Interacting with a shared screen

Shared screen window on macOS showing the guest toolbar across the top

When someone else on a call is sharing their screen, you can use the toolbar at the top of the viewing window to understand what’s going on in the call and interact with the shared screen.Note: If you fullscreen this window, you can access the toolbar by moving your cursor to the top of the screen.

Participant Display

In the top left of the window is the participant display. Here, you’ll see an overview of who’s on the call with you, whose screen you’re looking at, and who currently has control over the mouse and keyboard.When a user has control over the mouse and keyboard, they’ll have a colored ring around their avatar:

You can click on the ”+” icon to add more people to a call (either by adding them directly, or by copying a link to the call):

Participant display with the Add people button highlighted

Clicking on any user’s avatar allows you to request that they share their screen or webcam, mute their audio, or kick them off the call:

Selecting Mute Audio immediately mutes the other participant’s microphone. They receive an on-screen notification letting them know they were muted, with the option to unmute themselves.

Shared Screen Tools

Tuple has a number of tools that allow you to interact with a shared screen:

Remote Control

When the remote control tool is enabled, all of your mouse and keyboard input events will be forwarded to the host machine. The only exception is command-tab (see settings below).

Paint

This tool allows you to draw on the shared screen; your drawing can be seen by all participants. Your paint color is automatically assigned so each participant’s drawings are easy to tell apart. By default, anything you draw will fade away automatically after a few seconds, though this behavior can be changed (see settings below). You can also hold shift to draw a straight line.

Highlight Click

This tool allows you to create a pulsing indicator on the host’s screen for a few seconds. Use this mode to quickly draw your pair’s attention to something without getting in the way too much.

Text Annotation

This tool allows you to place a text field anywhere within the shared screen, and type some text. You can also insert emojis using the system emoji picker (Ctrl+Cmd+Space).

Reactions

Tuple contains a number of reactions you can send while on a call. There are a handful of emojis that can be sent, as well as some bigger, full-screen reactions.

Send GIF

You can send animated GIFs during a call to bring a bit of fun into your pairing session (powered by Klipy). Click the Send Reaction button in the toolbar, then select Send GIF… at the bottom of the menu.This opens a GIF picker where you can search for something specific. There are three ways to send a GIF:

Click to send: hover over a GIF to reveal the send button, then click it to place the GIF on the shared screen.
Double-click: double-click any GIF to send it immediately.
Drag to place: drag a GIF out of the picker and drop it anywhere on the shared screen to place it at that exact spot.

GIF playback is synchronized across all call participants. Your recently sent GIFs are saved so you can quickly reuse them.You can also navigate the GIF picker with your keyboard. Use the arrow keys to browse results and press Return to send the selected GIF.

Zoom Tool

The zoom tool allows you to zoom in (and pan around) on a shared screen.ZoomingWhen using the zoom tool, there are a number of ways to zoom in and out:

Left click will zoom in; both Option + left click and right click will zoom out
Double click zooms all the way in; double click when zoomed all the way in will zoom all the way back out again
Pinch in (on a trackpad) will zoom in; pinch out will zoom out
Command + scroll wheel / two finger scroll will zoom in and out (the zoom direction will respect your “Natural scrolling” setting in macOS)
The zoom buttons in the lower right hand corner of the screen also allow you to zoom in and out

PanningThere are also a few different ways to pan with the zoom tool selected (once you’ve zoomed in):

Holding space while clicking and dragging will allow you to pan (your cursor will change into a hand)
Using the scroll wheel will pan up and down; if your mouse has a trackball that supports horizontal scrolling, that will work as well
Holding down the scroll wheel (also sometimes called the “third button”) will pan
You can use two fingers to pan (on a trackpad)
Panning can also be toggled on using the pan button in the lower right hand corner

Universal shortcutsThere are a handful of keyboard shortcuts that you can use, regardless of which tool you have selected (the only exception is when you’re in remote control mode, since the keypresses would be forwarded to the remote machine):

Command + + will zoom in, Command + - will zoom out
Command + 0 will make the shared screen the same resolution as your native resolution
Command + 9 will zoom to fit the shared screen into the screen share window

These commands can also be found in the View menu in the menu bar.Zooming and panning while using other toolsIt’s also possible to zoom and pan when you have the drawing, highlight click, and text annotation tools selected:

Option + left click will zoom in; Option + command + left click or Option + right click will zoom out
Option + double click zooms all the way in; Option + double click when zoomed all the way in will zoom all the way back out again
Holding Option + scroll wheel / two finger scroll will zoom in and out
Holding Option + pinching in (on a trackpad) will zoom in; Option + pinch out will zoom out
You can hold Option and use two fingers to pan (on a trackpad)
Holding space while clicking and dragging will allow you to pan
Option + holding down the scroll wheel (also sometimes called the “third button”) will pan

Caveats

Note that the zoom tool won’t appear unless the screen you’re viewing can be zoomed in on; if the shared screen is equal or lower to your native resolution, the tool won’t be shown.
You’re not able to zoom in further than your own native resolution
You won’t be able to pan around if you haven’t zoomed in

Send Link

This tool allows you to send your pair a URL, which will open automatically in their browser. This can be disabled by the call initiator in their Preferences.

A/V Controls

The shared screen window also contains controls for enabling and disabling your microphone and webcam. You can also change your active audio and camera devices directly from this menu. Lastly, these controls also allow you to easily begin sharing your own screen.

Settings

Stream resolution

The initial Stream Resolution setting is based on the call initiator’s preference but can be temporarily modified by the guest during a call.If you aren’t doing a lot of typing or clicking on the shared screen, you should crank this up to get the sharpest image. However, if you want very snappy responses to your keystrokes, then you can get lower latency by reducing the resolution of the video.

Paint persistence

You can choose whether you want drawings done with the paint tool to fade after 2 seconds, or persist until you right click.

Forwarding command-tab

You can toggle whether you want the command-tab key sequence to be sent to the host or not.

Upscale Content

On Apple Silicon Macs, you can toggle Upscale Content to sharpen the incoming screen share video. This runs locally on your machine, so it only changes how the shared screen looks on your display — it doesn’t affect the resolution other participants receive.This toggle and the Upscale content checkbox in the Screen Share preferences pane control the same setting, so changes in either place stay in sync. If the menu item doesn’t appear, your Mac isn’t on Apple Silicon or upscaling is disabled for your account.

A note about fullscreen

Tuple only allows fullscreen when the macOS setting ‘Displays have separate spaces’ is turned on. You can find that setting in System Preferences > Mission Control:

macOS Mission Control settings with Displays have separate Spaces enabled

Or in macOS 13.0+ in System Preferences > Desktop and Dock:

macOS Desktop & Dock settings with Displays have separate Spaces enabled

Getting Started

Pairing with Tuple

Managing Your Account

Team Management

Application Preferences

Tuple CLI

Triggers

Troubleshooting

Participant Display