FeaturesDownloadsPricingBlog
Add to Chrome — Free
screen sharingchecklistprivacyhow-to

The Complete Screen Sharing Checklist: 30 Seconds to Total Privacy

A practical, bookmarkable checklist to run before every screen share. Covers notifications, browser cleanup, desktop prep, and content-level blurring.

Published 2026-02-20-Updated 2026-03-03-5 min read

Short answer

A practical, bookmarkable checklist to run before every screen share. Covers notifications, browser cleanup, desktop prep, and content-level blurring.

Direct answer

a practical, bookmarkable checklist to run before every screen share. covers notifications, browser cleanup, desktop prep, and content-level blurring and follow the step-by-step approach in this guide.

Bookmark This Page

This is the checklist you run before every screen share. Not a guide. Not an explanation. Just the steps, in order, with the keyboard shortcuts you need. Bookmark it. Open it before your next call. Run through it in thirty seconds.

If you want the reasoning behind each step, the links throughout this checklist point to detailed guides.

Before Every Screen Share (30 Seconds)

Step 1: Enable Do Not Disturb (5 seconds)

macOS: Click Control Centre in the menu bar. Click Focus. Select Do Not Disturb. Shortcut: Hold Option and click the date/time in the menu bar.

Windows 11: Click the date/time area. Toggle on Do Not Disturb. Shortcut: Win+N to open notification centre, then toggle DND.

Windows 10: Click notification icon (bottom-right). Click Focus Assist. Select Alarms Only.

This suppresses all notification banners from every application. It is the single most important step.

Step 2: Close Non-Essential Applications (10 seconds)

Close every application you are not presenting. Not minimised. Closed. Applications can restore themselves from a minimised state.

macOS: Cmd+Q quits the active application. Repeat for each app you do not need. Windows: Alt+F4 closes the active window. Repeat.

Check the system tray (Windows) or menu bar (macOS) for background apps: messaging clients, email, personal tools, music players.

Step 3: Prepare Your Browser (10 seconds)

Option A: Switch to a clean browser profile. If you have a dedicated "Presentations" profile, switch to it now. This eliminates bookmarks, history, and autofill as exposure vectors.

Option B: Clean up your current browser.

  • Close all tabs you are not presenting. Ctrl+W / Cmd+W per tab.
  • Hide the bookmarks bar: Ctrl+Shift+B / Cmd+Shift+B.
  • Open only the tabs you need for the presentation.

Our privacy tips guide covers browser profile setup in detail.

Step 4: Blur Sensitive Elements (5 seconds, if applicable)

If the page you are sharing contains sensitive data (sidebars, data tables, name fields, credential panels), blur those elements now.

  • Open ContextBlur.
  • Enable blur mode.
  • Click each element you want to hide.

If you have auto-blur rules set for this domain, they are already applied. Verify they are active.

Learn more about element-level blurring. For a comparison of tools that support this, see our Chrome extensions guide.

Step 5: Choose Your Sharing Mode (2 seconds)

When the conferencing tool asks what to share:

  • Best: Share a specific tab (Google Meet, Chromium browsers)
  • Good: Share a specific window (Zoom, Teams, Webex)
  • Avoid: Share your entire desktop (exposes everything)

Step 6: Verify (2 seconds)

Preview your shared screen for two seconds before speaking. Confirm nothing unexpected is visible.

Platform-Specific Quick Reference

Zoom

  • Share button → "Advanced" → Select window or tab
  • Built-in DND: partial (only suppresses Zoom notifications)
  • Platform guide: Zoom privacy settings

Microsoft Teams

  • Share button → Select "Window" (avoid "Desktop")
  • Built-in DND: Yes (auto-suppresses Teams notifications during presentations)
  • Platform guide: Teams privacy settings

Google Meet

Slack Huddles

  • Share screen → Select window if available
  • Built-in DND: No (must enable manually)
  • Platform guide: Slack Huddles privacy

Webex

High-Stakes Meeting Additions

For client calls, recorded sessions, or meetings with external participants, add these steps:

Additional Step A: Desktop Cleanup

  • Set a neutral wallpaper (no personal photos)
  • Hide desktop icons (macOS: Terminal command, Windows: right-click → View → uncheck)
  • Auto-hide the taskbar/dock

Our desktop hiding guide covers OS-specific instructions.

Additional Step B: Verify Recording Status

Ask whether the meeting is being recorded before sharing. If it is, ensure all sensitive data is obscured. Recordings are persistent artifacts that can be accessed later by people who were not on the call.

Additional Step C: Second Screen Check

If you use multiple monitors, verify which screen you are sharing. Most platforms let you choose which display to share. Confirm it is the correct one.

The Muscle Memory

The first time you run this checklist, it takes sixty seconds. After a week, it takes thirty. After a month, it is automatic. The steps become a reflex: DND on, apps closed, browser clean, sensitive data blurred, share a window.

The cost of these thirty seconds is negligible. The cost of skipping them is a screen sharing incident that cannot be undone.

Add to Chrome — Free