Quick Assist

Windows 11 includes a remote assistance app called Quick Assist that lets one user share their screen interactively with another user so that they can troubleshoot and help solve problems they might be experiencing.

Obviously, both of the PCs used with Quick Assist need to be connected to the Internet. Less obviously, the person proving assistance—the helper—must have a Microsoft account, while the sharer—the person being helped—does not.

To get started, both parties should be in communication with each other using their phones or a communications app. And both should open Quick Assist on their PCs.

Oddly, Quick Assist does not appear in the Start menu, but you can find it easily enough with Search.

Next, the helper will click “Assist another person” and, if this is the first time they’ve used Quick Assist, they will be asked to sign in to their Microsoft account. Quick Assist then generates a short security code that the helper must give to the sharer.

The security code expires in 10 minutes. The helper will see a countdown in Quick Assist, and a new code will be generated every 10 minutes.

Now, the sharer can enter the security code in Quick Assist and click the “Share screen” button to begin the quick assistance session.

Once the connection is made, the helper will be prompted with a choice to either take full control of the sharer’s PC, or to just view their screen without taking control.

What you choose here is based on the type of help being provided and whether the sharer is technical enough to take the troubleshooting steps given by the helper. If you are more technical than the sharer and would like to simply solve the problem, choose “Take full control. But if the sharer simply wants to show you something, choose “View screen.”

Either way, the sharer will need to click a final “Allow” button to make the connection.

The most important thing to remember here is that the sharer is always in control: they can easily disconnect the helper at any time. So there’s little to fear from giving someone—especially someone you know and trust—full control of your PC.

The sharer’s desktop will appear in the Quick Assist window on the helper’s PC.

And on the sharer’s PC, the Quick Assist window now displays in a minimal view, noting that screen sharing is on, and the Desktop has a yellow border.

To disconnect the remote connection at any time, click the “Pause” button.

Take full control of a sharer’s PC

In full control mode, the helper can interact with the sharer’s desktop remotely. These interactions are normal: the helper can now interact with the remote PC normally using their keyboard and mouse/touchpad. But the remote cursor is much larger than usual for easier use.

The helper can also access the following capabilities in Quick Assist using the buttons in the toolbar:

Select Monitor. Quick Assist can only display one remote screen at a time. If the sharer has multiple monitors, this button can be used to switch between them.

Annotate. Click this button to enter Annotation mode, which lets the helper write or draw on the sharer’s screen in one of six colors or erase any annotations. This can be useful to visually circle an on-screen item, perhaps. And annotations are not permanent, of course: they disappear when the helper closes Annotation mode.

Actual Size/Fit Screen. By default, Quick Assist shrinks down the sharer’s Desktop so that it will fit inside its window. But you can toggle the display to “Actual size,” which will cause the remote Desktop to zoom in to some degree.

Toggle Instruction Channel. This button opens (or closes) the Instruction Channel, a curiously named panel in which the sharer and the helper can exchange text messages. (Either party can start communicating this way.)

Restart. This button will reboot the sharer’s PC remotely. There’s a 30-second delay so that the sharer can agree to reboot or cancel it.

After the sharer’s PC reboots and they have signed back into Windows, Quick Assist will run automatically and the connection between the two PCs will be restored.

Task Manager. This button launches Task Manager on the sharer’s PC.

You can learn more about Task Manager in the Task Manager chapter.

Reconnect. If you end the quick assistance session using the “Leave” button, this button will be enabled so that you can reconnect. Otherwise, it will be grayed out.

Pause. Here, you can pause the quick assistance session, during which time the helper can no longer see the remote Desktop. (Either party can pause the session.)

Leave. Click this button to end the quick assistance session.

It’s unclear why there isn’t a full-screen mode.

The sharer has fewer controls. They can pause the quick assistance session by clicking the “Pause” (“||”) button. They can open the Instruction Channel pane to communicate with the helper using text messages. Or they can end the session by clicking the Quick Assist app’s Close window (“X”) button.

Remotely view the sharer’s screen

When the helper chooses to view the sharer’s screen, that screen will appear in the Quick Assist window, which provides most of the same options described in the previous description. But the Restart and Task Manager buttons are now grayed out. And the sharer retains control of their PC and can show you the problem they’re having.

However, the helper still has limited interactivity with the remote desktop. They can annotate the screen at any time, for example. And they can open the Instruction Channel to send text-based messages to the sharer, which causes the Quick Assist window on the remote PC to toggle open its own Instruction Channel pane.

What’s missing is the ability to give the helper full control. There’s no toggle for that, so both parties would need to leave this quick assistance session and start a new one.

To end the quick assistance session, the sharer can quit the Quick Assist app. Or, the helper can click the “Leave” button.

The helper can now use the “Reconnect” button in Quick Assist to reconnect to the sharer’s PC if needed. But it will reconnect in remote view mode and not give the helper the option to use full control this time. Both parties will need to quit and then restart Quick Assist to do that.