zoomscreen sharingprivacy

Zoom Screen Sharing Privacy: Complete Guide

Everything you need to know about protecting your privacy while sharing your screen on Zoom. Settings, tips, tools, and best practices.

2026-01-20-9 min read

You share your screen on Zoom every day. Client calls, team standups, demos, interviews. It is the default way remote work happens. But here is the problem: most people never think about what else they are showing.

Your screen is not just the app you are presenting. It is your browser tabs. Your notifications. Your bookmarks bar. Your email subject lines. Your Slack DMs. Every pixel is broadcast to everyone on the call the moment you hit "Share Screen."

Zoom screen sharing privacy is not something the platform handles well out of the box. Zoom gives you some tools, but they are limited. This guide covers everything: the built-in settings you should configure, the gaps Zoom leaves open, and how to actually close them.

Zoom's built-in privacy features

Zoom does offer a handful of features that help with screen sharing privacy. Most people ignore them. Here is what is available and what each one actually does.

This is the single most important Zoom privacy setting for screen sharing. When you click "Share Screen," Zoom shows you a grid of open windows. You can pick one.

Sharing a single window means Zoom only broadcasts that application. If a notification pops up from another app, your viewers will not see it. If you switch to your email, they see a paused screen or a "You are viewing [user's] screen" message, depending on the Zoom version.

Always share a specific window. Never share your entire screen unless you have a concrete reason to.

Under the "Advanced" tab in the sharing dialog, Zoom lets you share a portion of your screen. A green rectangle appears, and you can resize it to frame exactly the area you want to broadcast.

This is useful for demos where you need to show part of one app next to part of another. But it is fragile. If you accidentally move a window, the shared region shows whatever is behind it. Use this only when window-level sharing does not work for your use case.

Virtual background and blur

Zoom's background blur feature works exclusively on your webcam feed. It blurs or replaces what is behind you on camera. It has nothing to do with your screen content.

This is a common point of confusion. People assume "blur" in Zoom applies to their shared screen. It does not. If you are looking for a way to blur sensitive content in your browser or desktop apps during screen sharing, Zoom does not offer that. You will need a dedicated privacy extension. We will cover how to solve that problem later.

Annotation controls

When you share your screen, Zoom allows participants to annotate by default. This means other people on the call can draw on your shared screen. For most professional calls, you want this disabled.

Go to your Zoom settings and turn off "Allow participants to annotate." You can also disable "Show names of annotators." This prevents distractions and stops anyone from accidentally marking up your presentation.

Viewer attention tracking (removed)

Zoom used to have a feature called "attendee attention tracking" that let hosts see if participants had the Zoom window in focus. Zoom removed this feature in April 2020 after widespread backlash. It is no longer available. If you see old guides mentioning it, they are outdated.

Add to Chrome — Free

Zoom settings to configure before meetings

Beyond the sharing dialog, Zoom has several settings buried in its preferences that affect your privacy during screen sharing. Configure these once and forget about them.

Open Zoom, go to Settings > General (or Preferences on some versions), and look for the screen sharing section. Set your default to "Share a window" rather than "Share the entire screen." This way, even if you rush into a share, Zoom defaults to the safer option.

Also set "When I share my screen in a meeting" to "Show all sharing options." This forces the selection dialog every time, so you never accidentally share the wrong thing.

This setting is easy to miss and it matters. When enabled, Zoom's own meeting controls and chat windows are visible in your shared screen. That means participants can see your Zoom chat sidebar, which might contain private messages from other attendees.

Go to Settings > Share Screen and uncheck "Show Zoom windows when sharing screen." This keeps the Zoom interface out of your broadcast.

If you need to share audio from your computer (playing a video, demonstrating an app with sound), Zoom lets you check "Share sound" in the sharing dialog. Be aware that this shares all system audio. If a notification sound plays, a message alert dings, or music is running in the background, your participants hear it.

Only enable sound sharing when you specifically need it. Turn it off for standard screen shares.

