Screen sharing in Live Video Activities

Recollective's Live Video Interview Activity and Live Group Chat Activity support screen sharing for both the Host and the participant. Hosts can share their screen at anytime, while participants must be invited by the Host in order to share their screen.This article covers:

Screen Share Control

During a Live Video Activity, hosts will see the screen sharing option on the bottom of the screen next to the camera toggle and chat button:

Once selected, the host can choose to share their own screen or request that the participant share theirs. Participants will not see this control as they must be invited to share their screen. 

If invited, a pop-up message will appear to the participant asking them to share their screen:

If Screen Sharing Permissions have not been enabled for your operating system or browser, you will receive an error message prompting you to provide these permissions:

The process for enabling these permissions will vary slightly depending on the browser and operating system that you are using. Instructions for enabling these permissions on a variety of operating systems and browsers can be found HERE.

Choosing what to share

Once you have selected Start Sharing, you will need to choose what to share. 

Note: If you have a single monitor or display and plan on sharing your entire screen, make sure that you minimize the chat and directory first so that the participants do not see any backroom comments or observers.

If you are using  Firefox, you can pick from a Window or your Entire Screen. If you are using Google Chrome, you can pick from a Chrome Tab, a Window, or your Entire Screen. 

Tip: The option to share a Chrome Tab also allows you to Share audio. This option will broadcast the audio of that specific tab directly to participants and is ideal if you are presenting a video, podcast, or other content with sound. Learn more about screen sharing videos with audio.

Screen Sharing & Preview

You will get confirmation that your screen is being shared when your active share appears in the center Spotlight view and the other attendees' videos appear across the top. If you wish to return to Gallery view while screen sharing, simply select the View icon > Gallery View.

The screen share will appear behind a gray overlay to the person who is sharing. The gray overlay prevents the infinite repeating mirror effect one gets when sharing the screen on which the meeting is located. Participants, other Hosts, and backroom observers will see the shared screen without the gray overlay. 

If you wish to view your screen share as other meeting attendees see it, click on the Preview button. This will disable the gray overlay, but may result in the unpleasant mirror effect if you are sharing the screen on which the meeting appears.

Participant's webcam video  will remain visible to the Host and backroom observers. While screen sharing, the Host or participant can navigate to other windows, browsers, and/or tabs on their device. The browser and tab where the meeting is occurring must remain open for the duration of the meeting.

The screen share will end when the  Stop Screen Sharing option, or the Screen button is selected.

Picture-in-Picture

If you would like to detach the video so that you can display it on top of the screen you are sharing, you can right click on the participant’s video and select Picture-in-Picture. This will detach the video so you can keep it on top of all of your other windows. You can also resize the video if needed by dragging the corner:

With this setup, you won’t have to keep the Live Video Interview interface in view. You can move it or resize it and it will stay on top of the windows you’re using as stimulus.

Meeting Recordings with Screen Share

Upon completion of the meeting, all shared screens are included in the final recording with the participant's webcam inset along the bottom. The recording can be exported with or without the host's webcam which will also appear nested in the corner when included.

Browser and Device Support

Live Video Interviews are supported on desktop and mobile browsers, however, screen sharing requires a desktop browser. This limitation exists as it's not currently possible to screen record on a mobile device without installing a dedicated application. 
If only the host is on a mobile device, they can still request that the participant share their screen.
🗣️ Still have questions? Contact us or leave us some feedback on how we can do better!
Did this answer your question? Thanks for the feedback There was a problem submitting your feedback. Please try again later.

Related Articles