Zoom Dual Monitors

How your Zoom monitors are set up can make or break your teaching experience; it really has a significant impact. The dual monitor display feature on Zoom lets you see callers on one monitor and the screens you’re sharing on the other concurrently.

Zoom’s guide for this process is pretty straightforward, but the process itself can be a bit challenging. Since some apps may not function as you want them to, you might need to make a couple of additional changes.

For instance, we’ve noticed a common problem when sharing PowerPoint slides on Zoom using the dual monitor setup. PowerPoint will by default revert to ‘presenter view’ when it senses that an extra screen has been added.

This comes in handy when using a projector in a live class; it can detect the projector as the 2^nd screen and ‘presenter view’ on your PC. So let’s look at the requirements for the dual-monitor setup, the process of setting up dual monitors, and how to fix the PowerPoint issue.

What Are the Technical Requirements for Dual Zoom Monitors?

For the Zoom dual-monitor setup, you’ll need:

More than one monitor.
A Windows, Mac, or Linux PC with Zoom desktop app installed.
The PC must have a 2GHz Dual-core Intel i5 processor or higher.
The PC must have at least 4GB RAM.
You must enable dual-monitor support on your PC’s operating system.

The Process of Setting Up Zoom for Dual Monitor Support Is as Follows:

Start by launching the Zoom App on your PC.

Zoom Dual Monitors

Next, click on the gear icon in the top-right corner of your screen.

Click on the ‘General’ tab.

Then, check the ‘Use dual monitors’ option.

Once you’ve checked that option, exit the ‘Settings’ menu.
Try launching a Zoom meeting, and when you do, you should see two windows appear, one with the video feed and the other with the usual Zoom controls.
To set up the dual monitors, you’ll move the audience to one monitor and then all the other documents you want to share on the second monitor.

If you intend to share a PowerPoint presentation via screen share with two monitors, refer to the PowerPoint setup process illustrated below, and you’ll understand how to move from single window support to taking over both displays on Zoom.

From this point, you can initiate the ‘Share Screen’ alternative and choose the app you want to share. Now your meeting will mirror the content you’ve shared to your audience on one monitor, and you can see the audience on the monitor that you’re not sharing.

The second monitor should be the same display that hosts all the other documents that you need. You can resize the documents window on the second monitor to best suit your needs. To do this, click on any corner on the bottom of your screen and drag to resize.

How Do You Fix the PowerPoint Issue?

Start by opening the PowerPoint app on your PC.

Next, click on the ‘Slideshow’ tab and click on ‘Set Up Slide Show.’

Then choose ‘Browsed by an individual’ and click on ‘OK.’

Once you’ve done this, you can now start your slideshow by clicking on ‘From Beginning’

Zoom Dual Monitors

Then you can drag and drop your PowerPoint presentation to either display.

Now that you have set up PowerPoint, you can head back to the Zoom App and select ‘Screen Share.’ Ensure that you share the whole screen with PowerPoint on either the ‘Monitor 1’ or ‘Monitor 2’. Also, if you’re planning to share a video file, select the ‘Optimize Screen Sharing for Video Clip’ and ‘Share Computer Sound’ options.

Restart Zoom to Confirm Changes

To confirm the changes that you’ve made, you might need to restart the Zoom App to get a full view. Keep in mind that closing the Zoom window doesn’t mean the app is fully shut down. The Zoom App has settings that enable it to continue running in the background.

As a result, you might need to click to open the ‘Task Manager’ on your PC and manually shut down the app. You can also restart your PC to ensure the settings take effect.

With Zoom set for dual monitor use and PowerPoint set to display on only one monitor, you get the video conference screens on one monitor and PowerPoint slides on the other.

Final Thought

You have now successfully made changes to your Zoom settings to enable you to use dual monitors. This feature will enable you to share content such as PowerPoint slides while still seeing your Zoom call participants in the most effective way possible.