When contemplating which Teams functionalities to write about each month, I like to explore the absolute latest developments and capabilities, or, more often than not, those which have not been rolled out yet. Most recently these have included Microsoft Connect (shared channels), Microsoft Loop and LinkedIn pairing.

This month however is different… I’m going to shed a well-deserved light on what I believe has been a hidden gem, a not-so-new but completely underutilised tool which happens to be a favourite of mine; requesting screen control in Microsoft Teams meetings.

You may not have realised, but you can request and take full control of someone else’s desktop or give a meeting attendee control of your own screen whilst you’re sharing content.

When in control of a colleague’s screen, you can have full use of your own mouse and keyboard to locate, point, type, drag and drop, move and highlight content, for all meeting attendees to see. Sound useful? We think so. Follow my guide below to get up to speed. Spoiler alert – this one is an easy one to master.

Requesting control of someone’s screen

When in a Teams meeting, the person’s screen you want to take control of has to be sharing content. In this case, our Events Co-ordinator Liane is walking me through a PowerPoint presentation AddIn365 is giving at a London conference next month.

Step 1:

Once your colleague is sharing content, hover your mouse over the top of your screen and click ‘Request Control’.

Step 2:

Once you have selected ‘Request Control’, a message box will appear asking you to confirm your action, simply click ‘Request’. You now have full accessibility in your colleague’s shared screen. The functionality works exactly the same as if you were working and editing on your own desktop, your mouse pointer is designated yours by a small, accompanying image of your profile picture.

Simply click ‘Stop control’, located at the top centre of the page to relinquish control.

Granting control of your own screen

Step 1:

Whilst sharing content in a Microsoft Teams meeting, hover your mouse over the centre top of your screen to make visible the control bar (pictured below). Select ‘Give control’, then click on the colleague’s name you would like to give screen access to.

Step 2:

Once selected your colleague will be notified and prompted to click ‘Accept control’. They can now use their mouse and keyboard to edit the content on your screen for all to see.

What’s next?

In my next blog I’ll be back to exploring the latest and upcoming Microsoft Teams tools so do hit the subscribe button to be emailed the next update.

And do let me know in the comments section below what you think of the screen control function, and what other capabilities you might like to see within Microsoft Teams to help streamline your work process.

You can learn more about how our Work Hub solution enriches Microsoft Teams for improved productivity and collaboration here AddIn365 – AddIn Work Hub

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We regularly share the latest capabilities and possibilities within Microsoft Teams and how to best utilise them. Our insights can be found here, on LinkedIn and on Twitter, so do give us a follow. Leave a comment below to ask your question about how to get the most out of your digital experience or email an enquiry to hello@addin365.com.