Screen Sharing
Sharing sends what is on your screen to the people in your room, live. You can share to everyone, or give one presenter a different source from the rest.
What you can share
| Source | What it is |
|---|---|
| Display | A whole screen, with a live preview. |
| Program | The mix from the Studio. It is listed only when the Studio has inputs. |
| NDI source | Any NDI source the network announces. It needs NDI Tools installed; on Windows, without them no NDI sources are listed. |
| Virtual screen | A screen Cliqer adds for sharing, with nothing else on it. See Virtual screen. |
Cliqer's own windows are left out of every share, NDI feed and recording while the hide-from-capture switch is on (it is on by default). It is Hide Cliqer from screen sharing and capture on macOS and Content protection on Windows, both in Settings, General.
Start a share
Any of these opens or uses the Share Screen picker:
- Menu Room, Start Sharing... (Control-Command-S). While sharing, the same key and item read Stop Sharing.
- Menu Room, Share Display: one entry per screen, starts that display directly.
- The Dock menu item Share Screen....
- In Split View, the Room toolbar button Share (tooltip "Choose a display or window to share"), which becomes Stop Sharing. The Share Other Source menu lists NDI Sources (or "No NDI sources found") and Virtual Display.
- A presenter's Screen icon. If nothing is shared yet, it opens the picker for that presenter.
- Settings, Sharing, Share to everyone: turning it on opens the picker, and what you choose goes to the whole room, including people who join later. Turning it off ends that share.
The Share Screen panel is a floating glass panel in the middle of your main screen. It reads "Choose what the room sees", or "Choose what <name> sees" when you opened it for one presenter. It is one grid of tiles, each with a live picture (or an icon) and one name line:
- Displays: every screen, with a live preview once Screen Recording is allowed.
- Program: the Studio mix. Shown only when the Studio has inputs.
- NDI sources: one tile for each source the network announces, with a live thumbnail once Cliqer has connected to it. NDI sources are listed only while the panel is open.
- Virtual Screen: shown only while you have no virtual screen. Click it to add a 1920 x 1080 one, or right-click it for 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440 or 3840 x 2160.
Windows of other apps are not listed. Tiles show a LIVE badge on sources already shared, or In Studio on a display the Studio already captures. Use the arrow keys to move, Return to share, Esc or the x button to close. The footer reads "Arrows to choose, Return to share, Esc to close", or, without permission, "Allow Screen Recording for live previews of your screens." with Open Permissions.
- Windows layout: the Room page has a Share a display card with Share... and Stop (the title becomes "Sharing a display" while live). The command bar has Stop sharing.
- Classic layout: hover a presenter's lit Screen icon and choose More sources.... Use Share to everyone (below) to start a share for the whole room.
- Settings, Sharing, Share to everyone: turning it on opens the Share Screen window to choose what to share with the whole room, including people who join later, and cancelling leaves it off. Turning it off ends that share. It is off every time Cliqer starts.
The Share Screen window reads "Choose what the room sees", or "Choose what <name> sees" when you opened it for one presenter. It is the same grid of tiles as on macOS, with a live picture (or an icon) and one name line each:
- Displays: every screen, with a live preview.
- Program: the Studio mix. Shown only when the Studio has inputs.
- NDI sources: one tile for each source the network announces, with a live thumbnail once Cliqer has connected to it. They are listed only while the window is open, and none are listed when NDI is not installed.
- Virtual Screen: shown only while you have no virtual screen. Click it to add one. There is no size menu on Windows.
Windows of other apps are not listed. Tiles show a LIVE badge on sources already shared, or In Studio on a display the Studio already captures. Click a tile (or use the arrow keys and Return) to share it and close the window. The footer reads "Arrows to choose, Return to share, Esc to close". If Windows cannot list your screens the window says "Cannot list your screens:" with the reason.
In the Classic layout the banner has a virtual screen button: Add a virtual screen when there is none, Remove the virtual screens when there is one.
Virtual screen
A virtual screen is an extra display that Cliqer adds to your computer. Your computer treats it as a real screen: you can move windows and slides onto it, and share it to the room, while your own screens stay private. It keeps running until you remove it or quit Cliqer.
When a virtual screen is added, Cliqer tells you Virtual Screen Added, with its size, how to use it and how to remove it. How to Use It opens this section.