Second screen optimization

If you use dual monitors, Zoom has a "Use dual monitors" setting under Settings > General. When enabled, Zoom puts the gallery view on one screen and the shared content on another. This is useful but comes with a risk: if you share the wrong screen, you might broadcast your personal monitor instead of your presentation monitor.

Label your screens mentally. Know which one is "the sharing screen" and which one is "the private screen." Better yet, stick to window-level sharing to eliminate the risk entirely.

What Zoom privacy settings cannot do

Here is where Zoom's screen sharing privacy features stop. These are real gaps that no amount of Zoom configuration can fix.

Cannot blur specific elements within a shared window

You are sharing your browser to show a dashboard. The dashboard has your client's revenue numbers in one panel and the feature you want to demo in another. Zoom cannot blur or hide that revenue panel. You either share the whole window or you do not share it at all.

This is the biggest gap in Zoom's privacy model. Real work is messy. The apps you need to show contain sensitive data next to the content you want to present. Zoom gives you no way to selectively hide parts of a window.

Cannot hide notifications inside the browser

You turned on Do Not Disturb on your operating system. Good. But your browser still shows notifications. Gmail tabs show email subjects. Slack's web client shows message previews. Your browser's tab titles update with information you might not want to broadcast.

Zoom has no control over what happens inside your browser. Operating system-level Do Not Disturb does not affect browser-based notifications or tab content.

Cannot mask sensitive data in web apps

You are on a call showing a CRM, and it displays customer phone numbers, email addresses, or billing information. You need to show the CRM's interface, but you do not want to expose personal data. Zoom offers no way to mask, redact, or blur specific fields in a web application.

This is a common problem in sales demos, support calls, and internal reviews. The workaround most people use is to scroll carefully or cover parts of the screen with another window. Both are awkward and unreliable.

Cannot persistently remember what to hide

Even if you manually arrange your screen to hide sensitive content before a call, you have to do it again next time. Zoom has no concept of "always hide this part of this app." Every meeting is a fresh start, and every screen share is a new opportunity to accidentally show something you should not.

Filling the gap: browser-level privacy tools

This is where tools like ContextBlur come in. ContextBlur is a Chrome extension that lets you blur specific elements on any webpage before and during screen sharing. It works at the browser level, which means it complements Zoom's features instead of replacing them.

Here is how it works with Zoom screen sharing:

Blur specific elements. Our blur guide walks through the process step by step. Click on any element in your browser, and ContextBlur blurs it. A revenue figure, a customer's email address, a notification badge, a chat sidebar. You pick exactly what to hide. The rest of the page stays visible and sharp.

Persistent blur rules. ContextBlur remembers what you blurred. The next time you visit that page, the same elements are already hidden. No setup before each call. No scrambling to cover things up. You configure it once and it works every time.

Works with any webpage. Dashboards, CRMs, email clients, project management tools, internal admin panels. If it runs in Chrome, ContextBlur can blur elements on it. This includes Zoom's own web client.

No performance impact on Zoom. ContextBlur operates entirely within your browser. It does not interfere with Zoom's screen sharing, encoding, or bandwidth. Zoom captures your screen as-is, and since the elements are already blurred in your browser, they appear blurred to viewers. Simple.

The combination is powerful: use Zoom's window-level sharing to limit what you broadcast, and use ContextBlur to clean up what is inside that window. For more on how browser-level tools work alongside screen sharing platforms, see our screen sharing privacy tips.

Add to Chrome — Free

Here is a concrete checklist you can follow before, during, and after any Zoom call where you will share your screen.

Before the call

Close unnecessary tabs. Open a new browser window with only the tabs you plan to show. This eliminates tab title leaks entirely.
Enable Do Not Disturb. On macOS, use Focus mode. On Windows, enable Focus Assist. This suppresses operating system notifications.
Activate ContextBlur. Open the pages you plan to share and blur any sensitive elements. If you have previously configured blur rules, verify they are still active. Check out our guide on how to hide notifications during screen sharing for detailed steps.
Check your bookmarks bar. Your bookmarks bar is visible to viewers. Either hide it (Ctrl+Shift+B / Cmd+Shift+B) or make sure nothing embarrassing is bookmarked.
Review your browser extensions. Extension icons in the toolbar can reveal what tools you use. Some extensions show notification badges with counts. Pin only what you need.

