Skype for business tip 4: Do Not Disturb… with some exceptions

Dear blog reader,

Would you like to improve your Skype for Business skills? Look no further – I’ve listed five useful Skype for Business tips for you. In this post, you’ll find my third tip about how to share your screen. You can find the other four tips here:

• Skype for business tip 1: Send messages with a shortcut
• Skype for business tip 2: How to send a meeting request
• Skype for business tip 4: Do Not Disturb… with some exceptions
• Skype for business tip 5: Tag for Status Change Alerts

A unique feature of Skype is its user-friendly functionality to share your screen, or even a specific window or programme, with a colleague or during a meeting.

In this blog post, I’ll give you a handy overview of the possibilities.

During a conversation or Skype meeting, you’ll notice a blue button with a TV screen icon on it. If you click it, you’ll see the following options:

Share your Desktop

This option lets you share your entire desktop. De andere Other participants can see everything you’re doing on your screen.kunnen alles mee volgen wat je aan het doen bent op je scherm. This comes in handy when you need to show them different applications or use several windows.

Please note: Always make sure no confidential information is visible when you share your desktop.

The recipient can click a button to take over your screen: ‘Request Control’. When someone clicks it, you’ll see the following notification:

If you click ‘Yes’, the other person will take over your desktop and be able to perform actions on it. This option is often used in support environments to show users something (like how a certain tool works).

You can always see the view the other party sees thanks to the yellow line that indicates this.

To stop sharing control of your desktop, click ‘Give control’ in the upper bar, then click ‘Take Back Control’ (1).

To stop sharing your desktop altogether, click ‘Stop Sharing’ (2).

Share a Window

This works just like the first option, but here, you can choose which applications you want to show. You’ll see this screen first:

Click the applications you want to share and click ‘Share’. The recipient only sees the application that’s currently open on your screen. You can also let them take control of your screen, but they can only control the applications you’ve selected that are open at that moment.

You can take back control in a similar way to when you’re sharing your desktop.

Share PowerPoint files

If you click this, the system will open your Windows File Explorer so you can select a PowerPoint file. Once you’ve selected a file, Skype will open it and share it instantly.

Participants can still take control of the presentation and they can view the slides in private mode.

Please note: Your PowerPoint notes are also visible to others!

Again, if you want to stop sharing your presentation, click ‘Stop Sharing’.

Add Attachments

This option lets you send attachments to your contacts. Sometimes, this option is turned off in line with company policies.

Shared Notes and My Notes

This lets you share notes via OneNote during the Skype meeting or just open your own notes.

More…

The ‘More’ option opens this screen:

You’ll find more information about these options in another blog post.

Manage Content

If you’ve shared several things during a meeting, you can view everything via ‘Manage Content’. For each piece of content, you’ll see options that let you share it again – or not.