Screen Share

• Go to Screens
• Find your screen
• Click the settings button (the gear icon) on the right side of the screen’s row
• The [screen name] settings window opens on the Settings tab
• Click Screen Share at the top of the window. It’s the third tab, after Settings and Information

Only team members with the Owner, SuperAdmin or Admin role see the settings button. Members don’t.

If your team is on the Essential plan, the controls on the Screen Share tab are grayed out. Hover over them to see This feature is only available in our Pro and Ultimate Subscription.

• Open the Screen Share tab (see above)
• Under Private screen share, click Start
• Choose what to share in your browser (see the next section)

The settings window closes as soon as the share starts, and the screen switches to your live picture.

Start is grayed out when the screen is offline. Hover over it to see Screen offline. Start the player app and check that the media player is connected to the Internet, then close and open the settings window again.

If something goes wrong when you start, a red message shows under Private screen share. If you click Cancel in your browser’s window instead of sharing, nothing changes on the screen.

When you click Start, your browser opens its own sharing window. It’s part of your browser, not part of Play, so it looks a bit different in every browser and on every computer. Usually you can choose between:

• A browser tab: only that tab shows on the screen. Good for a website, a dashboard or an online presentation
• A window: only that app window shows on the screen, for example PowerPoint or Keynote
• Your entire screen: everything on your computer screen shows, including notifications and anything you open

Pick what you want and click the button to share (often Share or Allow).

On a Mac, the first time you share, macOS may ask you to allow your browser to record your screen. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording (the name depends on your macOS version), turn on your browser, and then restart the browser.

Tip: In some browsers, you can switch to another tab or window while sharing, without stopping. Look for a button such as Share this tab instead in your browser’s sharing bar.

There’s no Stop button in the web portal. You stop sharing in your browser:

• Click Stop sharing in your browser’s sharing bar. In Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, it’s usually at the bottom of your screen. Other browsers show a sharing icon in the address bar or in the menu bar at the top of your screen
• Or close the tab or window you’re sharing

The screen goes back to its normal content within moments.

If you close the web portal, lose your Internet connection or your computer goes to sleep, the share also ends. The screen shows Screen share disconnected for a short while, tries to reconnect a few times, and then goes back to its normal content by itself.

With public screen share, you get a link for one screen that you can send to someone else, for example a guest speaker, a customer or a colleague without a Play account. They can share their screen to that screen without logging in.

• Open the Screen Share tab in the screen’s settings
• Turn on Allow public screen share
• The Public screen share link shows below, with the message Save screen settings for the public URL to work
• Click the copy button (the clipboard icon, Copy URL) next to the link. You’ll see Copied to clipboard
• Click Save at the bottom of the window. The link works from now on
• Send the link to your guest, for example by email or chat

The link looks like this: https://cast.playsignage.com/[screen code]. Each screen has its own link, and the link stays the same. If you open the settings window again later, you can copy the same link again.

Tip: Only send the link to people you trust. Anyone who has the link can show their screen on your screen while public screen share is on, at any time, without asking you first.

This is what your guest does. They don’t need a Play account.

• Open the public screen share link in a browser on a computer
• The Cast Screen page opens, with Ready to share to this screen. and the screen code
• Click Start sharing. The button shows Connecting… for a moment
• Choose a browser tab, a window or the entire screen in the browser’s sharing window, and click Share
• The page shows Sharing… keep this tab open. and the screen shows the shared picture within a few moments

Keep the Cast Screen page open while sharing. If it’s closed, the share stops.

If public screen share is turned off for the screen, or wasn’t saved, the page shows Public screenshare is disabled for this screen. Enable it in screen settings and save, then try again.

The guest can stop sharing in any of these ways:

• Click Stop sharing on the Cast Screen page
• Click Stop sharing in the browser’s sharing bar
• Close the Cast Screen page or the shared window

The screen goes back to its normal content. To share again, they click Start sharing again.

