Is there a way to project only one window in a Windows program onto a screen using a projector? I have a laptop with Windows and an Optoma projector. I don’t want my entire desktop to show up on the screen.
I imagine this is something a lot of people need to do for presentations, but I can’t find any information online addressing this issue. Perhaps I’m not framing my search terms properly. I called Optoma but they said it’s not their realm of expertise because the projector just shows what Windows sends to it.
I don’t want to widen my desktop onto two monitors because I have to see what I’m doing on my laptop. I want to be drawing on the laptop, but I only want the window with the drawing to show up on the projected image, instead of all the clutter that comes with my Photoshop program.
Whenever I do presentations I usually just show the audience everything. When I want some stuff hidden, I go with dual monitor and divide the desktop up between things I want to see and things I want to show.
How about you try setting up your projector to a much lower resolution than your monitor, then move the windows you don’t want to display over to the right hand side of your desktop? (Assuming of course that such a thing is possible)
Well, it’s Photoshop, so maximizing the window just sticks it inside the Photoshop frame maximized. The photoshop tools and menus are still visible around it. Same goes for most other types of programs. I still need to draw in that window, so I still need to see the tools.
Some screen capture programs allow you to capture just the contents of a window so I thought the same might be possible for video output.
This is the right idea. Instead of using clone mode, where the projector shows what you see on your laptop, extend your desktop to use the projector as a second monitor. Then just drag the window you want to show into the view that the projector is displaying.
I tried that but then I realized that Photoshop won’t let you “undock” the window you’re drawing in, so that solution won’t work after all. In other words you can’t move the daughter window from out of the Photoshop frame.
Short of a program actually designed to display full screen borderless shots like a PowerPoint Presentation pretty much everything in Windows is going to have a border of some kind.
Right, that’s what I’m looking for. I’m surprised this doesn’t exist?? By borderless I don’t mean the window around it disappears, just that the window gets “maximized” into the projected image.
As the projector people told you, it all depends on Windows, unless there is some oddball utility out there. The basic problem is that you want to project something other than what’s actually on the screen, and I don’t think there’s much demand for that.
On my laptop, it automatically adjusts to the resolution of the projector so I see exactly the same thing on my laptop screen as on the wall.
I do not think this is possible because it is not the program but the OS who has control of the video output and outputs the same thing to the laptop screen and video output. You would need a separate video card or a card with dual capability to output something different to two different displays.
Well, I do. A laptop has this ability. So the laptop screen is one screen and the video screen is output number 2. That’s not the problem, I’ve been able to extend the desktop onto the second monitor (projector).
I thought this (my original question) might be something that people would want because during demos or teaching, the demonstrators might not necessarily want you to see all the things that they’re doing on their desktop. I was hoping there was a utility out there that would do this, but I can’t find one.
What you are looking for seems to be falling into the Whiteboard/application sharing category - look at this to see an example of sharing a rectangular portion of the screen with another client. In the OPs case, the shared portion of the screen would be on the primary laptop display (with only the material they want to display within the shared display area), and the projected second screen would be running the client.
This particular tool is based on VNC - there may be other similar tools more focussed on presentations but this was the best hit from a quick google.
You say this like you are contradicting me when, in fact, I think you are confirming what I said (that the computer needs to have dual monitor capability). Or am I missing something?
If you have extended your desktop you dont have to show the whole desktop to everyone just what is on the projectors part. You wont be able to see it on your laptop while you drag it to the projector side though.
That appears to be a presentation application that allows you to put parts of it on two different screens (it requires a two-monitor capability), rather than a utility that will work with other applications. The OP challenge is to somehow place a boundary around a child window in an app and just project that window, without projecting any of the parent app.
I am surprised that there do not seem to be specific tools for the job - it really is just a combination of limited desktop sharing (as provided by Netmeeting, VNC, and a host of other tools) and secondary monitor control.
In other words you can’t move the daughter window from out of the Photoshop frame.