Zoom’s key features include:
Zoom makes it super easy for anyone to set up and conduct virtual meetings — but if you’ve never used the tool before, this can still be tricky.
To help you out, here’s a step-by-step guide to using Zoom Meetings the right way.
We’ll cover the steps for both desktop and mobile platforms on:
Step 1: To get started with Zoom, head to their website, and click on the “SIGN UP” button that’s at the top-right corner of the screen.
You can either:
If you’re using Zoom for work purposes, it’s best to sign up using your work email address.
Step 3: Zoom will now send you an email with a confirmation link.
Click on that link to go to Zoom’s Sign Up Assistant and sign in using your credentials.
Step 1: Download the Zoom iOS or Android app from the App Store/Play Store.
Step 2: Sign up or sign in to Zoom by following the on-screen instructions that are similar to the desktop process.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to set up a Zoom meeting easily:
A. Starting A Zoom Meeting
Step 1: Log in to your Zoom account.
Step 3: The website will redirect you to the Zoom app and start a meeting. Here, you can edit meeting settings or copy the “Invitation URL” that you send to the attendees.
B. Adding Participants
Step 1: Start a new meeting on the Zoom desktop app.
A. Starting A Zoom Meeting
Step 1: Open the Zoom mobile app and sign in to your account.
Step 2: Tap the orange “New Meeting” icon that appears on your screen.
Step 3: Edit meeting settings according to your preferences (such as switching video off for participants, using a Personal Meeting ID, etc.).
Once you’re done, tap the blue “Start A Meeting” button.
B. Adding Participants
Step 1: Once the meeting starts, tap the “Participant” icon in the toolbar at the bottom of your screen to add and manage participants.
Step 2: In the Participants window that opens up, tap on the “Invite” option at the bottom left.
Zoom will now give you the option to share your meeting details via a variety of communication platforms. These include various text, email and messaging apps on your smartphone.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to join a Zoom meeting quickly:
Note: The same steps apply to both your desktop and your phone.
If you have a meeting link, just click on it or paste it into your web browser to join the meeting.
Step 1: Open the Zoom app and click on the “Join” icon.
With a busy schedule, you can easily forget about appointments or upcoming meetings.
Luckily, Zoom lets you schedule meetings in advance to avoid this!
You can schedule a meeting by setting:
Here’s a step-by-step guide to schedule meetings in Zoom easily:
Step 1: To schedule a meeting, head to the Zoom app and click on the blue “Schedule” button (looks like a calendar icon).
You can set its date and time, privacy and access settings. You can also select your preferred calendar (between iCal, Google Calendar or others) to schedule the event in your calendar.
Step 3: Once you’ve adjusted preferences, click on the “Schedule” button at the bottom right of the screen.
Step 1: Open the Zoom app.
Step 2: Go to the Meet & Chat homepage and click on the “Schedule” button.
Step 3: Enter the meeting name, date and time and click “Done.”
Step 4: Zoom will redirect you or open another form for adding the event to your preferred calendar. Enter details like participant names and set the notifications into your calendar event, then tap “Done.”
You have now scheduled a Zoom meeting!
Recording a meeting lets you easily use it as a reference to document everything that was discussed. This is especially important for remote teams who use Zoom video conferencing as their key mode of communication.
Zoom allows you to record meetings easily and save it either to your local device or the Zoom cloud. By saving it to the Zoom cloud, your team members can access it across multiple platforms easily.
Here’s how to record Zoom meetings:
Step 1: Start a meeting.
Step 2: In the Zoom toolbar, click on the “Record” icon.
Step 4: Click on “Pause/Stop Recording” to stop recording the meeting. Alternatively, you can also end a meeting to stop recording it.
Step 5: After you end the meeting, Zoom converts the recording to MP4 format and stores it in your preferred location. You can now easily access your recorded sessions any time you want!
On mobile devices, Zoom lets you save meeting recordings only to the Zoom Cloud. Here’s how to record a
Zoom meeting from your mobile:
Step 1: During a meeting, tap on the “More” option in the toolbar.
Step 2: Select the “Record to Cloud” feature to begin recording.
Step 3: You can pause or stop the recording by clicking the “More” button.
Step 4: After the meeting, you can find your recording in “My Recordings”. You can access this section by logging into your Zoom account on a web browser.
You now know how to use Zoom Meetings.
But since there are so many features, it can still be slightly overwhelming!
Don’t worry.
Here’s a detailed look at three additional Zoom features and how to use them effectively.
Zoom lets you share your screen with other meeting participants easily.
This lets you:
To share your screen, just click on the “Share Screen” icon in the toolbar.
This lets you share:
Here, you can choose to share:
Zoom Phone uses the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to help you make Zoom calls over the cloud. This is similar to calling from a phone number, except that the calls here are hosted over the internet.
Zoom Phone comes with plenty of additional features to make your calling experience seamless.
These include:
However, Zoom Phone isn’t available with the standard pricing plans. Instead, you must pay for it separately. Prices start at $10/user per month and require you to have at least one paid licensed host.
Zoom Rooms are essentially virtual conference rooms where only particular members have access.
You can use these rooms for various purposes such as:
Zoom Rooms offer various features, such as:
This usually requires additional hardware (multiple webcams, connectors, monitors, etc.) as well as conference room design considerations. Like Zoom Phone, Zoom Rooms aren’t available in the standard pricing plans but must be purchased additionally at $49/room per month.
Zoom offers four different pricing plans to suit your specific needs: