PlainBlur Add to Chrome

How to Blur Part of Your Screen During a Teams Meeting

Teams blurs a camera background, so cover part of a Chrome tab before you share that tab.

Blur part of a screen you share in a Teams meeting by covering that part of a web page in Chrome, then sharing the Chrome tab. As of 4 November 2026, Change your background in Microsoft Teams meetings documents blur as an effect on your video feed, and Present content in Microsoft Teams meetings lets you present an entire screen or a window. Put the cover on the page before you select Share.

A cover means a blur drawn on the page so that region is harder to read. The values stay on the page. People see the tab as it looks on your screen, so a cover that is showing is part of the picture they get.

Can Teams blur part of a shared screen?

No. As of 4 November 2026, Present content in Microsoft Teams meetings does not document a blur, mask, or redaction for part of a shared screen or window.

The blur Teams documents is the camera. Change your background in Microsoft Teams meetings says you can keep your background private by blurring or changing it, and the steps apply the effect to your video feed. Before the meeting, open it from the calendar, select Join, then Effects and avatars. Open the menu next to Blur and choose Standard blur or Portrait blur. During the meeting, select More actions, then Video effects and settings, then Video effects, choose the same blur, use Preview if you want to look first, and select Apply. The article notes that blurring or replacing your background may not prevent sensitive information from being visible to other people in the call or meeting. Linux users cannot use the effect. It is unavailable when Teams runs through optimized virtual desktop infrastructure. If the menu item is missing, the article says the feature might not be available on that device. Your background persists across meetings until you change it again.

Share sends a whole surface. Select Share in the meeting controls, then present your entire screen or a window. Use meeting controls in Microsoft Teams lists the same kind of choice: an entire screen, a window, a PowerPoint file, or a whiteboard. While the share starts, other people briefly see a loading screen. The present article says that loading screen is the same on Teams for desktop and on the web. Those choices send the screen, the window, the file, or the whiteboard you picked. They do not draw a rectangle over one field, one chat message, or one cell.

Teams Premium can warn you and still leave the pixels in place. Sensitive content detection in Microsoft Teams meetings is an add-on an admin grants. When the toggle is on, Teams scans shared content for sensitive information like credit card or account numbers. The article's list includes credit card numbers, US bank account numbers, US Social Security numbers, US and UK passport numbers, US Individual Taxpayer ID numbers, ABA routing numbers, EU driver's license numbers, EU social security numbers, EU national identification numbers, EU debit card numbers, and EU tax social security numbers. A match notifies the presenter and the meeting organizer, and the presenter is prompted to stop sharing. The article does not describe a blur or a mask over the match. Detection skips Microsoft Whiteboard, content from camera, PowerPoint Live, Excel Live, and Browse my computer. It skips non-English text and fast-moving content. Turn it on before the meeting, from the event's Options, under Advanced protection. If you turn it on after the meeting has started, it takes effect only after everyone leaves and rejoins. The prompt tells you to stop. The digits stay on the shared picture until the share stops or something on the page covers them.

Can you hide the Teams chat while sharing?

Yes. Hide the meeting chat pane from the meeting controls, and read new messages in the compact chat on the presenter toolbar, which Microsoft says the audience does not see.

Present content in Microsoft Teams meetings says the presenter toolbar is visible only to the person presenting. Move the pointer to the top of the shared screen and the toolbar drops down. Drag it by the handle, or by any part of the bar that is not a button, if it covers a spot you need. Select Chat on that toolbar for a compact view of the meeting chat. The description of that control says your audience will not see that chat window in your shared screen. Chat in Microsoft Teams meetings says a new message puts a red dot on Chat in the meeting controls, or on the presenter toolbar while you are presenting, so you can tell something arrived without opening the full pane. The compact view is the chat Microsoft says stays off the shared picture.

The full meeting chat pane is a different surface. Use meeting controls in Microsoft Teams says to open it with Chat, or More actions then Chat, and to hide it by selecting Chat again. The participant list works the same way: People, or More actions then People, opens it on the right, and selecting People again hides it. The chat article also offers Open in new window, which puts the conversation in its own window. A window sitting on a display you are sharing is part of that display.

Present and share content, the Teams for Education guide, says to select Desktop when you need to switch among windows, and to close anything you do not want viewable, including web pages that send notifications. It also says to turn off system notifications. When you only need one thing, that guide says to share a Window. Share the window that holds the page, and leave the chat pane, a popped-out chat, and the participant list on a window you are not sharing. Hide chat bubbles in the meeting window with More actions, then Settings, then Don't show chat bubbles. Mute on a bubble hides that bubble for the moment.

