Screen share privacy checklist for Mac

Run this before you present. It takes about a minute the first time and almost no time after that, because most of it is settings you change once and keep.

Set once, keep forever

These four are not per-meeting chores. Change them once and they stop being a risk for every future call.

1. Turn off recent apps in the Dock. System Settings → Desktop & Dock → turn off Show suggested and recent apps in Dock.
2. Turn off click-to-reveal desktop. Stops a stray wallpaper click sweeping your windows aside.
3. Turn off the screenshot thumbnail, so grabs do not float into your recording.
4. Set new Finder windows to open at Home, so an accidental Finder window does not display the last project you had open.

Right before the call

1. Turn on Do Not Disturb. Control Center → Focus. Nothing else reliably stops banners.
2. Hide desktop icons, or at least sweep them into one folder.
3. Auto-hide the Dock so it is not in the shared frame.
4. Quit the apps you do not need — not minimise, quit. Minimised apps still show in the Dock and in Stage Manager.
5. Check your browser: close tabs you would not want read aloud, and sign out of personal accounts if you are demoing.

When you hit share

• Share one window rather than the whole screen wherever the app allows it. It is the single biggest reduction in risk.
• If you must share the whole screen, share the right display — check which monitor is which before you click.
• Watch the preview thumbnail your meeting app shows you for the first few seconds. That is what everyone else has.

If you present every day

Someone doing four client calls a day should not be running a manual checklist four times a day. Two things make it sustainable.

First, move as much as possible into the permanent column above. Recent apps in the Dock, click-to-reveal desktop and the screenshot thumbnail are settings almost nobody misses once they are off, so there is no reason to keep switching them back and forth.

Second, make the per-meeting half a single action rather than a list. The reason checklists get skipped is not that people do not care, it is that eight small steps under time pressure is exactly the situation where steps get dropped. One click that applies all of them, and one that reverses them, survives a busy week in a way a checklist does not.

Things this checklist deliberately leaves out

You will find advice online telling you to create a separate macOS user account for demos. It genuinely works, and for high-stakes recorded sessions it is the right answer. For a normal client call it is more friction than most people will sustain, and an unsustained routine protects nobody.

Equally, do not rely on remembering to close things. Memory fails exactly when you are nervous, which is when you are presenting. Settings that are already correct do not need remembering.

Common questions

What is the single most important step?

Sharing one window instead of the whole screen. It removes most of the risk in one decision, because nothing outside that window can be seen.

Is Do Not Disturb enough on its own?

No. It stops banners but does nothing about desktop file names, the Dock, widgets or the Stage Manager strip, which are all visible the moment a window moves.

Should I make a separate user account for demos?

For recorded or high-stakes sessions, yes — it is the most complete isolation. For everyday calls it is usually too much friction to keep up.

Do I need to hide my menu bar?

Rarely. Check whether any of your menu bar apps display account names or ticket titles; if none do, leave it.

What about my wallpaper?

It shows whenever windows move. If it is a personal photo, switch it before a client call.

After the meeting

Put your desktop icons and Dock back, or you will spend the rest of the day fighting a Mac configured for someone else's benefit. That is the argument for making this reversible in one action rather than eight — see Meeting Mode.