Screen Annotation in Google Meet: How to Draw Over a Shared Screen
You're in a Google Meet call. Someone shares their screen — a design, a dashboard, a document. You want to circle something, draw an arrow, mark what needs changing. But you can't. Google Meet doesn't let you draw on a shared screen.
Here's why that matters, and what you can do about it.
Why you can't annotate in Google Meet by default
Google Meet is built for video and audio. Screen sharing is a one-way broadcast — the presenter shares, everyone watches. There's no built-in layer for participants to draw on that shared content.
Microsoft Teams added a basic annotation tool to its screen sharing in 2023. Zoom has had a similar feature for years. Google Meet still doesn't have it natively as of 2026.
This means if you want to say "change that button" or "the bug is on line 47" or "the flow should go this way" — you're stuck pointing vaguely and hoping the other person understands.
The workarounds people try (and why they fall short)
1. Switching to a separate whiteboard
Tools like Miro or FigJam let you paste a screenshot and draw over it. But this requires: stopping the screen share, screenshotting, pasting into another tool, sharing that tool's link, waiting for everyone to join, and then drawing. By the time you've done all that, the moment has passed.
2. Using the presenter's tools
If the presenter is in a design tool like Figma, they can draw annotations themselves. But this only works for the presenter — not for participants who want to mark something up.
3. Describing it verbally
"You know, that bit in the top right, no, the other one, below the nav, yes that — change that." This is the default. It's slow, imprecise, and prone to misunderstanding.
What live screen annotation actually looks like
The right solution works like this: someone shares their screen in the Meet call. A transparent annotation layer sits over that shared content. Any participant can pick up a pen and draw directly on it — circles, arrows, highlights, freehand. Every stroke appears instantly for everyone in the call, including the presenter.
No tab switching. No screenshot. No "paste this link". You're drawing on the thing you're all looking at, in real time.
This is what Whiteboard for Google Meet is building. It's a Google Meet add-on — a panel that opens inside your call — with screen annotation as its headline feature.
Use cases where this changes everything
Design reviews
Designer shares a Figma prototype. PM circles the element that needs changing. Engineer marks the component it affects. All visible simultaneously, no confusion about "which bit".
Engineering debugging
Developer shares a stack trace. Team member circles the failing line. Another adds a sticky note. No more "which line do you mean?" back and forth.
Data analysis
Analyst shares a dashboard. Stakeholder draws a trend line, circles a spike, asks "why here?" The annotation is the question — specific, visual, unambiguous.
Document review
Lawyer or editor shares a document. Reviewer underlines a clause, arrows to a related section, adds a note. The tracked-changes equivalent for meetings.
What to try right now
While screen annotation in Google Meet is coming in a future release, you can use the collaborative whiteboard today — paste a screenshot, draw over it together, and share the result. It's not as seamless as native annotation but it's the closest available option inside Meet.
To get notified when live screen annotation ships — and get early Pro access — join the waitlist.