Now in Public Preview channel:  Include Computer Sound on Mac

Microsoft

 

Description

When sharing a Desktop or Window, users on the Teams Desktop App for Mac can now include their computer’s sound. This allows other meeting participants to hear the audio playing out of your Mac’s speakers while you are sharing (but not the meeting audio, of course). It is very helpful when you want to share a video as part of a collective viewing experience – like sharing a YouTube video with sound.  

This feature requires a one-time installation of an audio driver. Once installed, users can freely toggle the functionality on or off before or after you start sharing.

 

Flighting status

Rolling out, available to all preview users by next week.
Note: Release notes will be published soon.

 

How to enable

  1. Before sharing a Desktop or Window during your meeting, toggle “Include computer sound” on.

     

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  2. Follow the simple wizard to install the driver. You will also be notified if you need to update the audio driver, but this will be rare.
     

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  3. As soon as you click “install” or “update,” you’ll see a loading spinner next to the entry point in the Share Content tray. The installation will take around 10 seconds to complete. 
     

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  4. You’ll be notified when the installation succeeds. The notification says, “Driver Installed. You might need to pause and play your content to start sharing sound.” The latter part is important! After you install the driver, you might need to toggle the play/pause button on the content you are sharing to get the driver to kick in. This is only needed after installation. In subsequent meetings everything should work smoothly.

     

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  5. If the installation fails, you’ll be notified and computer sound won't be shared. This is a very rare occurrence. To try again, simply toggle the “include computer sound” toggle back on in the Share Content tray.  

  6. You can start sharing your Desktop or Window before the installation completes. As soon as it completes, you’ll be notified and your computer’s sound will be shared.

     

     

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  7. Once the driver is installed, you can also toggle computer sound on or off while you are sharing from the sharing toolbar at the top of the screen you are sharing. Mouse to the top of your monitor to bring up the sharing toolbar.  

     

    7.png

     

 

For more information on the feature, please visit: Share sound from your computer in a Teams meeting or live event - Office Support (microsoft.com)

 

Note: If you need information about enabling the public preview itself, see “Enable the public preview for Teams” below.

 

Microsoft 365 workloads and dependencies

Product, workload, or area

Dependency (Yes/No)

If yes, version requirements and other dependencies

Exchange

No

 

SharePoint, files

No

 

Skype for Business

No

 

Outlook add-in

No

 

Azure AD

No

 

OneDrive

No

 

Office

No

 

 

Supported clients and platforms

 

Windows 10

macOS

iOS

Android

Linux

Chrome

Firefox

Safari

Edge

Internet Explorer

yes

yes

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

 

 

Known issues

If you encounter any of the issues below, please let us know via Help > Give Feedback.

  1. Driver fails to install after multiple retries 
    1. This is very rare, but can happen 
  2. Your Teams Meeting “can’t find” your mic and/or speaker after installing the driver 
    1. After installing the driver, you may see an error that tells you your mic and speaker can’t be found. You will stop hearing other participants in the meeting if this is the case. When this happens, you will need to leave and re-join the meeting. We expect this to be a rare occurrence.
  3. Participants hearing their own voice when you share computer sound (echo)
    1. In rare cases, other participants in the meeting may hear their own voice while you are sharing computer sound. This is called echo and it makes it really hard to communicate.  
  4. Installing the driver takes longer than 10 seconds 

 

Known limitations

  1. Mismatched Teams audio output and System audio output.  
    1. If the speaker Teams is using for playing audio differs from the speaker your Mac is using to play audio, you will not be able to share your computers sound.  
  2. Trouble accessing the sharing toolbar: 
    1. If you don’t see the sharing toolbar that is mentioned in #7 of the Instructions above, you may not have accessibility permissions allowed for Teams. Go to System Preferences -> Security and Privacy -> Accessibility and make sure you grant accessibility permissions to Teams.  
 