- Add: in the Share Screen panel, click the Virtual Screen tile for a 1920 x 1080 screen, or right-click it for 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440 or 3840 x 2160. Cliqer adds the screen and shares it to the room. You can also use the virtual screen button at the top of the Classic panel, or in Split View the Room toolbar menu Share Other Source, Virtual Display.
- Use: it shows up in System Settings, Displays, like any other screen. Drag windows or slides onto it, or open a presentation full screen on it.
- Share: pick it in Share Screen like any display, for the whole room or for one presenter.
- Remove: click the virtual screen button at the top of the Classic panel, or quit Cliqer.
- Add: in the Share Screen window, click the Virtual Screen tile, or in the Classic layout click Add a virtual screen in the banner. Windows picks the size. Each time you add one, Windows asks to let Cliqer make changes (a User Account Control prompt), because the screen comes from a display driver that needs administrator rights; choose Yes. Adding the screen does not share it.
- Use: it shows up in Windows Settings, System, Display, like any other screen. Drag windows or slides onto it, or open a presentation full screen on it.
- Share: pick it in Share Screen like any display, for the whole room or for one presenter.
- Remove: in the Classic layout click Remove the virtual screens in the banner, or quit Cliqer.
An output shown on a virtual screen (Program, Multiview or any Display output) is visible to a screen input or a room share of that virtual screen, because the capture is the only way to see it. On every real display, output windows stay out of every capture.
Sources for several presenters
Each presenter's Screen icon controls what that person receives. Turning it on gives them the source the room already watches, and the list under the icon (see Presenters and chat) changes it for that presenter alone. Turning it off ends their share only. Stop Sharing ends every share.
How many sources the room can watch at once depends on your plan:
Sources a room can watch at once
- Free trial1
- Pro2
- Ultra4
- Studio4
Sound with a share
Settings, Sharing, Share audio chooses what sound rides on a display share.
| Option on macOS | Option on Windows | What is sent |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Off | No sound. |
| Computer audio | Computer sound | Your computer's sound. |
| Microphone | Microphone | The microphone chosen in Settings, Audio. |
| Computer audio and microphone | Microphone and computer sound | Both. |
Windows adds the note that this is "What sound rides a room share made without the Studio." Sound from the Studio comes from its own mixer.
When Share audio includes the computer's sound, a device picker appears under it: Computer audio from on macOS, Computer sound from on Windows. The first entry is This Mac or This PC; the rest are inputs, such as BlackHole on macOS or Stereo Mix on Windows. On macOS each device in the list shows a live level meter. On Windows the picker has a Level check box beside it, with the tooltip "Show the level while you pick".
Picture quality
On macOS everything is in Settings, Sharing, section Video. On Windows the size and frame rate are on their own Video page and the bitrate and cursor are on Sharing.
| Setting | Values |
|---|---|
| Resolution (Windows: Program size) | 720p, 1080p, 1440p, 4K, 8K. A size above your plan's limit is marked as needing an upgrade, and Cliqer lowers the size if a plan lapses. |
| Frame rate | 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 or 60. It is locked while a DeckLink output runs, because the card sets the rate. |
| Automatic bitrate | On by default: the stream uses the preset rate of the Resolution above. Off shows your own rate: on macOS Bitrate, a slider from 500 to 20000 kbps in steps of 500 and read as "<n> kbps"; on Windows Bitrate (kbps), a number box from 500 to 20000. A custom rate stays when you change the size. |
| Show the cursor (Windows: Show cursor) | on or off |
The picture is H.264. The room stream and the Program stay within the resolution you choose.
Permissions
Sharing needs Screen Recording. Without it, the picker shows no live previews, and an attempt to share raises Screen Recording Is Off: "Allow Cliqer to record the screen in System Settings to share it." with Open System Settings. After you allow it, macOS applies it only to a new launch, so Cliqer offers Quit and Reopen. Sharing sound from a microphone needs Microphone. See Permissions.
"Sharing your screen needs no permission on Windows." A microphone share follows the Windows privacy setting for the microphone: Settings, Audio, Microphone privacy settings. If Windows blocks it you see Windows blocked access with Open Settings and Retry.
When a share ends
If a shared source goes away, Cliqer tells you Sharing Ended: "The shared window closed." or "<app> closed, so its share ended." If sharing cannot start you see Sharing Failed or, for a capture that stops, Screen Capture Failed with Retry (macOS). A virtual screen that cannot be added gives Virtual Screen Not Created.