Update 3/11/2020:
- We’re temporarily raising the viewing limit on Go Live and Go Live and Screen Share streams from 10 people at a time to 50 people. However, because we anticipate a surge in user demand as we raise the limit, we ask that you please have patience.
- If you have any questions on how to set up Go Live or experience any other issues, please contact us at https://dis.gd/support.
What does this article cover?
- What is Go Live - Screen Share?
- How do I share my screen with Go Live?
- How do I share my game?
- How do I share my screen in a Direct Message?
- Stream Quality Settings
- Setting up permissions to Go Live
- How do I watch a stream with Go Live?
What is Go Live and Screen Share?
Go Live and Screen Share allows you to screen share any application window, or your entire screen in a server or voice call!
This article will cover Go Live - Screen Share in DMs and voice channels on the desktop client. For more information on how to start a video call check out our Video Calls article. If you have questions about screen sharing on a mobile device please review our [Mobile] Screen Share FAQ article.
Step by Step Instructions
If you want to share your screen with Go Live to everyone else in the Discord server:
- Join a
voice channel in your server - Press the
Screen streaming icon in the voice status panel (near the bottom left corner) and a new window will pop out - Select an individual application window to share, or select an entire screen to share
- Press the "Go Live" button at the bottom of the window when you are ready to share your stream
If you want to join and watch a Go Live stream in the server:
- Look in the left side bar for any broadcasters with the
Go Live icon within the voice channel - Select the username of the broadcaster with the Go Live icon to automatically join the stream
- Once you've joined, you can then change the size and location of your viewing window and adjust the stream’s audio from the volume icon while hovering over the stream
How do I screen share with Go Live?
To start a screen share, join a voice channel in your server. Once you've joined the voice channel, you will then see the Go Live button in the voice status panel.
If you don't see this button, you may need to double check your permissions in the server!
Now a panel will pop up where you can select an individual application window to share (in the "Applications" option, or you can choose to share your entire screen (by selecting the "Screens" option).
Once you've decided which screen to share, press the Go Live button to confirm and start sharing!
If you change your mind on which screen you'd like to share, you can switch the screen that is being shared by selecting Screen and then Change Windows.
Note:
- At this time, audio sharing is available when sharing an application window on Windows 10 or MacOS version 10.13 or later. You can enable MacOS audio sharing following this guide here.
- Unfortunately, audio sharing is unavailable on Linux.
How do I share my game?
To share your game it needs to be recognized by our built-in game detection system. After launching the game you wish to share, view a Discord server, then check for a Go Live panel on the bottom left of your screen, select the "Stream" button above your status bar.
Note: If the game does not appear, try manually adding your game by going to User Settings > Game Activity > Add it!
Unfortunately, if your game is not recognized by Game Detection, or through the process of manually adding it, then you will not be able to stream the game.
After selecting the Stream button, a window will pop-up and you can select eligible voice channels. Once you've selected your preferred voice channel, press the Go Live button to share your game.
You should see a small Picture-in-Picture (PiP) window of the game you're sharing so you can view how it looks. Hovering over the PiP will give you options to adjust the stream’s settings or end the stream.
Note: The PiP window will be automatically paused once you have the game in focus.
Sharing your game using Overlay
Sharing your game has also been integrated with our Overlay!
While playing a game, toggle your Overlay hotkey and then follow the same steps mentioned above in the How do I share my game? section.
All of the settings are housed in the Overlay widget. From there, you can adjust your stream settings, end the stream, and check to see who’s watching.
If someone is watching your stream, you’ll see a little eyeball icon 👁 next to their name in the Overlay Widget!
How do I share my screen in a Direct Message?
To share your screen in a Direct Message (DM), you'll want to start a call first. You can do this by pressing the phone or video icon in the top header while viewing a DM.
After starting the call, press the Share Your Screen button in the call panel.
A menu will then pop up where you can select an individual application window to share (in the "Applications" option), or you can choose to share your entire screen (by selecting the "Screens" option).
Once you've decided which screen to share, press the Go Live button to confirm and start sharing!
If you want to swap from one app window to another, you’ll be able to easily swap by selecting the "Change Window" option!
You can then easily end the stream by selecting "Stop Streaming" when you're done!
Stream Quality Settings
The framerate and resolution of your stream can be adjusted from multiple different places.
Regardless if you're sharing your screen in a Direct Message or a server voice channel, you can always change your Stream Quality by selecting the "Screen" button above your status bar.
