Hide my cursor

If possible I would like to downvote this idea. Working in an agile environment we are aiming to reach a high transparency about what we are doing and about its outcome. What is the real-world-equivalent to this? What do we achieve when hiding from each other?

For me, this is a privacy issue. If I create a board and decide to share it with viewers, I’m not interested in them seeing me move around.

This is for the option to hide your cursor. It would not be required. It makes some people feel anxious and awkward for others to see their cursor in this fashion. 

The real-world equivalent is that if you have a meeting with 35 people and they each have a laser pointer with a different colour, it is extremely confusing and very unhelpful for all of them to constantly point them at the whiteboard at the same time. A laser pointer is more useful if it is only active when the person holding it is actively trying to point at something.

I was kind of shocked by the poor UX of logging in and seeing a large number of co-workers’ cursors flit all over the place as they were scrolling, zooming, &c.

Let me CHOOSE to hide my cursor if I’m not DOING anything. If a contributor is editing, sure force their cursor to show… 

When I’m in a remote meeting with dozens of people, ALL our cursors flitter around the board, obscuring the info ON the board as we try to simply look around and follow along… obviously that’s messy, counter-productive, and of NO added value.

This would be useful for situations where someone is presenting in a large meeting but attendees may want to follow along in Miro itself. Currently if I am inside a Miro board that is being presented, my cursor is visible on the presentation and is both a bit embarrassing for me and also annoying for others. 

I’d also like the option to hide OTHER people’s cursors (just in my own view) when they are obscuring something I am trying to read.

You can hide other people’s cursors via settings.

But I like the others really would like to be able to hide our own cursors from other people’s view. Makes little sense you can’t.

I don’t know how on earth seeing multiple cursors on a screen is in any way shape of form related or beneficial to agile.

Multiple cursors is a distraction. Mural allows you to hide them (and you’re own) and having used Mural more, going to Miro now feels like steps backwards! But I have to use it because other people I work with use it (before I get any people trying to be clever telling me to stop Miro - that happens too)

Where is that option, I can’t see it. That would be useful :)

When I use Miro for a class project, I really want all cursors except mine (the instructor’s) hidden by default, and a toggle that students can use to show theirs. 30 cursors randomly wandering around on the screen is huge distraction.

@allenh - Here is a Wish List iead post that you may want to upvote:

https://community.miro.com/ideas/only-show-board-owner-cursor-3271

I thought agile was also about saving time, yet here you are spewing nonsense on a feature request that will not pertain to you. 

I like my privacy - I don’t need to see 30+ cursors because its distracting, and they don’t need to see mine because I’m sure its also distracting too. Additionally, there’s a difference between being transparent and being nosey. Furthermore, from an accessibility standpoint, those who have vestibular disabilities can really suffer with all that movement. 

You can hide people's cursors. If you don't like your cursor being shown, that's too bad. It is indefensibly irrational for you to want to alter someone else's experience on a tool designed to be collaborative. You can see your own cursor, others can choose to turn everyone else’s off.

“Privacy issue” isn’t an issue just because you attach the word “privacy” before the word “issue”.

And just to be clear, to lend words to those who can’t seem to articulate what they mean by “privacy issue”, the cursor thing probably just feels like being spied on. The value of “spying” on someone else’s cursor is limited to watching you work on a Miro board. If there’s something anxiety inducing about that, then perhaps the point of Miro is a bit lost on you.

The cursor is there for people who aren’t you. The fact that you can craft and share documents isn’t just for yourself, but for those you’re going to share it with. When people share their screen on a giant document and I can see their cursors, I can find the place that they’re on without their permission so that I might follow along with whatever the hell they’re saying instead of relying on a crappy zoom call.

I support granting users the ability to hide their own cursor because it would be helpful in minimizing distractions while a presentation is occurring.

For example, I often use multiple monitors and have the presenter’s view on one monitor and my own view on another monitor. I may be looking at different parts of the presenter’s board so I can better understand what the presenter is discussing, or I may be looking for additional information to contribute to the conversation. There is no reason the entire group needs the distraction of seeing my cursor jump around in the presentation, crossing the field of view multiple times.

People use Miro in a variety of ways. Sometimes it is helpful to see all user cursors. Sometimes it is not helpful to see all user cursors. And sometimes it is helpful to only see some of the user cursors. Miro should be more flexible and leave the choice up to the users.

Essential in so many scenarios. A ‘hide my cursor from everyone else’ button is the equivalent of the mute button on Zoom calls and is a no-brainer feature to add.

I agree totally that needs to be implemented - id like it to more of a mute video. We dont always want people to be seeing where we are looking in a document, its very intrusive

+1 over here for this must needed feature. I teach using Miro and sometimes I check the board and what amount of the assignments the students have completed. However, I don’t want to distract them by them checking what I am looking at. 

It’s bad enough in Mural that I can’t set this as the default, but at least I can turn off the sharing of my cursor.  This just makes me self-conscious, and it doesn’t help anyone to know where my cursor is if I’m not trying to present something.  It’s awful.

I want to add another vote to have this feature implemented. Even if it was an option I needed to activate for each session. So Miro can heavily suggest that I remain in view as an active contributor (I understand how that encourages collaboration), but if there’s a reason, we have the option to hide our cursors from others. A few examples I can think of when this would be valuable. 
 

• There are times when I would like to work in isolation, and I’m using my Miro board simply as a reference. I don’t want to talk to people, I simply want to work. Maybe I’m up at 2am working on something, but don’t want to encourage that type of behavior or work/life balance to others. It’s a matter of privacy into your personal life and space. 
• Presenting - Someone else may be presenting content from the Miro board, and although I realize the option to hide everyone else’s cursors is present, sometimes the presenter doesn’t have that option enabled nor do you want to communicate to them to do so. It would be beneficial to be able to covertly add or subtract from content on the board while they are live, without being noticed. 

Just make it something that doesn’t stay enabled once you turn “incognito mode”. The times I need it are sparse, but I consider it absolutely necessary under certain circumstances.

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment about this feature. We understand the frustration and appreciate your patience. Our team is reviewing this idea as it continues to be open for votes and comments.

For those coming across this idea, if you feel this would be helpful for you or your business, please be sure to vote for it and leave a comment about your use case to help our team scope this request!
 

Thank you,

Miro Community Team

I’d love this feature for our business :)! 

It is a feature to have all cursors visiable when collaborating, but working on a board would massivly benefit a feature like hiding our own cursors.

This feature is very much needed. Especially when we are having any online discussion, there are lot of cursors. 

+1 for implementing this. Well articulated above.

Googolbyte! Its been a minute...

I don’t think anyone here is confused about how Miro works or what collaboration means. The request isn't about eliminating cursors altogether—it's about giving users the option to hide their own if they find it distracting, overwhelming, or even uncomfortable due to accessibility reasons.

Not everyone works the same way, and not every use case is about following along on a Zoom call. Some people prefer fewer visual distractions when they work. Others have legitimate accessibility concerns. The fact that Miro already allows users to hide others' cursors suggests that different work styles are already acknowledged—this just takes that logic one step further.

Dismissing that preference as 'irrational' or 'losing the point of Miro' misses the bigger picture. The best collaboration tools allow for flexibility, not just a one-size-fits-all approach. This request isn't about paranoia or secrecy—it's about usability and respecting different ways of working.