Microsoft to roll out ‘laser pointer’ tool for quick slide annotations on Teams

Microsoft is adding yet another useful feature to the PowerPoint Live mode, in the form of a virtual laser to annotate any slides on display during a Teams meeting

Here's what the laser pointer feature looks like during a PowerPoint Live presentation.  (MSPoweruser)

Usage of video meeting apps like Zoom and Microsoft have grown in leaps and bounds after the novel coronavirus pandemic pushed many companies to opt for a work from home setup. In order to adapt to the changing needs of their customers, these apps are constantly adding new features, like Microsoft's latest addition to Teams – a virtual laser pointer for PowerPoint Live.

Earlier this year, Microsoft released PowerPoint Live for presentations inside the Teams app, bringing some of the best PowerPoint features to the company's video meeting service. Users can simply pick a file under the new “PowerPoint Live” section located in the Share content menu.

Now Microsoft is adding yet another useful feature to the PowerPoint Live mode, in the form of a virtual laser to annotate any slides on display during a Teams meeting, as reported by MSPoweruser. The presenter will be able to use this new feature to quickly draw participants attention to specific parts of a slide as they speak, and let them know what information to look at.

However, the feature won't be available to all users in a meeting – this will be limited only to the current presenter. This is probably because the person who is presenting could be heckled or disturbed by an attendee who could use the laser pointer feature to divert attention and derail a presentation.

Interestingly, the laser pointer tool will persist on the slide while the meeting is going on, according to the report. However, once the meeting is done, they will not be available, which means that the presentation file will not be modified. However, if a user joins in the middle of a presentation, they will still be able to look at any previously created annotations.

The report indicates that Microsoft will roll out this feature to the app's desktop clients along with the web app later this month and will be available to most users in June. Unfortunately, while the Teams mobile apps won't support this new feature, there's no word on whether it will come to the iPad or Android-powered tablets.