Use annotation while sharing your screen in Microsoft Teams
Desktop
A drawing or presentation can be annotated in a Teams meeting, powered by Microsoft Whiteboard, which is a powerful tool allowing you to collaborate on things like designs or presentations while sharing your screen.
Note: The annotation is available as a public preview as part of the program. However, the annotation might be modified further before it is ready for release to the public, so this is something that needs to be taken into account before release. It is important to switch to the Teams public preview if you want to be able to use this feature as well as other upcoming features.
Turn on and use annotation
There are meeting controls that can be found at the top of your screen, which allow you to start annotations while you are sharing your full screen in a meeting while you will have your meeting controls at the top of your screen.
Additionally, the red outline surrounding the shared screen will be turned blue, and all participants will have the opportunity to use the Microsoft Whiteboard tool set at the top of the shared screen, which contains a wide range of tools to help them collaborate in order to accomplish the project. There is a red pen tool that is selected by default in the meeting so everyone in the conference room can start annotating right away.
In order to first annotate the screen, you must first select one of the tools from the toolbox to do this, such as Sticky notes, and then you can start writing or drawing on the screen with the Whiteboard tool set.
Tip: You can take screenshots of the annotated content during the meeting so that you can refer to them later if you want to refer to them during the meeting. There is a possibility of starting annotating and screenshotting annotated content during a presentation on a Mac in the near future, so please keep an eye out for that opportunity.
Annotation settings
By definition, all names of the participants in a collaborative cursor will be displayed as default by default as soon as all names of the participants are enabled in the collaborative cursor. You can turn them off at any time during the meeting by anyone in the room. If you would like them to be turned off, follow these steps:
- Choose Settings from the drop-down menu.
- It is possible to turn off collaborative cursors by removing the toggle beside them and then turning it back on again.
Turn off annotation
The meeting control area near the center of your screen has a Stop annotation option that you can use to turn off annotation for all attendees in the meeting as well as the presenter. By selecting Stop annotation, you will be able to turn off annotation for all attendees.
Troubleshooting
The following steps can be taken if you are not able to use annotations when you are in a meeting:
1. There is an option for Settings in the upper right-hand corner of Teams, click on it and then select Settings General from the menu that appears.
2. In the Application section, you need to check the box next to Disable GPU hardware acceleration if you want to enable it (Teams will have to be restarted).
Mobile
When a presenter shares a presentation from their desktop, you will be able to annotate from your mobile device as a meeting participant.