Background Sharing the electronic health‐care record (EHR) during consultations has the potential to facilitate patient involvement in their health care, but research about this practice is limited. Methods We used multichannel video recordings to identify examples and examine the practice of screen‐sharing within 114 primary care consultations. A subset of 16 consultations was viewed by the general practitioner and/or patient in 26 reflexive interviews. Screen‐sharing emerged as a significant theme and was explored further in seven additional patient interviews. Final analysis involved refining themes from interviews and observation of videos to understand how screen‐sharing occurred, and its significance to patients and professionals. Results Eighteen (16%) of 114 videoed consultations involved instances of screen‐sharing. Screen‐sharing occurred in six of the subset of 16 consultations with interviews and was a significant theme in 19 of 26 interviews. The screen was shared in three ways: ‘convincing’ the patient of a diagnosis or treatment; ‘translating’ between medical and lay understandings of disease/medication; and by patients ‘verifying’ the accuracy of the EHR. However, patients and most GPs perceived the screen as the doctor's domain, not to be routinely viewed by the patient. Conclusions Screen‐sharing can facilitate patient involvement in the consultation, depending on the way in which sharing comes about, but the perception that the record belongs to the doctor is a barrier. To exploit the potential of sharing the screen to promote patient involvement, there is a need to reconceptualise and redesign the EHR.