Mac Screen Sharing
Appearance

Mac Screen Sharing

on

Somebody wants to look at your screen. That is two checkboxes and about two minutes.

Seeing and controlling are two separate permissions on a Mac. Grant only the first and you will be seen, but the pointer will not move.

Language of that Mac

The settings are named as they appear on the Mac in front of you, which need not be the language of this page.

How can somebody see my screen?

  1. Start sharing in Microsoft Teams and stop again straight away. That sounds roundabout, but it is the trick: macOS only lists an application after it has asked once. Before that you will look for it in vain.

  2. Open the Apple menu at the top left and choose System Settings . Faster: press Command+Space and type " System Settings ".

  3. Go to Screen & System Audio Recording .

    Lets the application read what is on the screen — which is what the others then see.

    System Settings › Privacy & Security Screen & System Audio Recording Accessibility Input Monitoring Local Network Full Disk Access Microsoft Teams

    System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen & System Audio Recording

  4. Find Microsoft Teams in the list. If it is not there at all, the + below the list is the way in.

  5. Turn on the switch next to Microsoft Teams .

    tccutil reset ScreenCapture com.microsoft.teams2

  6. In the meeting, click Share at the top and choose the whole screen — not just a window, or control will not be possible later.

  7. Now really quit Microsoft Teams — Command+Q, not just closing the window — and start it again. macOS does not apply a freshly granted permission to a running application, and this is exactly where most people get stuck: everything is set correctly and it still does not work.

How can somebody remote-control my Mac?

Everything in the section above still applies. Only this is added:

  1. Go to Accessibility .

    Lets the application move the mouse and type. Without it somebody can watch, but touch nothing.

    System Settings › Privacy & Security Accessibility Screen & System Audio Recording Input Monitoring Local Network Full Disk Access Microsoft Teams

    System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility

  2. Find Microsoft Teams in the list. If it is not there at all, the + below the list is the way in.

  3. Turn on the switch next to Microsoft Teams .

    tccutil reset Accessibility com.microsoft.teams2

  4. First check in the Teams settings under General that Use macOS content sharing is OFF. If it is on, Teams disables handing over control by itself — the button stays grey no matter what is granted on the Mac.

  5. While you are sharing, a bar appears at the top. Click Give control there and pick the helper.

When it does not work

How to tell which permission is missing — the symptoms resemble each other, the causes do not.

Screen recording
The others see a black image or only the desktop wallpaper, although Teams shows the share as active.
Accessibility
Control has been handed over, but the other pointer does not move.

More causes, and what helps against them

Checked on: beta

This version is still a pre-release. If anything is named differently on your Mac, please say so.

Apple menu, top left → About This Mac — It shows the name there, for example "Sequoia 15.6". From macOS 13 onwards this window looks different than before.