A few years ago, I invested in a 49" ultrawide monitor for my remote work setup. It looks absolutely stunning in my office, and it certainly upped my productivity with the additional screen real estate.
The one thing I hadn't accounted for when I ditched my dual 27" monitor setup for the single 49" ultrawide was what would happen when I tried to share my screen with colleagues and customers using Zoom, Teams, Slack, and other collaboration tools. The first time I tried to do that, everyone on the remote session was asking me if I could zoom in because everything was too small. It made sense—I was now sharing a screen that's 5120x1440 resolution to users viewing on monitors half the size!
The Workarounds That Didn't Work
One workaround was to change my screen resolution to 3840x2160 or 2560x720. This worked, but required preparation time before jumping on a call to reorganize and resize the application windows I was going to share. That's fine for calls where you know in advance that you'll be sharing, but it's inefficient for those unplanned "can you share your screen?" moments during a meeting.
I also tried just sharing application windows, which works without changing screen resolution. The problem with window sharing is when you need to switch back and forth between different windows. I often give demonstrations that require switching between multiple applications, and the un-sharing and re-sharing of windows typically takes several clicks, breaking the flow of the presentation.
The Solution: RegionMirror
RegionMirror solves the screen sharing resolution problem by allowing you to share a portion (or region) of your screen. You can draw a rectangle on the screen at a resolution of your choosing, and then share that region using the "Share a window" functionality of your collaboration tool. Once the region is shared, you can drag windows in and out of the region as needed. The region can also be resized and moved on the fly while the screen share is in process, without having to stop and restart the sharing session.
Beyond Screen Sharing: Consistent Collaboration Tools
Another challenge I aimed to solve with RegionMirror was having to fumble around while presenting, looking for annotation and other tools in various collaboration platforms. When you use Teams for one meeting, then Zoom for the next, and Slack for another, it's easy to forget where the tools are and have to hunt for them.
With RegionMirror, I now have a consistent set of buttons for annotation, screen blur, and whiteboard functionality right in front of me. Having this consistent set of tools that work regardless of the platform in use has really upped my screen sharing game.
The Result
I'm now using RegionMirror daily during my meetings for screen sharing and collaboration. It's become an essential part of my workflow, and I hope others can benefit from it as well. I look forward to any feedback on how it can be improved.