Whether you’ve been using Zoom for years or have only just signed up in 2021, there are a number of helpful and fun tips, tricks and hidden features you can find to upgrade your video chatting experience and make the experience much better
1. Change your background
Virtually transport yourself to the beach, outer space or anywhere else you can imagine by customizing your background while on Zoom calls — everyone’s doing it these days. Just go to Settings > Virtual Background and select or upload the image you want from there. However, you do have to make sure that your system meets all the requirements to do so.
2. Mute your audio and turn off your camera by default
Diving for the mute audio and camera buttons as soon as you enter a meeting can get old. Keep your coworkers from seeing your bedhead or hearing your dog barking by turning those off by default. To do it, go to Settings > Audio > Mute microphone when joining a meeting, and then Settings > Video > Turn off my video when joining a meeting.
3. Mute and unmute with the space bar
When you are called on to speak, stop scrambling to click the microphone button. You can press and hold the spacebar to quickly mute and unmute your mic, right from your keyboard.
4. Turn on the beauty filter
At this point, if you know all of the work from home advice about getting dressed and ready like it’s a regular workday, but still don’t think you’re looking your best, Zoom’s Touch Up My Appearance feature may be for you. The filter aims to smooth over your appearance, making you look chilled and well-rested. If you’ve ever used beauty mode on your phone’s selfie camera, you know what you’re getting.
To turn it on, click the up arrow next to Start Video. Click Video Settings, and under My Video, check the box for Touch Up My Appearance.
5. Set up a waiting room for added privacy
You’ve probably heard about Zoom Bombing? This is when uninvited guests crash your Zoom meeting and disrupt it. One way to help prevent this from happening is by enabling the Waiting Room feature, so you can see who’s attempting to join the meeting before allowing them access. To do so, go to Account Management > Account Settings. Click on Meeting, then click Waiting Room to enable the setting.
6. Create breakout rooms for smaller group discussion
Split your big Zoom meeting into up to 50 separate smaller sessions with breakout rooms. The meeting host can choose to split meeting participants into separate sessions automatically or manually or can let participants select and enter any breakout session they like. The host can switch between sessions at any point.
To start a breakout room as the host, go to Account Management > Account Settings. Under the Meeting tab, go to Breakout Room, and make sure the setting is toggled on. You’ll also see the option to allow meeting hosts to pre-assign participants to breakout rooms. (If the Breakout Room option is grayed out, that means it’s been locked, and you need to contact your Zoom administrator.)
7. Share your screen
Share your screen for a Zoom meeting with other participants by clicking the Share screen icon on the toolbar at the bottom of the meeting screen. You’ll have the option to share your entire desktop, or just one of the windows you have open. Click the red Stop Share button at the top of the screen to go back to being a normal participant in the meeting. You will need to be a host of the meeting for this.
8. React with emoji on screen
If you’re muted in a meeting, you can still let the hosts know your thoughts with emoji reactions. Send a thumbs up or a clapping emoji to communicate without interrupting the meeting (by default, those reactions have a yellow skin tone, but you can customize that on the Zoom desktop app).
To react during a meeting, click the Reactions tab at the bottom of the meeting screen (it’s in the same panel as mute audio and video, to the right) and choose the one you want. Emoji will disappear after 5 seconds.
If the meeting organizer enables the nonverbal feedback feature, participants can place an icon such as a raised hand next to their name to communicate. Every participant will be able to see each other’s feedback.
9. Learn handy keyboard shortcuts
For those who don’t like clicking around their screen, Zoom has a ton of helpful keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate the app on your desktop without using your mouse. Find commands to join a meeting, start or stop recording, enter full screen and share your screen (more on that below). Check out Zoom’s full list of hot keys and keyboard shortcuts.
10. Turn on gallery view
Gallery view lets you see everyone in the meeting at once, instead of just the person speaking. To turn that on, click the tab that says “Gallery view” in the top right corner. If the meeting has 49 or fewer attendees, you’ll see all of their screens displayed on one page. If there are more, you’ll have the option to move between multiple pages. Change it back by clicking “Speaker view” in that same top right corner.
i hope these tips help. Any questions feel free to contact me.
The article appears on www.cnet.com