I Was Zoombombed by Zoom
Fellow teachers, please let me know if you resolve this Zoom-to-PPT Presenter View glitch. Zoom, please fix this before 2021 classes start
Table of Contents
1. Zoom updated their software on December 8th
2. I used my iPhone to join with myself
3. **Always One Monitor**
4. Zoom doesn’t seem to know it has/had this beautiful synchronization with Powerpoint
5. Update ≠ Upgrade
6. A Call of Service for Silver Linings
Z0. Sidenotes to Self (please ignore)
∘ COVID Vaccine Distribution Timeline (July for most US Adults)
Z1. Pfizer Vaccine Sample — Ethnoracial Data (N = 37706)
∘ n = 10,543 Hispanic subjects
∘ n = 3,492 Black subjects
∘ n = 1,608 Asian subjects
∘ n = 855 Mixed subjects
Z2. Pfizer Outcome Data — Vaccine Efficacy by Race
∘ Black Vaccine Efficacy = 100% (but confidence interval 31.2–100)
∘ All others = 89.3% (22.6–99.8)
∘ Hispanic = 94.4% (82.7–98.9)
∘ White = 95.2% (89.8–98.1)
From April 3rd to December 7th, Zoom worked perfectly with Presenter View in Powerpoint all of 2020.
Windows 10 — One Monitor — No Green ‘Portion of Screen’ Box
I always only used 1 monitor. I have never used more than that in my life.
It’s annoying how when looking for solutions to presenter view with Zoom you have to put “one monitor” in quotation marks because of the annoying deluge of search results that are focused on using something other than one monitor. I’m saying ‘other than one’ because I don’t want to contribute to it. I want this post to forever only be in the search results for one monitor … only “one monitor for presenter view” because some of us utilize “presenter view with one monitor” … “1 monitor” (okay I’m done) … “single monitor”
I never selected the ‘portion of screen’ option thing. I didn’t even know that existed until December 9th when it was suggested as a solution.
It was as simple as starting the slideshow & then clicking presenter view.
Dr. Amanda Montoya’s video from April
Note: only the first 2 minutes are necessary. After that it appears that she discusses the green box screen portion thing. Surprised I never realized she even discussed that until now.
Amanda: “For reference I’m running Version 1808 of PowerPoint and Version 4.6.12 (20613.0421) of Zoom”
Zoom updated their software on December 8th
When I started my penultimate lecture of 2020 on Wednesday December 9th, I was taken aback as student comments started to enter the Zoom chat indicating that they could see my presenter notes & next slide.
The image below contains a subset of the student comments.
Why assume the glitch is due to Zoom & not Microsoft Office?
→ Zoom had an update on the 8th, the day after the last time it worked perfectly. Thus, I’m assuming the desynchronization is primarily Zoom’s error.
I used my iPhone to join with myself
I shared the screen with Mr. #GamerGirl (me) & then went to presenter view, but I could still see Jarryd’s next slide & notes section.
Only Jarryd should be able to see my next slide. Not myself, only me. At least that’s how it operated prior to Zoom’s update.
Once again…
**Always One Monitor**
— — to be clear — —
**only 1, never 2**
No green box or ‘portion of screen’ thing
I never used ‘portion of screen’ to draw/adjust a box to utilize presenter view. Moreover, doing so means that when you select ‘show all slides’ that some of the slides will be visible within the space of the box.
That’s just tacky; unpolished.
I could always see my notes, next slide, & view all slides option, and the audience could only see the slide that I was currently on.
This worked perfectly all year until December 9th. (Though it’s probably more accurate to say December 8th since that’s when the update happened, but I didn’t have any lectures that day so I started lecture Wednesday with no idea what glitch awaited me).
Zoom doesn’t seem to know it has/had this beautiful synchronization with Powerpoint
After spending about 30–35 minutes with a Zoom agent Wednesday evening trying-and-failing to resolve this, it became clear to me that the agent herself/himself had no idea that Zoom even had the ability to (in essence) act as a second monitor when using presenter view with only one monitor.
An image of the chat is provided below.
At one point the agent literally suggested that I install an old version of Zoom. Indeed, I suppose I’m never to update Zoom ever again if I want it to work the best way possible… based on logic that belies lay understandings of what the word ‘update’ means.
*literally check dictionary — provides dictionary links below*
My mistake… according to TheFreeDictionary.com
Update ≠ Upgrade
That’s why the latest update of Zoom is such a disappointing downgrade if you’re someone who uses powerpoint presenter view. This is why it’s ill-advised to reinvent wheels; you’ll end up ruining something great.
Hopefully they will decide to upgrade Zoom next time instead of updating it.
A Call of Service for Silver Linings
Anyone else who has had success using presenter/speaker/note view this year with Windows & ONLY ONE MONITOR — and no ‘portion of screen thing — please check and see if it’s working for you.
My sole silver lining at this point is the knowledge that a member of my lab recorded a video of her getting this process to work exactly as I have. And, after 36–40 hours of trial & error (and installing some new subfolder driver packages that most people outside the IT field likely never think about), our primary IT Triton got it to work on his laptop. Both have Windows 10 like me.
Knowing that 2 other people are still able to get it to work gives me hope that there is ultimately a way to defeat this glitch…
Hopefully this Medium piece will lead others to report that they’ve had success with this as well & reassure me that there is a light at the end of the tunnel with this before 2021 classes start on January 4th.
Each person who can confirm it’s working provides a little more hope that this sudden/needless stress on the last few days of the school year, and the concern for how it may persist into 2021, can be overcome.
‘The drops of water cannot know themselves to be a river, yet the river flows on.’
Aside from that… God bless Zoom for allowing us to continue life with some modicum of interactive functionality during the most digital year in the history of mankind.
I literally want to write a really glowing piece praising Zoom & CEO Eric Yuan, and likely still will, but this glitch needs to be addressed before 2021 classes start.
— — — — — — — — — — — End scene — — — — — — — — — — —
Sidenotes to Self (please ignore)
COVID Vaccine Distribution Timeline (July for most US Adults)
Pfizer Vaccine Sample — Ethnoracial Data (N = 37706)
n = 10,543 Hispanic subjects
n = 3,492 Black subjects
n = 1,608 Asian subjects
n = 855 Mixed subjects
- doesn’t specify if they are interminority multiracial (half Vietnamese, half Mexican) or half-White multiracial
- n = 2284 from Brazil, a majority mixed country, yet
Pfizer Outcome Data — Vaccine Efficacy by Race
Black Vaccine Efficacy = 100% (but confidence interval 31.2–100)
All others = 89.3% (22.6–99.8)
Hispanic = 94.4% (82.7–98.9)
White = 95.2% (89.8–98.1)
Main takeaway → I’m getting the vaccine asap because I miss my parents & it’d be nice to fly to Texas in 2021.