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Guide · Microsoft Teams · Mac

How to share sound in Teams on a Mac

Teams sends sound with a screen share, through a switch called Include sound, and on a Mac that switch depends on a driver. Here’s where it is, what changes when Teams runs in a browser, how to send sound without sharing your screen, and what to check when the meeting hears nothing.

The short version

  • In the Teams desktop app, Include sound is a switch you turn on when you click Share, before you choose what to share.
  • A Mac needs the Teams audio driver for it, once. No driver, no switch that works.
  • Teams can’t send sound without a screen share. To send one browser tab’s sound with no share, use Patch for Chrome.

Include sound in the Teams desktop app

  1. Click Share. In the meeting controls of the Teams desktop app, click Share.
  2. Turn on Include sound. Turn on Include sound in the panel that opens, before you choose a screen or window.
  3. Install the driver if Teams asks. On a Mac, the first time you turn on Include sound, Teams offers to install its audio driver. Install it and restart Teams, or your Mac, if it asks.
  4. Choose what to share. Pick the window that plays the sound to send that app’s sound, or your whole screen to send all of your Mac’s sound.
  5. Play it. Start the video or audio. If it was already playing and nobody hears it, pause it and play it again.

What you pick decides what the meeting hears. Share one window, and Teams sends that app’s sound. Share your whole screen, and it sends everything your Mac plays, alerts and notification sounds too. For a video in Safari or Chrome, sharing the browser window is usually the better choice: for a YouTube video, share the browser window that plays it.

The driver is the step that catches Mac users out. Teams offers it the first time you turn on Include sound; Microsoft also has it as a separate download, linked from its help page on sharing sound. Until it’s installed, and Teams has restarted if it asks, the share has no sound.

Teams in a browser

In Teams on the web, the browser’s own sound option takes the place of Include sound, and it depends on what you pick:

  • A tab: turn on “Also share tab audio”. The meeting hears that tab and nothing else.
  • A window or the whole screen: turn on “Also share system audio”, where your browser offers it. Not every browser does.

Both are still a screen share: everyone sees the tab or window while it plays.

Share sound without sharing your screen

Teams has no sound-only share. What it always hears is your microphone, so the way to send sound with nothing on screen is to put the sound in your microphone, next to your voice.

One browser tab: Patch for Chrome

Patch for Chrome is a free extension for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Arc. It sends one tab’s sound into Patch, which we make, and Patch mixes it with your microphone into a virtual mic called Patch Mix. It works with the Teams desktop app and with Teams in a browser.

  1. In Patch, add a Chrome tab: the add-source list has “Add a Chrome tab”.
  2. Add Patch for Chrome from the Chrome Web Store. Chrome asks once about your microphone; that only lets Patch for Chrome find the Patch speaker. It never listens.
  3. Pin it: click the puzzle piece, then the pin.
  4. On the tab you want the meeting to hear, click Patch in the toolbar, then Send this tab.
  5. In Teams, open Settings, then Devices. Choose Patch Mix as the microphone and your headphones as the speaker.
  6. Click Go live in Patch. From then on the meeting hears your voice and the tab together, with nothing shared.

Only that tab goes, and only after you click: no notifications, no other tabs. The tab goes quiet in the browser and you hear it through Patch, so you hear what the meeting hears. Click Stop when you’re done, or click Patch on another tab to send that one instead. If Teams itself runs in a tab, Patch for Chrome won’t send that tab, so the meeting never hears an echo of itself.

Any Mac app: Patch

For sound from an app rather than a tab, such as Music, Spotify, QuickTime or Keynote, add the app to Patch as a source instead, and click Go live. Each source has its own fader and Hear locally switch, and a limiter on the mix stops a loud clip from clipping. Playing music rather than a clip? See play music on Teams for the noise settings that keep it intact.

Patch needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later. Patch for Chrome needs the Patch app, with its audio component installed and up to date.

Include sound missing or silent

  • No Include sound switch: you may be in Teams on the web, where the browser’s tab or system audio option replaces it. In the desktop app, update Teams and look again.
  • Switch on, no sound: install the Teams audio driver, then quit and reopen Teams. If it still fails, restart your Mac.
  • Still silent: pause the video and play it again after the share has started. Microsoft says the sound may not start until you do.
  • Mac permission: in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording, make sure Microsoft Teams is turned on.
  • Muted source: check that the tab or player isn’t muted. A muted video shares silence.

The same checks for Zoom, Meet and Slack are in no sound when screen sharing.

Questions

Where is Include sound in Teams on a Mac?

Click Share in the meeting controls of the Teams desktop app. Include sound is a switch in the panel that opens; turn it on before you pick a screen or window. If you don’t see it, check that you’re in the desktop app, not Teams in a browser, and that Teams is up to date.

Why is share sound on Teams not working?

On a Mac, the usual reason is the Teams audio driver: Teams needs it installed once, and may need a restart afterwards. Also check that Include sound was on when you started sharing, that Teams is allowed under Screen & System Audio Recording in System Settings, and that the video isn’t muted. Pause and play the video once the share has started.

Is there a sound-only share in Teams?

Not with Teams alone: its sound always goes with a screen share, and there is no sound-only share. To send sound with nothing on screen, put it in your microphone. Patch for Chrome sends one browser tab’s sound into Patch, and Patch hands Teams a microphone called Patch Mix with your voice and that tab together.

How do I share a YouTube video with sound on Teams?

If people need to see it, click Share, turn on Include sound and share the browser window that plays the video. Sharing a window sends that app’s sound, not your whole Mac’s. If they only need to hear it, send the YouTube tab with Patch for Chrome and choose Patch Mix as your microphone in Teams.

What is the Teams audio driver on a Mac?

A small piece of Microsoft software that lets Teams capture your Mac’s sound for a share. Teams offers to install it the first time you turn on Include sound, and Microsoft also has a download for it. You only need it for Include sound: choosing a microphone such as Patch Mix doesn’t use it.

Will people hear my notifications in Teams?

If you share your whole screen with Include sound, yes: Microsoft says all of your Mac’s sound goes, notifications included. Share one window instead, or send just one tab with Patch for Chrome.