How to Enable Screen Sharing for Participants on Zoom as a Host

Many Zoom meeting participants cannot share their screen. This is because Zoom only allows the host or a co-host to share their default screen. If the host wants other participants to share the screen as well, they must enable screen sharing for the participants. This is exactly what we will guide you through.

When screen sharing is disabled for participants in Zoom, they will receive a notification that says “The host has disabled screen sharing for participants.” To resolve this issue and allow others to share the screen, the host must grant permission to share screen.

So if you are the host of a Zoom meeting, the following steps will help you to enable screen sharing for the participants. Let’s see how to enable screen sharing on Android, iOS, and desktop. We’ll cover the steps for one-on-one meetings first, and then turn on screen sharing for all meetings by default.

How to enable screen sharing for participants on Zoom on the desktop

You can allow participants to share their screen for the current meeting using one of the following two methods.

Method 1

When you have joined a Zoom meeting, click the Security tab in the bottom bar of the Zoom window. Under “Allow participants to”, click the Share screen to activate it. Once activated, participants will have the option to share the screen.

Pro tip: Likewise, you can enable or disable other features for participants such as chat, the ability to rename and reactivate from the Security setting.

Method 2

Once you’ve joined a meeting, click the little arrow next to the Share Screen option. Select Advanced sharing options.

A pop-up window will open. Click All Participants under the Who Can Share setting. Click the Close (X) icon in the dialog box to save the setting. Other participants can now share their screen.

Tips for screen sharing on the desktop

As a host, you have several other privileges regarding screen sharing. You can allow multiple participants to share screens at a time instead of just one. To do this, click on the small arrow next to Screen sharing. Then click on the option “Several participants can share simultaneously”.

Likewise, when you click on Advanced sharing options and enable screen sharing capability for all participants, you can change who can share the screen when someone else is sharing. The two options are only the host and all participants. Select according to your needs.

How to enable screen sharing for attendees on Zoom on Android, iPhone and iPad

To allow screen sharing for current meeting participants as host on mobile and tablet, follow these steps:

Step 1: Join your Zoom meeting using the host account.

2nd step: Touch the Settings tab. Select Meeting Settings from the menu.

Step 3: Activate the button next to the Share screen under the Allow participants to section.

Pro tip: As the host you can turn chat on / off or revoke participants’ power to reactivate and rename from the same screen.

Ask meeting attendees to check back now. They should be able to share their screen using the Share button on their Zoom apps.

How to enable participant screen sharing for all meetings

The methods above allow you to enable screen sharing for the current meeting only. If you are hosting multiple meetings as a host where participants need to share their screens, you can enable a default setting for the same functionality on your account. This way, all meetings that you run as a host will have screen sharing enabled for all participants.

To do this, you need to open your Zoom account settings on the Zoom website. Here are the steps:

Step 1: Open the Zoom website and sign in with your Zoom account.

2nd step: Click Settings on the left sidebar.

Step 3: On the Meeting tab, click In Meeting (Basic).

Step 4: Scroll down and you will find the screen sharing settings. First, turn on the toggle next to Screen Sharing. Then choose All Participants under Who Can Share.

Troubleshoot: Zoom screen sharing not working

As a participant in a meeting, if you are greeted with the message “The host has disabled screen sharing for participants”, you must first notify the host. He / she may have forgotten to activate the setting. In case they enabled it and you still get the same error, leave the meeting and join it. That should fix the problem. If that doesn’t resolve the issue, sign out of your Zoom account, sign in, and join the meeting.

If you don’t get this error but still can’t share your screen, you need to restart your device (mobile or PC) first. Then follow the correct steps to split screen on Zoom.

Also make sure that you are running an updated version of the Zoom app and that screen sharing is compatible with your device or not. Zoom supports screen sharing on Android devices running Android 5.0 or higher and iOS devices running iOS 11 or higher.