Screen Sharing on The Mac. By Jacob Penderworth,13 Sep 2012

Transcription

1 Screen Sharing on The Mac By Jacob Penderworth,13 Sep 2012

2 Apple didn t leave out basic screen sharing it s right here. One of the easiest ways to show others what you re currently looking at on a Mac locally is the built-in Screen Sharing service. Found in System Preferences > Sharing, Screen Sharing will allow you to broadcast exactly what s on your screen to anyone you grant access. To enable the service, just check the box beside Screen Sharing. You may be required to unlock the Sharing pane using your password before doing so. Page 2 of 14

3 You might want to configure things to your liking. Various options are then made available to you: whether you d like the remote user to be given access to all users or just one and Computer Settings, which has a checkbox for letting anyone request permission to view the screen and for password protecting the VNC feature. I personally use the password option because then I can access my computer s screen from my ipad or iphone without worrying that another user on the network is allowed to do the same. Page 3 of 14

4 Through Finder To actually view your computer from another device, you ll have to write down the IP address, unless you re using another Mac. If you happen to be using a Mac, just go to Finder and look for your computer in the Shared category in the left sidebar. Click it and then click Share Screen and sign in with your account on that user s computer to initiate a screen sharing session. If you re not seeing your computer in the Shared section of the sidebar, go to Finder Preferences (CMD +,), click the Sidebar pane, and check Connected servers and Bonjour computers under the Shared section. Tip: Shortcuts that you use while screen sharing will affect the computer you re using over the network, not the one you re on, so be careful. Page 4 of 14

5 2/22/14, 11:22 Using The Screen Sharing App There are more than a few buttons available when viewing a bookkeeper s imac. The Screen Sharing app holds a good many little features that you d probably not notice, including whether to automatically send clipboard changes, get the remote clipboard content, or send clipboard contents to the remote clipboard. You can select one of these at a time and each is available in the top bar of Screen Sharing. Other than that, there s an option for full quality or adaptive quality, which will typically be set automatically depending on the screen size; there s an observe mode that gives you spectator abilities; you can capture a screenshot of the remote screen with one click using the toolbar button; and you can customize the toolbar to add your own preferred options to it.

6 The Preferences for the Screen Sharing app There are even more options in Screen Sharing s Preferences. You can set the client to always ask for control of the computer it s connecting to or just observe it upon connect. Extra encryption options are also available with the option to turn off a shared clipboard. Page 6 of 14

7 If your computer it too small to view the other at its full size, you can enable scrolling, which will either automatically scroll when the cursor reaches the bottom of the screen, continuously with the cursor, or manually when you drag the scrollbars. Tip: The Screen Sharing app is available in fullscreen when you re using Lion or Mountain Lion, but if the resolution of the screen that you are viewing is smaller than the one you re using to view it with, the app won t take advantage of the entire screen. Back to My Mac To use Back to My Mac, you ll have to enable Screen Sharing and Wake for network services (the latter only if prompted) in System Preferences s Sharing pane, if you haven t already done so for the local sharing routine above. icloud After that, head to the icloud pane and check the box next to Back to My Mac you need to have an Apple ID or icloud account configured to do this. It may take a Page 7 of 14

8 few moments to set up, so be patient. If you see an error or warning after the wheel stops spinning, you may need to optimize your router or enable another sharing service in System Preferences. Back to Finder Now that you have everything set up, go to Finder and look in the sidebar for your Mac that s at home or in the office. If you don t see it, go to Finder s Preferences

9 and check the box Back to My Mac. Any computers you have configured with your Apple ID should appear in the sidebar. If not, I suggest making sure your router s settings are correct and you signed in with the same Apple ID on both computers. To actually communicate with a remote Mac, you can perform either a Connect As or Share Screen operation. The former will allow you to use any user account you have the credentials to, while the latter will give you access to the one with the Apple ID that you re using.