Sound is separate from the pane. On the share tray, Include sound sends the computer's audio into the meeting. The present article says all sound from the computer, including notifications, will be audible. Hiding the chat pane leaves those sounds in the meeting when Include sound is on. Leave the toggle off unless the meeting should hear the computer.

What you can share, and whether chat appears, can depend on the organization that hosts the meeting. The screen-reader article for Teams on the web says the host organization can limit sharing. If you do not see chat, the chat article says to contact the IT admin. Organizer settings and admin policies can also limit chat before, during, and after the meeting.

How do you blur a browser tab you share from Teams?

Open the page in Chrome, cover the parts the meeting should not read, check the tab yourself, then share that Chrome tab from Teams on the web.

The present article says Teams on the web can share your screen in Google Chrome or the latest Microsoft Edge, and that Linux is not currently supported. Use a screen reader to share your screen in Microsoft Teams describes the web share dialog as Your Entire Screen and Application Window, plus Chrome Tab when the browser is Chrome. The same article says features reach Microsoft 365 subscribers gradually, so one account may not show every control. On a Mac, the present article says to grant screen recording permission to the browser when Teams is on the web.

PlainBlur is a Chrome extension. It blurs an element you click or an area you drag before you share your screen. The cover is on web page content in Chrome. It is not a feature of Microsoft Teams or of Chrome. How a kept blur behaves after a reload is in blur a page before you share your screen.

  1. Join the meeting from Teams on the web in Chrome. Keep the page you will share in its own Chrome tab. The meeting can stay in another tab or another Chrome window.
  2. On that page, press Alt+Shift+E and click a field, a row, or a paragraph. Press Alt+Shift+A and drag a rectangle when the click misses a block, a heading, or a cluster of cells. The shortcuts are listed under How it works.
  3. Press Alt+Shift+B, confirm the parts you will discuss, then press it again so the covers show.
  4. In the meeting controls, select Share. In the browser dialog, choose Chrome Tab and select the covered tab. Choose that entry when the page is what the meeting should see.
  5. Watch the shared tab. If a value is still readable, or a scrolling panel moves the text out from under a rectangle, stop sharing and fix the cover before you continue.

Draw the area before the share starts. The screen-reader article says that to stop sharing a browser tab you press Alt+Shift+A, then Enter. PlainBlur uses Alt+Shift+A to drag an area. During a Chrome Tab share, add a cover with Alt+Shift+E, or stop the share from the sharing bar, drag the area, and share the tab again. To stop an entire-screen or application-window share, that article says to move focus until you hear that teams.microsoft.com is sharing your screen, then choose Stop sharing. Select Stop sharing in the presenter toolbar when you can see it. That control returns you to the main meeting window.

The Teams desktop app can share a window. If that window is Chrome, the page cover sits in the page area, and the window can also include the browser frame around the page. Teams on the web, sharing the Chrome tab, is the path that matches a cover drawn on the page. Edge can share a screen from Teams on the web, per the present article. The steps above are for Chrome, because that is where this extension runs.

The page is not uploaded. Blurring is a best-effort visual aid. It can miss text, images, canvases, and iframes. A short flash of the unblurred page is possible. It is not a privacy or compliance guarantee.

The cover you draw stays on that page while you use it. Free keeps manual blur on the first site. Pro is $49 once for one browser. Team is $99 once for five browsers. Auto-blur on Pro and Team looks for emails, phone numbers, API keys, amounts, and card-like numbers. Other text needs a click or a drag. Prices are in the pricing section. Checkout starts from the extension popup. This website does not take payment.

How do you show or hide the cover during the share?

Click the shared Chrome tab so it is the active tab, then press Alt+Shift+B. That shortcut shows or hides the blurs, and the tab you are already sharing updates while the share continues.

The shortcut uses the active tab in the Chrome window in front. Click that window if the Teams desktop app or another program is in front, then click the shared tab. Press Alt+Shift+B again before you point at a value you had covered. To change a cover without the share running, select Stop sharing, edit the page, and share the Chrome tab again.

Camera blur is a different control. More actions, then Video effects and settings, changes the video feed, as described in the background article. Alt+Shift+B changes the page in the tab.

What does the cover not hide?

A desktop app, Chrome's own interface, and anything outside that web page stay readable. The cover is a visual aid on the Chrome page where you drew it. The same file, opened in another program, still shows the original values.

If a figure is still readable, stop sharing or cover it. The blur exists only in the browser where you drew it. It is not a privacy or compliance guarantee.