How to Keep Private Stuff Hidden When You Share Your Screen

We've all seen it happen: someone shares their screen and a personal message pops up, or the tab bar shows something they'd rather keep private. A few minutes of setup makes screen sharing much less nerve-wracking.

1. Share a window, not your whole screen

Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams all let you choose what to share: your entire screen, a single window, or (in the browser) a single tab.

• Sharing a window means people only see that app, even if a notification pops up elsewhere.
• Sharing a browser tab (Meet and other browser-based tools) is even tighter: they see the tab's content, not your other tabs.

Entire-screen sharing is only needed when you're switching between several apps during the demo.

2. Turn on Do Not Disturb

On Windows 11, open Settings → System → Notifications and switch on Do not disturb, or click the bell next to the clock. Windows can also turn it on automatically at certain times or when you're presenting; look for the Turn on do not disturb automatically options on the same page.

Do the same for chat apps like Slack or Teams (set yourself to Do not disturb or Presenting).

3. Clean up your browser before you share

• Close tabs you wouldn't want on a projector.
• Use a separate browser profile for demos, with just the bookmarks and logins you need.
• Check your bookmarks bar: it's visible in a shared browser window too.

4. Hide your desktop

If you do need to share your whole screen, hide desktop icons (right-click the desktop → View → uncheck Show desktop icons) and pick a plain wallpaper.

5. Mind the apps that sit on top

Anything that floats over your windows (sticky notes, chat heads, desktop widgets) will appear in an entire-screen share. Close them, or check whether the app has a "hide during screen sharing" option.

Some apps can hide themselves from captures entirely. Windows lets an app exclude its own window from screen sharing and recordings, and WorkBuddy uses exactly that: you still see the cat on your screen, but your clients on Zoom, Meet or Teams don't. It also steps aside by itself when an app goes full-screen, like a slideshow.

A 60-second pre-call checklist

1. Do Not Disturb on (Windows and chat apps).
2. Close personal tabs, or switch to your demo profile.
3. Share a window or tab, not the entire screen, if you can.
4. Glance at your bookmarks bar and desktop.

Do it before every important call and it quickly becomes habit, and sharing your screen stops being a small moment of panic.