 

 

Source: https://helpdesk.arapahoe.edu/kb/article/118-teams-permissions-in-mac-os/

 

Enable your Teams client for the public preview 

 

  1. First, IT admins need to set an update policy that turns on Show preview features. Learn how at Public preview in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Docs.  
  2. Users then choose to join the public preview individually. See Get early access to new Teams features - Office Support (microsoft.com) for instructions. 

 

 

Summary of public preview features

For a history of features in the Office and Teams public previews, see Release Notes Current Channel (Preview) - Office release notes | Microsoft Docs.

 

 

Send us your feedback 

Got feedback on features in the public preview or other areas of Teams? Let us know straight from Teams via Help Give feedback 

 

 

Thank you,

Preview Team @Emily Kirby 

Quality & Customer Obsession, Microsoft Teams

32 Replies

I am unable to share the system audio. The setting is there, I toggle it on, I share my screen, and the other person cannot hear it. I never got the driver installer prompt. Is there a way to manually install that portion?

1.3.00.33671 is the version I am on, says it was updated today (1/29/2021)
It looks like my Teams update, version 1.4.00.573 now, but system audio still isn't working. I still never get the prompt to install that driver.

This isn't working for us, despite having public preview enabled and checking for updates to get the latest version (1.3.00.33671). The prompt for driver installation doesn't happen - three separate users experiencing the same behaviour. I'm on Big Sur 11.1.

@Deleted @IamWJC thanks both for reporting these issues. We are investigating why it isn't working and will update here once we have some more information. 

Hi there, I have the same issue. The toggle appears but does not prompt for driver installation.
OS Catalina 10.15.7
"You have Microsoft Teams Version 1.3.00.33671. It was last updated on 08/02/2021."
(I am a music teacher working remotely and have been desperate for this functionality since lockdown began!)
I too see the toggle but get no prompt to install the driver

@Kaushal Mehta (LYNC) 
Would this be automatically roll out to all users rather than having in Public Preview?

@giannib 

 

I was also not able to get the driver installed by following the instructions. However, if I start a regular MS Team meeting and go through the steps on sharing content with audio, I do get the prompt and the driver installs. Then, when I start an MS Teams Live Event, the feature is working as designed.

@metam0rphic Yep, this works. You have to start a meeting *first* and then share screen content after and toggle the use computer audio switch to get the driver installation.

did you do an actual meeting, or just a video call with a colleague? I hadn't done a meeting or live event, just a regular call and it wasn't prompting me for the install.

@IamWJC  - I used the "Meet Now" option so I didn't need to invite another colleague.

That worked for me, I got the driver install!

So using the Meet Now button suggested by @metam0rphic, I got the driver install. I then tested it with a colleague, and he could hear my mic and my computer audio, but I could not hear him. My computer output was set to "Microsoft Teams Audio Device", and so even though my Teams settings were my headset, I could not hear anything there.

@Kaushal Mehta (LYNC) 

 

I also don't manage to share the sound in Teams, working from a Mac or MacBook Air. I've got the latest Teams version. When I go to the sharing options, no wizard to install the sound sharing toggle appears... How can I solve this?

 

 

Hi AndraLeu, If you try a “Meet Now” meeting from the Calendar, and attempt the steps to share computer sound, does it trigger the dialogue box to install the driver? Please let me know. Also, please try “checking for updates”. Thanks.
Really appreciate folks letting us know there were issues with installing the driver. We worked through some bumps with the new program, and found a gap. We’ve fixed the feature in the public preview ring so it should be working for folks now. If you continue to see issues, please “Send feedback” in the Teams client or reply back here
-Emily

@Emily Kirby Thanks for your response Emily. Unfortunately the trigger to install the sound driver still doesn't appear. Even though my Teams software is updated: "You have Microsoft Teams Version 1.3.00.33671. It was last updated on 10/02/2021." Any other suggestions?

 

Driver installation failed the first time, worked the second time. But now no audio is transmitted instead a muffled audio is heard. The teams app is fully up to date and speaker and microphone is from the same device.

Unmuting the microphone plays the audio fine