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Remote Control guide

This page is intended as a guide for users interested in enabling and using the Remote Control feature.

Please note that Remote Control is only available for presenters using a Windows computer, whereas viewers can be on any platform. Also note that on some accounts, administrators may have disabled the Remote Control feature.

Installation

To use the Remote Control feature, a small helper program needs to be installed on your computer.

We recommend installing this program before trying to use Remote Control the first time. Please click here for a video showing the steps for installation.

If you prefer written instructions:

  1. Click this link to download the helper program.

  2. Once the download completes, click the button at the bottom of your browser that indicates the download, to run the installer.

  3. If you see a blue dialog saying “Windows protected your PC”, click “More info” near the top of that dialog and then the “Run anyway” button. This dialog may be shown by Windows in cases where the helper program has recently been updated and has only been installed by a few people. This is a heuristic that Windows uses to prevent against unwanted downloads, but it is safe to ignore the warning for the CrankWheel helper.

  4. You will see a small dialog saying “Installation of CrankWheel Helper Program is complete”. Click OK and you are ready to use Remote Control.

If you have already started a screen sharing session and you want to grant control during the session, it is possible to complete the installation while the session is ongoing. This video shows how.

Usage

Grant control while sharing a browser tab

Please watch this video for a walkthrough of how to do this.

If you prefer written instructions:

  1. While sharing a browser tab with a single viewer, hover over the preview window and click the “Grant control” button.

  2. If you see a prompt, “Open CrankWheelHelperProgram?”, we recommend putting a checkmark next to “Always allow” and then clicking OK, to avoid seeing this prompt every time. Or if you prefer, just click OK to allow launching the helper program.

  3. You will see a small dialog box, prompting you “Do you want to enable remote control in your current screen sharing session?”. Click the “Yes” button to allow. You will only see this prompt for the first time that you grant remote control during any given screen sharing session. If you end remote control and then later grant it again during the same session, you will not be prompted.

  4. You will see a prompt asking you to click within the browser tab you wish to grant control over. Click anywhere within the browser tab, and you should see a red and orange blinking border around the contents of the browser tab, indicating that your viewer now has remote control.

  5. To end remote control, click the “End Remote Control” button in the CrankWheel pop-up window, or hit the keyboard shortcut (usually Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E) indicated in the CrankWheel pop-up window, or click anywhere outside of the browser window holding the tab you have given control over.

Grant control while sharing a full screen

Please watch this video for a walkthrough of how to accomplish this.

If you prefer written instructions:

  1. While sharing a full screen with a single viewer, hover over the preview window and click the “Grant control” button.

  2. If you see a prompt, “Open CrankWheelHelperProgram?”, we recommend putting a checkmark next to “Always allow” and then clicking OK, to avoid seeing this prompt every time. Or if you prefer, just click OK to allow launching the helper program.

  3. You will see a small dialog box, prompting you “Do you want to enable remote control in your current screen sharing session?”. Click the “Yes” button to allow. You will only see this prompt for the first time that you grant remote control during any given screen sharing session. If you end remote control and then later grant it again during the same session, you will not be prompted.

  4. You may see a prompt, as shown in the video, saying “Please click to launch select area window”. At this prompt, click the orange “Show window” button. This prompt will only be shown in some cases the first time you grant control during a session.

  5. You will be shown a browser window with a snapshot of your screen, and a highlighted area that you can move or resize. You can also click the buttons “Set to full screen” or “Set to partial” to affect the size and position of this area. Once you are happy with the area you have selected to grant mouse control over, click the button “Grant control of selected area” to continue.

  6. You will see a brief couple of flashes of colored windows. Your viewer will then have remote control, as shown by the red/orange blinking border around yoru screen.

  7. To end remote control, click the “End Remote Control” button in the CrankWheel pop-up window, or hit the keyboard shortcut (usually Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E) indicated in the CrankWheel pop-up window.

Other useful guides on how to use CrankWheel

This page has attempted to provide a concise guide on how to install and use the Remote Control feature of CrankWheel.

For further help on how to use CrankWheel, please see our getting started guide or you may wish to view our playlist of walkthrough videos that illustrate how to use various features of CrankWheel.

If you need any other assistance, please do not hesitate to chat with us using the chat widget at the bottom-right of this page, or email our support team at support@crankwheel.com.