Why are there bars next to my presentation or document?

A presentation or document always appears in full on the screen: never stretched, never cropped. If the slide or page has a different shape from your screen, there is space left over and you see bars beside or above your content. You pick the color of those bars with Background color. This works for PowerPoint Online, Google Slides, Word Online, Excel Online and Google Sheets with a connected account.

Presentations: give the slide the shape of your screen

A slide is made for a screen, so Screenbird shows it exactly as you built it. A TV is 16:9. If your presentation is 4:3 or a custom size, you get bars on the left and right.

1. PowerPoint: open the presentation and choose Design > Slide Size > Widescreen (16:9).
2. Google Slides: choose File > Page setup > Widescreen 16:9.
3. If your screen is mounted in portrait, choose a custom size of 9:16, for example 7.5 x 13.333 in (19.05 x 33.87 cm).
4. Check that all the text still fits inside the slide and save. The screen picks up the change on the next refresh.

If you cannot see all of the text on the screen, it already runs past the edge of the slide itself. Make the text box smaller or spread the content over more slides. Screenbird has no setting for that.

Documents and spreadsheets: trim the margins

A Word document or spreadsheet is a page with an empty margin around it. With Trim margins, Screenbird cuts that margin away, so the content comes on screen as large as possible. It is on by default.

• On: you see only the content, as large as it can be shown.
• Off: you see the whole page, margins included.

If the content still does not get big enough, change the document itself: set the page to landscape, make the margins narrower, or delete empty columns and rows.

Choosing the color of the bars

1. Go to Files and open the app.
2. Under Display, choose a color for Background color.
3. Click Save.

Pick the same color as the background of your slide or page and the bars blend into the content.

If you use a public link instead of a connected account, the screen shows Microsoft's or Google's own viewer. In that case, Background color and Trim margins are not available.

You can read more about the connections in Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. What size should my content be? explains which resolution to use.