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
- Choosing What to Share
- Screen Sharing & Preview
- Picture-in-Picture (IDI)
- Meeting Recordings with Screen Share
- Browser and Device Support
Screen Share Control
During a Live Video Activity, hosts will see the screen sharing option at 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.
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.
Screen Sharing & Preview
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 backroom observers, and will still be visible to the Host when viewing the meeting window. 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 (IDI)
If you would like to detach the participant video when conducting an IDI, so that you can display it on top of the screen you are sharing, right-click on the participant’s video and select "Picture-in-Picture." This will detach the video, allowing you to keep it on top of all 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.
