Basic Navigation
To view meeting information and access settings, click the shield icon at the top left of your meeting window.
After clicking on the shield icon, you can access the settings menu by clicking on the gear icon at the top right of the meeting information window.
The main Zoom Meeting Toolbar allows hosts and guests to:
- Mute/unmute their microphones
- Start/stop the video
- Adjust Security Settings
- Reveal the participant and Chat panels
- Share Screen
- Record the meeting
- Use Reactions
- Use any available Apps associated with your Zoom account
- Use the Whiteboards feature
- Leave the Meeting
Additional Options
The host must permit features such as Share Screen, Whiteboards, and Reactions. Additionally, meeting maintenance features like Record, Captions, and Security Settings are only visible and available to the meeting host.
To access additional options, click on the three-dot icon labeled "more" on the right side of your screen. Here, participants can adjust captioning settings, create or join breakout rooms, or live stream the meeting on YouTube or Twitch.
For more information on how to get started, visit the Zoom Support pages linked on: Getting Started with Zoom Meetings
Host and Participant Functions
Participants have the flexibility to join Zoom meetings via the desktop Zoom client, mobile app, or web browser.
To join a meeting, each meeting is assigned a 9, 10, or 11-digit meeting ID. Participants can either click on the Zoom meeting link provided by the host or enter the meeting ID directly on their preferred platform to join the meeting.
meeting ID to join on their preferred platform.
On a Windows or Mac device, users will open the Zoom client or mobile app, sign in, and click or tap Join.
Then enter the meeting ID or Personal Link Name.
To mute or unmute the microphone, click the microphone icon. Participants can click the arrow next to the Mute/Unmute button to choose a different microphone or speaker and to test the functionality of their devices.
For more information on how to configure audio types, see the Zoom Support article Enabling Audio Type.
Clicking the Security icon located on the main meeting toolbar will open a list of security options that hosts can adjust for all participants.
Hosts can enable or disable various features, including:
- Locking the meeting to prevent new participants from joining.
- Enabling the waiting room, which moves new participants to a waiting area.
- Hiding participant profile pictures.
- Disabling or enabling participants' ability to screen share, chat, rename themselves, unmute themselves, start their videos, or annotate on shared content.
Hosts have the ability to take several actions, including:
- Removing participants from the meeting.
- Reporting participants.
- Suspending participant activities, which disables video, audio, Zoom apps, and screen sharing for all participants. This action also locks the meeting.
Viewing Enabled or Disabled Security Measures
To check the status of enabled or disabled security measures, click on the green shield icon at the top left of your Zoom meeting window, and then select Security Settings Overview.
Hosts can create polls by clicking on the Poll icon on the main menu toolbar.
- Click Create.
- Choose Poll or Advanced Polls and Quizzing ( Advanced Polls and Quizzing allows for different question type formats like multiple choice, matching, short, and long answer questions; and the use of images and preset answer keys.)
- If you click the Polls option, enter your poll questions and answers. By enabling the Breakout room setting in polls, hosts can create Breakout rooms based on participants’ answers. Click Save.
- Launch your Poll or Quiz by hovering over the polls and clicking Launch.
To view a more detailed description of how to enable and launch polls, see the Zoom Support page Conducting Polls in Meetings.
Clicking on the Participants and Chat buttons on the toolbar will open a side panel displaying a list of participants and their meeting status (audio/video on/off, raised hands, screen sharing), along with a scrolling chat log.
Hosts can invite participants directly by clicking on the Participants button and selecting "Invite" or by clicking "Invite" in the participant’s side panel.
Hosts can mute all participants using the Mute all button at the bottom of the participants panel.
By clicking the three-dot icon next to the Mute All button in the participant's side panel, hosts can perform the following actions:
- Send a request for all participants to mute themselves.
- Automatically mute participants upon their entry to the meeting.
- Allow or disallow participants to unmute or rename themselves.
- Enable a sound notification when someone joins or leaves the meeting.
- Activate a waiting room where participants will be held before the meeting officially starts.
- Hide participant profile pictures.
- Lock the meeting.
Participants can send rich text, screenshots, files, and emojis by using the chat-type icons to the left of the send arrow.
Changing the To: drop-down menu, participants can send a chat to everyone in the meeting or only select individual participants.
Hosts can modify who participants can chat with by clicking the three-dot icon in the chat panel.
For more information on how to chat in a meeting, see the Zoom support article: Chatting in a Zoom Meeting.
When screen sharing is enabled, participants can share their entire desktops, specific application windows, and mobile device screens.
Sharing Sound
To share sound from your device, check the Share sound dialog box in the bottom left corner of the screen share window before clicking Share.
Sharing Files
To share files from cloud accounts (Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, and SharePoint), participants can click on the Files tab.
Advanced Sharing
In the advanced settings, users can share PowerPoints as virtual backgrounds, a portion of the screen, content from a second camera, and audio or video files saved on their devices. During sharing, participants can annotate or add information to the screen, as well as annotate on a blank whiteboard.
For more screen-sharing options go to Zoom’s Support page Sharing your Screen or Desktop on Zoom.
- Click the record button on the main menu toolbar.
- Choose the option to either Record on this Computer or Record to the Cloud.
A message will be sent to participants that the meeting is being recorded.
- Click the pause or stop buttons located to the right of the green shield icon in the top left corner of the Zoom meeting, or click the pause or stop icons that appear on the main menu toolbar.
- If the Record to the cloud option is selected, you will be prompted to confirm that you want to stop recording.
If captions are enabled, click the closed captions icon to turn on captioning. 
Clicking on the up arrow next to Show Captions gives participants the ability to:
- Change the caption language.
- View a full transcript of the meeting.
- Open Caption Settings to:
- Adjust the caption font size.
- Enable or disable screen reader alerts.
- Adjust the chat display size.
- Enable screen dimming when flashing images or visuals are detected.
For more information on how to view captions in a meeting, see the Zoom Support article: Viewing Captions in a Meeting or Webinar.
Hosts can enable Breakout Rooms, which allows participants to join small sessions separate from the main meeting.
To create and launch Breakout Rooms, hosts can simply click on the Breakout Rooms icon.
After selecting the desired number of Breakout rooms, hosts have three options:
- Automatic assignment: The rooms will be assigned automatically.
- Manual assignment: Hosts can assign specific users to each Breakout room.
- Participant choice: Participants can choose which Breakout rooms they want to join.
Additionally, hosts can configure various options to control the behavior of Breakout rooms. For example, they can determine whether participants can leave their assigned rooms and return to the main session before the host officially closes the rooms.
If the host chooses to enable participants to select their own Breakout rooms, participants can join by following these steps:
- Once the host has opened the rooms, participants can see the available Breakout rooms.
- Participants can click on the room they want to enter.
- When prompted, participants should select Yes to confirm their choice and join the selected Breakout room.
For more information on how to participate in Breakout Rooms see the Zoom article: Participating in Breakout Rooms.
If the host has enabled the reactions menu, participants can utilize reactions to express non-verbal communication during the meeting.
To access the reactions toolbar, click the up arrow located on the Reactions button.
Participants have the option to choose from a variety of preset emojis or click on the three-dot icon to access an extensive list of emojis, which can be searched through.
Default reactions are:
- Yes
- No
- Slow Down
- Speed Up
- I'm away
Participants can use the Raise Hand/Lower Hand emoji to signal to the presenter that they have a question. This emoji will be displayed next to the participant's name in the participant list.
