray
PowerPoint Live is the one worth changing your habits for. Instead of broadcasting a picture of your monitor, Teams streams the deck itself: you get speaker notes, the next slide and the chat, the audience gets only the current slide. They can scroll ahead or back at their own pace without hijacking you, screen readers read real text rather than pixels, and it's lighter on hotel Wi-Fi.
Excel Live does the same for a workbook in OneDrive or SharePoint: everyone can edit the sheet live inside the meeting, with no desktop handover. Microsoft Whiteboard gives the room an infinite canvas. Plain Screen and Window remain the right answer for anything that isn't an Office file.
| What you're doing | Choose this | Why it wins |
|---|---|---|
| Running a deck for an audience | PowerPoint Live | Notes stay private, viewers navigate freely. |
| Building a budget with the room | Excel Live | Everyone edits the real workbook. |
| Collecting ideas quickly | Microsoft Whiteboard | Canvas persists after the call. |
| Demoing an app or website | Window | Other windows and alerts stay out of frame. |
| Switching between several tools | Screen | Nothing drops out when you alt-tab. |
| Playing a video or recorded demo | Screen or Window + Include computer sound | The only combination that carries audio. |
| Any of the above, camera on | + Standout mode | Your face stays on the content. |
Presenter modes: the feature almost nobody turns on
Turn your camera on before you open the tray and three layouts appear beside Content only. Standout cuts your background away and drops your video onto the content, bottom corner. Side-by-side puts you next to it against a shared backdrop. Reporter sits the content over your shoulder like a news graphic, which works well for short updates.
All three adjust mid-share: from the minimized view, choose Edit your view to move your video, resize it or swap the background. Presenter modes need the desktop app on Windows or Mac.
Try this on your next all-hands: Standout with PowerPoint Live is the closest thing Teams has to a broadcast studio, and it costs nothing. It also solves the problem of a presenter vanishing into a 90-pixel thumbnail the moment they start sharing.
Include computer sound, and where it isn't offered
Teams doesn't route system audio into the meeting unless you tell it to. Include computer sound is the toggle, it lives at the top of the share tray, and it resets to off every time. Flip it on before you share, or use the same control on the presenter bar once you're already sharing.
The part that catches people: the toggle isn't available while you're sharing PowerPoint Live or Whiteboard. A deck with an embedded video plays silently for the audience. If your slides carry audio, share the PowerPoint window instead and accept losing speaker notes for those few minutes.
One warning: that toggle sends all of your system audio, notification chimes included. Put your machine in Do Not Disturb before you share sound.
Giving control and taking control
While you're sharing, the presenter bar has Give control — pick a name and that person gets your mouse and keyboard. From the other side, a viewer selects Request control and waits for you to allow it. Take it back from the same bar.
Two limits. Both people historically needed the desktop app; Microsoft has since added the ability to take control from Teams on the web, but only when the sharer is on the desktop client, and not in one-to-one calls. And for external participants, whether they can request control depends on a policy applied to the meeting organizer, not to them.
Browser or desktop app: what actually changes
This trips up more people than anything else here. In Teams for the web, screen sharing works in Chrome and Edge only; Safari and Firefox don't support it. Presenter modes aren't there, and giving control needs the desktop app on the sharing side. If you're the one presenting, install the app first.
On macOS there's one more gate whichever client you use: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording must list Teams, and Teams needs a restart after you tick it. A share that starts but shows a black rectangle is almost always this.
Sharing from the Teams mobile app
Tap More options (the three dots), choose Share, then Share screen. On iPhone and iPad, tap Start Broadcast and grant the system broadcast permission the first time; on Android the confirmation reads Start Now. Tap Stop presenting back in Teams to end it.
The same menu also offers a photo, a video or a PowerPoint file directly, which is nearly always the better choice. A phone share broadcasts everything, notification banners included, so switch on Do Not Disturb first.
Sharing into a Teams Room
In a room with a Teams Rooms system you have three routes: plug into the HDMI or USB-C content port on the console, which works even without a meeting; use Teams cast from the desktop app, which finds the room over Bluetooth beaconing; or, on Windows Teams Rooms and Surface Hub, use Miracast if your organization has enabled it.
If you also joined from your laptop while sitting in that room, mute the laptop mic and speakers first, or everyone remote hears a howl.
When Share is missing or greyed out
- You're an Attendee, not a Presenter. Easily the most common cause. The organizer changes Who can present in Meeting options, or promotes you from the participant list mid-call.
- An admin policy blocks it. Teams meeting policies include a screen sharing setting admins can disable, or narrow to single-application sharing. Nothing in the meeting overrides that.
- You're external, guest or anonymous. What outside participants can do follows the organizer's meeting options and their organization's policies, not yours.
- Wrong browser. Firefox and Safari won't give you a working Share in the web client.
- Someone else is presenting. Teams shows one share at a time.
- OS permission. Check the macOS setting above; on Windows, restart the app before assuming a policy issue.
One clarification, because people conflate the two: a share leaves no file behind. For a recording, see recording a Teams meeting, then how to download a Teams recording once it lands in OneDrive. Presenting the same material on the other platform this week? Here's how to share your screen on Zoom.
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The bottom line
Teams rewards the two seconds it takes to read the whole tray instead of grabbing the first thumbnail. PowerPoint Live makes a deck easier to follow, Excel Live turns a spreadsheet review into a working session, Standout keeps a face on the content. None of it costs anything.
Frequently asked questions
How do I share my screen on Microsoft Teams?
Select Share in the meeting controls to open the share tray, then pick a screen, a window, PowerPoint Live, Excel Live or Microsoft Whiteboard. Turn on Include computer sound in the tray first if your content has audio. A red border marks what is live, and Stop sharing ends it.
What is PowerPoint Live in Teams and how is it different from sharing your screen?
PowerPoint Live streams the deck itself rather than a picture of your monitor. You see your notes, the next slide and the chat while the audience sees only the slide. They can also move through the deck at their own pace and use a screen reader on the text. Computer sound is not available in this mode.
How do I use presenter modes in Teams?
Turn your camera on, select Share, and choose Standout, Side-by-side or Reporter under Presenter mode before you pick your content. Standout drops your cut-out video onto the content, Side-by-side puts you beside it, and Reporter places the content over your shoulder. Presenter modes need the Teams desktop app on Windows or Mac.
Why can nobody hear my audio when I share content in Teams?
Include computer sound is a separate toggle in the share tray and it is off by default. Switch it on before you start sharing, or use the same control on the presenter bar afterwards. It is not offered at all when you share PowerPoint Live or Microsoft Whiteboard, so use screen or window sharing for audio-heavy content.
Why is the Share button greyed out in a Teams meeting?
Most often your role is Attendee rather than Presenter. The organizer can fix it from Meeting options by changing Who can present, or by promoting you from the participant list during the call. If that does not help, a Teams admin policy may have screen sharing disabled for your account, which no in-meeting setting can override.
Can I share my screen in Teams from a browser?
Yes, in Chrome and Edge. Safari and Firefox do not support screen sharing in Teams for the web. The browser client also drops presenter modes, and giving control needs the desktop app on the sharing side. If a meeting depends on any of that, join from the installed Teams app instead.
