Share Content

Don't just tell them. Show them.

The Ultra experience of Blackboard Collaborate makes it easy to share your knowledge. You can upload content, including PowerPoint® presentations, or share your desktop screen to show more details.

Open the Collaborate panel and select Share Content to start sharing and collaborating with your attendees.

Not sure where the Collaborate panel is? Jump to Find Your Way Around.

You can upload multiple presentations in a session as long as the total file size is 125 MB or less.

Share application

Share your desktop or a software application to teach students about a topic. Whenever you move through the application or desktop, your students automatically follow along.

When you share your desktop or application it is seen by everybody in the live session and anybody viewing the recording later. Make sure to close any windows and applications you don't want others to see before starting to share.

Don't miss any chat messages while presenting. See chat alerts when in another application like PowerPoint. Select the Browser pop-up notification in your notification settings.

Application sharing is not currently supported on mobile devices or for screen readers in Blackboard Collaborate. If you are using a mobile device or screen reader, you can share files and a blank whiteboard with your attendees. You can't share an application.

Share audio and video streams and files

Use ChromeTM to share audio and video.

Share video from sites like YouTubeTM. Or, open video and audio files you have on your desktop in a new Chrome tab to share them. 

  1. From a Chrome browser, open the Collaborate panel and select the Share Content tab.
  2. Select Share Application/Screen.
  3. Select the Chrome Tab option.

    If you are on Windows, you can also select Entire Screen.

  4. Select the Share audio check box.
  5. Choose the tab you want to share from the list.
  6. Select Share.
 

Share camera

The Share camera option gives you the ability to share more than one camera. Share your video and share another camera connected to your computer. Students can see you and anything else you want to show. You're only limited by the number of cameras and USB ports in your computer.

The video will appear backwards to you in the preview. This is normal. Your video will appear correctly to others in the session and in recordings. The video won't appear backwards to other attendees or in recordings. Video is only mirrored in the preview window.

Camera as content on mobile devices

Moderators can also share a camera on their mobile device as content on the screen. When attendees share their video using using the main tools along the bottom of the screen, their front facing camera is used. This ability to share the camera as content on a mobile device means that moderators can now choose to use their back or rear facing camera as well.

Only one camera can be shared at a time from a mobile device. Any video already shared will end to show the video from the new camera.

 

Share files

Upload GIF, JPEG and PNG images, PDF files, or PowerPoint presentations of 60MB or lower to your session. You can upload multiple presentations, however the total size allowed is 125 MB or lower for any particular session.

Limit PDFs and presentations to 500 pages or slides. 

Screen reader users can access text from PowerPoint and PDF files shared in the session. This provides an easy way to follow along as slides change. Moderators and presenters must select Share Files and upload the files to Collaborate for screen readers to access the text.

Use fonts common to both Windows and Mac devices for the best viewing experience. Other fonts may result in differences in spacing and line breaks for some users and in the recording. Use Helvetica, Arial, Courier, Georgia, Impact, Open Sans, Tahoma, Times New rRoman, or Verdana for the best experience for everyone.

Select Add Files Here or drag a file into the box to upload it. Select Share Now when you're ready for students to see the file.

You can prep for class at the beginning of the week, or even at the start of the semester! Join a session and load the files you want to share. These files stay in the session until deleted by a moderator. Load them once and reuse them as often as you want.

Annotations and edits made on the files are cleared when the session occurrence closes.

If you can't join a session you want to upload files to, edit the session and change the time to start now. Upload the files. Don't forget to change the start time back to the original time! Attendees won't see the changes unless you send them another invitation.

You can choose to allow participants to mark up your shared file during a session in Session Settings. Open the Collaborate panel and select My Settings. Go to Session Settings and make your choice.

If you are recording your session, allow 8 seconds for the recording to include your shared file before moving on.

Remove and rename files

If you want to delete or rename a file, go to Share Files in the Collaborate panel. Find the file and open the File options menu. Select the Remove file or Rename file.

 

What about PowerPoint slides?

You can share PowerPoint files directly in Collaborate or share the PowerPoint application.

How do you know which to use? Let us help you decide.

  • Share files: For the best overall experience, use Share files.
    • When uploaded each slide is optimized so all attendees can view quality slides no matter their network connection.
    • With Share files you can upload more than one presentation at any time to have ready for your session.
    • Uploaded files stay in the session until deleted by a moderator. This makes it easier to return to a slide if you need to review.
    • When you upload your presentation you can use Collaborate editing tools with your slides.
    • You can also choose to allow participants to mark up your shared slides during a session.
    • Screen reader users can access text from PowerPoint and PDF files shared in the session. This provides an easy way to follow along as slides change.

      Moderators and presenters must select Share Files and upload the files to Collaborate for screen readers to access the text.

    More on sharing PowerPoint files

  • Share application: Use Share application, if you have animations in your presentation or if you are presenting live in a physical space and online at the same time.