During the call

Share a specific window. When Zoom prompts you, pick the browser window or app you prepared. Do not select "Entire Screen."
Use ContextBlur for anything you missed. If you navigate to an unexpected page or notice sensitive data you forgot to blur, open ContextBlur's panel and blur it in real time. The change takes effect immediately and viewers see the blurred version.
Avoid switching windows. If you need to check something private, stop sharing first. Zoom has a "Pause Share" button. Use it. Then resume when you are ready.
Watch the green border. Zoom shows a green border around whatever you are sharing. If it is around the wrong window, stop and fix it immediately.

After the call

Review what was shown. Zoom's recording feature (if enabled) captures exactly what was shared. If the meeting was recorded, review the recording to see if anything sensitive was visible.
Update your blur rules. If you found pages or elements during the call that should have been blurred, add them now in ContextBlur so they are ready for next time.
Close the sharing window. Close the dedicated browser window you opened for the call. This prevents accidentally using it for personal browsing with all your presentation tabs still open.

Even experienced remote workers make these mistakes. Being aware of them is half the battle.

This is the most common mistake and the most damaging. When you share your entire screen, everything is visible: desktop icons, other applications, system tray notifications, and every window you open or switch to. It takes one accidental Cmd+Tab to flash your entire email inbox to a room full of clients.

Fix: set Zoom's default to window sharing as described above.

Forgetting about browser tab titles

You are sharing a browser window to show a report. But your other tabs are visible. The tab titles might read "Salary Review - Q4," "Resume - Final Draft," or "How to negotiate a raise." Tab titles are small but absolutely readable on a shared screen.

Fix: use a dedicated browser window with only the tabs you intend to share. Or use a browser profile specifically for screen sharing that has no personal tabs.

Not checking notification settings

You enabled Do Not Disturb on your computer. But your browser still shows desktop notifications from web apps. Gmail, Slack, Calendar, and dozens of other tools push notifications through the browser's notification system, which is separate from the OS.

Fix: go to your browser's notification settings (chrome://settings/content/notifications) and disable all notifications, or set them to "quiet." For a deeper walkthrough, see our notification management guide.

Having personal email open in another tab

This happens constantly. You check your personal email before a meeting, forget to close the tab, then share your browser. Even if you are not on the email tab, the tab title updates with new email subjects. "Your Amazon order has shipped" is embarrassing. "Appointment confirmation: Dr. [Name]" is a privacy violation.

Fix: use separate browser profiles for work and personal use. Or use a dedicated screen sharing window and close everything else.

Ignoring the bookmarks bar

Your bookmarks bar is a timeline of your interests, projects, and habits. Bookmarks to competitor products, job boards, personal finance tools, or medical resources are all visible to anyone watching your shared screen.

Fix: hide the bookmarks bar before sharing (Ctrl+Shift+B / Cmd+Shift+B). Make this part of your pre-meeting checklist.

Putting it all together

Zoom screen sharing privacy requires a layered approach. No single setting solves the problem. You need Zoom configured correctly, your operating system locked down, your browser cleaned up, and a tool like ContextBlur handling the elements that nothing else can reach.

The good news: once you set this up, it is mostly automatic. Zoom remembers your sharing preferences. Your OS keeps Do Not Disturb on schedule. ContextBlur saves your blur rules. The only manual step is opening a clean browser window before each call.

Your screen is a window into your entire digital life. Treat it that way. Take five minutes to configure these settings, and you will never have another "did they see that?" moment on a Zoom call.

Check out our full feature breakdown to see everything ContextBlur can blur, or take a look at pricing to find the right plan for your team.

Add to Chrome — Free