- All users can stream up to 720p/30fps
- Nitro Classic subscribers have access to 1080p/60fps
- And Nitro subscribers can go all the way up to 4k/60fps
Stream Quality Settings for Go Live
When sharing your screen on a server voice channel, you can change the Stream Quality by hovering over the PiP window of your stream and then selecting the gear icon.
Stream Quality Settings for direct messages
You’ll be able to directly modify your Stream Quality including changing your stream’s frame rate and resolution directly within the call panel by selecting the screen share drop-down arrow
VIEW MODES
Grid View -
- All calls will start in this view! This is the perfect view to see all the videos/screenshares within your chat at once!
Focus View -
- If you’d like to focus on one specific person, you can then use this view to make their screen the center of attention! The focused screen will show as the largest screen while everyone else’s screen will show up on as smaller screens at the bottom.
- Want to make that focused view even larger?
- You can also hide the streams of the other Server Video Members (by pressing on the
Hide Members button within the focused stream) while in the Focus View to only show the main screen you’re focusing on! That way, you won’t get distracted by anyone else’s screen!
- You can also hide the streams of the other Server Video Members (by pressing on the
- Want to change which screen you want to focus on?
- To switch which screen you’d like to focus on, you can press the
Show Members to show all the smaller streams once more and then select the other person’s screen!
- To switch which screen you’d like to focus on, you can press the
WINDOW MODES
Pop Out View -
- To have the video chat all appear in a separate window, press the Pop Out View button to be able to move that window anywhere on your screen!
- If you want to pin the Pop Out window so that it stays above all other windows, you can use the Stay On Top button. To unpin the window, use the Remove from Top button.
Full Screen View -
- Last but not least, press that Full Screen button if you want to maximize the video size on your screen!
Audio Sharing
Note: Currently audio can only be captured by the Windows desktop, MacOS desktop, Chrome browser, and mobile clients. You cannot share your application's audio on other browsers or Linux.
Go Live: Permissions
The ability to Screen Share on a channel is locked behind the “Video” permission! If you are the server owner or have Administrator permissions, you can directly edit these permissions to give certain server members the power to stream!
1) For a Specific Role -
- You can head into Server Settings and then the Roles tab to enable the “Video” permission for specific roles within the server.
- Once you've selected the specific Role you'd like to give the permission, scroll down the permissions list, down to Voice Permissions to enable “Video”!
or
2) For a Specific Channel
- You can also customize this permission on the channel level by right-clicking your voice channel, selecting Edit Channel in the menu, and then selecting Permissions (right underneath Overview in the left sidebar).
- You can then add a Role or server member by pressing the plus symbol by the Roles/Member section, and then selecting who you would like to give the permission to
- Lastly, scroll down the permissions list, down to Voice Permissions to enable “Video”!
Here’s what the Go Live permission looks like in the Server Settings tab:
Note: The ability to share your screen in a voice channel is enabled by default.
How do I watch a Stream?
Chances are, you’ve seen the “Go Live” badge to the right of your friend's username.
That badge indicates the user is streaming and if you click on their username in the voice channel, you’ll see the option to watch the stream.
Note: If you just want to chat, you can join a voice channel as you normally would without spectating the stream. Additionally, Go Live streams have a maximum of 50 concurrent viewers (50 viewers, plus the broadcaster!).
After clicking "Join Stream", you'll automatically join the voice channel and you’ll see a window of the stream!
You can also double-click to watch the stream in full screen and then minimize it back to a window by pressing "Esc".
You can also control the stream’s audio from the volume icon while hovering over the stream.
Click any other text channel and the stream will minimize to a small window in-app! Feel free to drag the stream window to your preferred corner of the app!
Note: Joining another voice channel will disconnect you from the Go Live session and the stream will disappear! You can only view one stream, within one voice channel at a time.
Go Live: Pop Out
We also included a “Pop Out” feature to suit your browsing needs! With the "Pop Out" feature, you'll be able to open the stream to a separate window!
The "Pop Out" icon will look something like this:
The "Pop Out" window can be resized to your heart’s content!
If you want to pin the "Pop Out" window so that it stays above all other windows, you can use the Stay On Top button. To unpin the window, use the Remove from Top button.
And that's it!
We hope you enjoy Go Live - Screen Share and if you have any suggestions on how to improve the feature, please share your ideas here: https://dis.gd/feedback Keep in mind, Go Live - Screen Share is still in the beta, and therefore you may encounter technical issues. If it doesn't appear to be functioning properly, please make sure to hit up our support team here: https://dis.gd/contact