Turn it off when the guest no longer needs it, or if the link was sent to the wrong person.

• Open the Screen Share tab in the screen’s settings
• Turn off Allow public screen share
• Click Save

After that, the link no longer works. If someone tries it, the Cast Screen page tells them public screen share is disabled. If someone is sharing when you turn it off, their share should stop, and the screen should go back to its normal content within moments.

The link itself doesn’t change. If you turn public screen share on again later, the same link works again.

• The shared picture fills the screen as much as it can without stretching. If your computer screen and the TV have different shapes, you’ll see black bars at the sides or at the top and bottom
• While the connection starts, the screen may show Waiting for screen share… or Connecting to shared screen… at the bottom
• If the connection is lost, the screen shows Screen share disconnected and tries to reconnect. If that doesn’t work within a short while, it goes back to its normal content
• When the share stops, the screen goes back to its playlist and schedule

• Sound isn’t played on the screen. Screen Share shows the picture only. If your browser offers to share audio, it doesn’t make the screen play sound
• The picture is sent in up to Full HD (1920 × 1080) and up to 30 frames per second. The actual quality depends on your Internet connection and the media player
• There’s a short delay between your computer and the screen. It’s usually small enough for presentations and dashboards, but fast videos may not look smooth

Tip: To show a video with sound, add it to a playlist instead.

You need a computer with a browser that supports screen sharing. Up-to-date versions of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox and Safari on Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebooks should work.

Phones and tablets can’t share their screen from a browser, so Screen Share doesn’t work from an iPhone, iPad or Android phone.

You can check which browsers support screen sharing here: https://caniuse.com/?search=getDisplayMedia

Screen Share doesn’t need a special player. The player shows the live picture with its built-in browser, so it needs a player whose built-in browser is recent enough for live video (WebRTC).

• If the screen’s built-in browser is too old, you’ll see This screen’s browser is too old for screen sharing. at the top of the Screen Share tab. You can still try, but the share probably won’t show on the screen
• Older smart signage TVs and media players are the most likely to be affected. Updating the player app, or the TV’s or device’s software, may help
• The screen must be online
• If the screen’s display is turned off by a schedule (see Turn your TV on and off), the share won’t show

Tip: Test Screen Share on your screen before an important meeting or event.

• The live picture goes from your browser through Cloudflare’s live video service to the media player, over an encrypted connection. It isn’t recorded
• Only what you pick in the browser’s sharing window is shared. Sharing one tab or window keeps the rest of your computer private
• Private screen share can only be started by the Owner, SuperAdmin and Admin roles, from the screen’s settings
• The public link lets anyone who has it share to that screen without logging in, for as long as public screen share is on. There’s no password or approval step
• The public link never changes. To stop people from using it, turn off Allow public screen share and click Save

Important notes

• Screen Share is available on the Pro and Ultimate plans
• Only the Owner, SuperAdmin and Admin roles can open a screen’s settings, so only they can start a private share or turn on the public link. Members can’t
• The screen must be online. Start is grayed out when it’s offline
• Screen Share works one screen at a time. You start it from that screen’s settings
• You share from a computer browser. Phones and tablets can’t share
• There’s no sound on the screen during a share
• You don’t need to publish. The share starts right away and ends when you stop sharing, and the screen then goes back to its normal content
• Keep the web portal tab (or, for guests, the Cast Screen page) open while sharing. Closing it stops the share
• There’s no Stop button in the web portal. Use Stop sharing in your browser’s sharing bar
• If a schedule change or a new publish happens on the screen while you’re sharing, the screen may switch back to its playlist. Stop sharing and start again if that happens
• Public screen share is turned off for every screen until you turn it on. Remember to click Save after turning it on or off
• Anyone with the public link can share to the screen while public screen share is on. Only send it to people you trust, and turn it off when you don’t need it
• The Remove button in the settings window is grayed out while the Screen Share tab is open (Exit screen sharing tab to remove the screen). Go to another tab to remove a screen