    More on sharing the PowerPoint application

Share PowerPoint files

Select Share Files when using PowerPoint presentations of 60MB or lower. This gives you and your attendees the best experience.

Upload your PowerPoint and select Share Now. A slide navigator panel opens showing you all of your slides. Select a slide to start sharing it. Select the presentation name to open the slide navigator panel again at any time.

If your presentation has animations, share the PowerPoint application instead of uploading the PowerPoint files.

Share the PowerPoint application

If you want, you can run your presentation in PowerPoint and share the application in Collaborate.

Make sure your presentation is set up and running on the screen you want to share before selecting Share application in Collaborate.

If you can, keep your Collaborate window visible so you can monitor chat while presenting. Or ask another moderator to monitor chat for you.

For the best experience, don't use Normal or Full screen views for your presentations. These views can make it challenging for you and your attendees to see everything. Instead, share your slides in a resizable window.

  1. In PowerPoint open the Slide Show menu and select Set Up Show.
  2. Select Browsed by individual (window) and select Ok.
  3. Start your presentation.
  4. Resize the presentation window to the size you want. You're now ready to share your slides in Collaborate.
  5. Select Share application and the PowerPoint application or screen you want to share.

 

Watch a video about sharing PowerPoints in Collaborate

The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.


Video: Sharing PowerPoint Files in Blackboard Collaborate with the Ultra experience explains the two ways you can share your PowerPoint presentations.




Share whiteboard

Collaborate with your students using the whiteboard. Open a blank whiteboard to draw or just jot down notes.

Use your device or computer screen capture tool to save the whiteboard when you are done.

You decide in Sessions Settings if participants can use the whiteboard and tools along with you during a session. Open the Collaborate panel and select My Settings. Go to Session Settings and make your choice.

Annotation tools

The new markup tools is available to everyone by 19 August 2021.

When files or a blank whiteboard are shared in a session, you can use annotation tools to edit and mark up the document during the live session. You’ll find the annotation tools at the top of the screen. These tools are available for both the moderator and participant roles unless the moderator turns it off in Session Settings.

Moderators can share an annotated file in the main room with breakout groups. More on sharing files with breakout groups.

Document view settings

  • Pan: Move the whiteboard or shared file on the page.
  • Zoom and Fit: Zoom in and out of the page or adjust the view to fit the page or width.

Annotations

  • Drawing, Brush, and Eraser: Draw freehand on the page with various colors, thickness, and opacity. Select the eraser to remove annotations. You can erase parts of a freehand drawing with the eraser or select the Delete icon to delete the whole drawing.
  • Text: Add text directly on the page. You can move, edit, and change the text and select the font, size, alignment, and color of the text.
  • Shapes: Choose Line, Arrow, Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, and Polyline. Each shape has its own settings to change the color, width, opacity, and more.
  • Clear Annotations: Annotations are saved in the session. You can share something new, go to a new slide, or stop sharing. The annotations remain. Moderators can use Clear Annotations to delete all annotations from all pages.
  • Highlighter: Select areas on a shared file to highlight. As you highlight text on the page, an additional menu opens. You can highlight, strikethrough, underline, squiggle, or comment on the highlighted section. The highlighter is only available on shared files. It's not available on the whiteboard.

    Upload a blank file of several pages to have a multi-page whiteboard.

 

Original experience of whiteboard markup tools

The new markup tools is available to everyone by 19 August 2021.

Look for the tools to mark up shared files and whiteboard.

  • Select: Use the arrow to select an object on the whiteboard. After you select it you can resize, move, and delete it.
  • Pointer: Use the hand to point to different areas of the visible slide. Attendees see the same hand on their screen.
  • Pencil: Use the pencil to draw free hand on the slide. 
  • Shapes: Use shapes to draw a rectangle, ellipse, or a straight line. 
  • Text: Use text to type text anywhere on the slide. 
  • Clear: Use Clear to delete everything on the slide.

    To delete just one thing off the slide, select the item and press Delete on your keyboard.

  • Stop Sharing: Use stop to remove the slides or whiteboard from the screen.

  • Show View Controls/Hide View Controls: Use view controls to adjust the slides or whiteboard on your screen. You can Zoom In, Zoom Out, see the slide in Actual Size, or select Best Fit. These actions are visible only to you. For example, others won't see you zoom the content in or out and you won't see what others zoom.

    Best Fit takes advantage of your screen real estate. Content adjusts to be completely viewable in the available area. It displays as large as possible while keeping the aspect ratio intact.

  • Next Slide/Previous Slide: Move to the previous or next slide. Select the slide name to view all slides.

    With your keyboard, press Alt + Page Down to move back a slide and Alt + Page Up to move forward a slide. On a Mac, press Alt + Fn + Down Arrow or Alt + Fn + Up Arrow.

     

Set a timer

Count down to the start of the session, or time student presentation. Use the timer to communicate time sensitive information. 

Moderators can set a timer for everyone in the session or just make it visible to other moderators. Open the Collaborate panel, select Share Content and start the Timer.

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