Can I use Connect with a Chromebook?

Posted on by ianjustingetconnect

*CONNECT V11 UPDATE* – With the Connect v11 release (September 2020) you will be able to use the browser/HTML client on Chromebooks and Linux to carry out almost all of the tasks in Connect (share your camera, use a whiteboard, load documents, change slides etc.).  The only limitation is that you cannot share your desktop or take remote control of another desktop.  You can see more details on Connect for these platforms and other Connect v11 information from my FAQ here.

Yes, the only limitation is that you will not be able to share your scree/desktop form the Chromebook as there is no dedicated Desktop App. for Chromebooks as there is for Windows PC and Mac OS.

Note – As the Chromebook is based on Linux, it would be a significant effort create a new Desktop App., particularly without a very significant user increase in the community on these devices.

I tested the process on my own Chromebook and it went straight into my Connect account without issue, and Flash Player was actually already enabled and running, nothing for me to do.
Note – I used an out-of-the-box Chromebook with no prior changes and I was surprised the Flash Player was in fact enabled by default.  If you need to enable Flash Player then follow the instructions in the link below for ‘Chrome’.
Flash Player Help – Install Flash Player in five easy steps
For more detailed/technical instructions you can also see my Blob Post here.
I was able to enter a Connect room as a Host and all I needed to do was click ‘Allow’ when it asked for permission to use my camera and microphone (Figure 1).  You may also need to give Adobe Connect permission to use your camera and microphone the first time you use Connect on this device (Figure 2).
Figure 1
Figure 2
You may see a message that you will see a better performance with the Add-in or the Desktop App., you can ignore/cancel this message as there is no Desktop App. for Chromebooks (Figure 3).
Figure 3
Everything in the room worked as designed.  The Chromebook camera and microphone worked well immediately and the only thing you cannot do is (of course) share your desktop.  You will not see the option to share your desktop in the share Pod menus (Figure 4), only the option to share a document or a whiteboard.
Figure 4
All of the other functions behaved as I would have expected Figure 5) and I was even able to download files from the room to my desktop (actually my Google Drive).
Figure 5
I would imagine that as Adobe releases and further develops the HTML5 client for Connect it will be another option as Adobe will eventually phase out the use of Flash Player (by the end of 2020).