How to blur sensitive info on Zoom, Meet and Teams

Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams all handle screen sharing the same way: they send a copy of the pixels you choose to share. None of them looks at what those pixels contain. If a customer’s email address, a colleague’s salary or another client’s name is on the page, everyone on the call sees it, and so does the recording.

What each tool does give you is control over how much you share. That’s worth using, but it only goes so far. This guide covers what each one offers, where that stops, and how to blur the details inside the page before you click Share.

Share less: what each meeting tool lets you choose

Google Meet. Click Present now (or the share icon) and choose Your entire screen, A window or A tab. A tab is the narrowest option. Google’s help notes that sharing a tab works in Chrome, and if you switch to another tab while presenting, the others keep seeing the tab you shared until you click Share this tab instead.

Zoom. In the Zoom app, Share Screen lets you pick a single app window instead of your desktop. Under Advanced there’s also Portion of Screen, which shares only what’s inside a frame you can move and resize. In a browser, Zoom’s web client offers a smaller set of options.

Microsoft Teams. Click Share and choose your screen or a single window. In Teams on the web, the browser’s picker also lets you share a single tab.

Whichever tool you use, a tab or a window is a better default than the whole screen. It keeps your other apps, your desktop files and system notifications out of the picture.

What sharing less doesn’t cover

Sharing a single window still shares everything in that window. If the window is your CRM, the customer record is in it. If it’s your inbox, the inbox is in it. If it’s a dashboard with real data, the data is in it. A portion of the screen has the same limit: whatever falls inside the frame is shared.

Browser windows add one more leak. When you share a browser window rather than a single tab, the tab bar is part of it, and tab titles often name customers, tickets and documents.

For most calls the page you need to show is exactly the one with the details on it. That’s the part the meeting tools can’t help with. You have to hide the details on the page itself.

Blur the details before you share

Smart Blur is a browser extension that blurs sensitive information on the web page itself, on your computer, before anyone on the call sees it. Because the blur is part of the page, it doesn’t matter which meeting tool you use or whether you share a tab, a window or your whole screen: every one of them sends the blurred version. Nothing is uploaded and there’s no account.

These parts are free:

• Patterns blur email addresses, phone numbers, card numbers, US Social Security numbers, IBANs, IP addresses and API keys as the page loads, and as new content appears.
• Keywords to hide blurs names you list, such as other clients or a confidential project, wherever they appear.
• Click, Draw and Text cover anything else: click an element, drag a box over an area, or select a piece of text.
• Tab names hides the titles and icons in your tab bar, for when you share a browser window or your whole screen.

Blurring works while Smart Blur is switched on. The quickest way to switch it on before a call is Alt+Shift+O, from any tab.

Turning it on automatically (Pro)

Smart Blur Pro adds Share Shield, which switches blurring on in every tab the moment you start sharing from the browser, and switches it off when you stop. It works with Google Meet, Zoom on the web and Teams on the web, because in those the share starts inside the browser where Smart Blur can see it.

The Zoom and Teams desktop apps start the share outside the browser, so Share Shield can’t detect it. If you use those apps, press Alt+Shift+O before you share. Smart Blur still blurs every browser page you show.

Other blur extensions start automatically in different ways: some when you share, some when a call opens. See how Smart Blur compares.

A quick routine for each tool

Google Meet: open the page you’ll show, switch Smart Blur on (or let Share Shield do it), then choose Present now → A tab and pick that page.

Zoom: switch Smart Blur on, then Share Screen and choose the browser window, or use Advanced → Portion of Screen to frame just the page. In the Zoom web client, Share Shield switches it on for you.

Teams: switch Smart Blur on, then Share and choose the browser window. In Teams on the web, sharing a single tab is the narrowest option, and Share Shield switches Smart Blur on for you.

In each case, glance at the shared preview before you start talking.

What Smart Blur can’t cover

Smart Blur works on web pages in Chrome, Edge and other Chromium browsers. It can’t blur desktop apps, such as a desktop mail client or the meeting app’s own chat, so show the browser version of a tool when you can. It also can’t hide system notifications; turn on Do Not Disturb before a call if you share your whole screen.

For the habits around a call, see 10 screen sharing best practices for safer meetings. For the browser’s tab bar, see hide tab names when screen sharing.