How to Get a Laser Pointer in Microsoft Teams

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This guide explores how to utilize the laser pointer tool effectively in Microsoft Teams meetings, ensuring your points capture the audience’s attention with a variety of colors and pen thicknesses.

Discover the interactive possibilities and learn to command your virtual stage confidently.

Let’s spotlight the details.

How Do You Get a Laser Pointer in Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft rolled out the new annotation toolbar, which includes the laser pointer feature, in the desktop version of Teams.

You can enjoy the PowerPoint Live annotation experience when using Microsoft Teams on Windows or macOS desktop apps. 

The laser pointer feature is also available for web users but it’s not yet supported by mobile devices. Microsoft may amend this soon.  

The toolbar is only available for active presenters in a Teams meeting.

This eliminates any chances of disruptions from the viewers’ end. 

Moreover, participants must join the meeting with the Microsoft Teams desktop version to see the ink marks made by the presenter.     

To get a laser pointer, you must ensure that your Microsoft Teams app is up-to-date.

When you open a PowerPoint presentation on Teams in presenter mode, you’ll see the annotation toolbar beneath each slide.

After clicking on the laser pointer and picking a color of your choice, you can make temporary marks on the current slide.

You simply have to move the mouse around the target area if you want to create a short line. 

On the other hand, you should press and hold the mouse button to highlight the content with a long line.

The mark will be removed as soon as you release the mouse button.  

Please note that if you make several marks on a single slide with the laser pointer, viewers will be able to see all of them at the same time.

The marks will even fade away together. 

If you want to erase an ink mark, you should tap on the eraser and then click on the mark.

To remove all the marks at once, select “Erase all ink on the slide”.

Pro tip: Make sure none of the people attending the meeting are using the Teams mobile version, as they won’t be able to see you using the laser pointer.  

That being said, even if some participants are late in joining the meeting, they’ll be able to see the ink marks you’ve already created on the current slide. 

This is because the edits or highlights remain present until the presentation is over.

The changes are, however, not saved permanently in the PowerPoint file.  

It’s not clear whether the edits will be sent to the participants after the meeting is over.

Let’s discover some additional features recently introduced by the company.

How To Navigate Laser Pointer, Pen, and Highlighter While Presenting In PowerPoint

1. Accessing the Laser Pointer, Pen, and Highlighter from the Settings Menu

During your presentation, you can easily access the laser pointer by moving your mouse to the bottom left corner of your screen. 

This will cause the settings menu to appear. From there, simply click on the Pen icon and choose between the Laser Pointer, Pen, or Highlighter options.

2. Accessing the Laser Pointer, Pen, and Highlighter using Hotkeys

For Windows OS

Laser Pointer: Press and Hold Ctrl + Left Mouse

To quickly enable the laser pointer, press and hold the Ctrl button on your keyboard. While still holding down the Ctrl button, press and hold your left mouse button. 

This will display the laser pointer on your presentation.

Pen: Press Ctrl + P

To access the Pen feature, press the Ctrl + P buttons on your keyboard simultaneously. 

To disable the Pen feature, simply press the Ctrl + P buttons again.

Highlighter: Press Ctrl + I

To access the Highlighter feature, press the Ctrl + I buttons on your keyboard simultaneously. 

Once you’ve finished using the Highlighter, you can easily disable it by pressing the Ctrl + I buttons again.

For Mac

Laser Pointer

Simply press and hold the Option/Alt button on your keyboard. While still holding down the Option/Alt button, press and hold your left mouse button. 

This will display the laser pointer on your presentation.

Pen: Press Command + P

Press the Command and P buttons on your keyboard simultaneously. 

If you need to disable the Pen feature, press the Command and P buttons again.

Highlighter

Unfortunately, there is no hotkey for the Highlighter feature on Mac computers.

Vance Tran( Technical Editor & Founder )

Meet Vance. He’s a proud dad, a seasoned Electronics Engineer, and an avid tech lover. His proficiency in electronics and troubleshooting skills were instrumental in crafting Pointer Clicker. Vance is passionate about simplifying tech for those who aren’t well-versed in it.

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