Tools: join.me

A wee while back I posted a link to ScreenLeap, a free screen sharing tool useful for web presentations.  Recently I’ve been introduced to join.me, which goes one further and allows remote control of machines.  This is an absolutely brilliant facility for anyone trying to offer customer support.

To share a screen get the person whose screen is to be shared (or machine controlled) to go to join.me and select the “basic” option in the left panel, then click the orange play button.  After the usual faffing to download a java app into the browser (which may include security confirmations) they will get a little widget at the top of their screen showing a link to share, along with a 9 digit code.

There is a mouse icon on the widget which allows them to share control as well.

To join a shared screen, ask the sharer for their 9-digit code and enter it in the box on the right panel at join.me.

There is also a pro version (with a free trial) which includes additional features like integrated audio, customised urls for sessions etc.  I haven’t tried this but at $19/month this might be worth checking out if you plan to do a lot of web meetings.