Participate in a Zoom Meeting

Once you've joined a Zoom meeting, make the best of your experience by managing your audio and video settings, sharing your screen and content, and chatting with other meeting participants.

• Test Audio Settings Before a Meeting
• Test Audio Using Audio Settings
• Test Your Video Settings
• Muting Your Microphone
• Sharing Your Screen
• Sharing an iPad screen

Test Audio Settings Before a Meeting

If you haven't enabled the setting to automatically join by computer audio, you can test your speaker and microphone before joining a meeting:

1. After joining a meeting, click Test speaker and microphone.
2. The meeting will display a pop-up window to test your speakers. If you don't hear the ringtone, use the drop-down menu or click No to switch speakers until you hear the ringtone. Click Yes to continue to the microphone test.
3. If you don't hear an audio replay, use the drop-down menu or click No to switch microphones until you hear the reply. Click Yes when you hear the replay.
4. Click the Join with Computer Audio button.
5. Click Join with Computer Audio button to join the meeting with the selected microphone and speakers.

Test Audio Using Audio Settings

To test your audio, navigate to your audio settings before or during a meeting:

1. Log in to the Zoom client.
2. Click your profile icon in the top-right corner of the window, then click Settings.
   
    
3. Click the Audio tab.
   
    
4. Follow the sections below to test your speaker or microphone.

Testing Your Speaker

1. Click Test Speaker to play a test tone. 
2. If you cannot hear it, select a different speaker from the menu or adjust the Volume.

Testing Your Microphone

1. In the Microphone section, you will see the green Input Level bar move when Zoom is picking up audio. 
2. Click Test Mic to test your microphone. 
3. Your audio will start recording. Click Recording when you are done and it will playback. You can select another microphone from the menu or adjust the input level.
4. Check Automatically adjust microphone settings if you want Zoom to adjust the input volume automatically. 

Learn more about audio settings.

Test Your Video Settings

Prior to joining a meeting, follow the steps below to test your video settings.

1. Log in to the Zoom client.
2. Click your profile icon in the top-right corner of the window, then click Settings.
   
    
3. Click the Video tab.
   
    
4. You will see a preview of your camera and can choose a different camera if needed from the drop-down menu,

Muting Your Microphone

Once you've joined a meeting, depending on the host's settings, you may have the option to use your microphone to participate. Follow the steps below to toggle your microphone on or off. 

1. If your microphone is on and you prefer the other meeting participants not to hear you, move your mouse in the Zoom window to display meeting controls and click on the Mute button in the lower left-hand corner.
   
2. If your microphone is muted, and you would like to speak during the Zoom meeting, click on the Unmute button 
   

Press and hold the SPACE bar to temporarily un-mute yourself if you are muted in a meeting. 

Sharing Your Screen

1. Click the Share Screen button located in your meeting controls.
   
2. Select the screen you want to share. You can also choose an individual application that is already open on your computer, the desktop, a whiteboard, or an iPhone/iPad.
3. (Optional) Enable these features:
   1. Check Share Computer Sound: If you check this option, any sound played by your computer will be shared in the meeting.
   2. Check Optimize for full screen video clip: Check this if you will be sharing a video clip in full screen mode. Do not check this otherwise, as it may cause the shared screen to be blurry.
4. Click Share.
   1. Zoom will automatically switch to full screen to optimize the shared screen view. To exit full-screen, click Exit Full Screen in the top-right corner or press the Esc key. 
   2. To disable automatic full screen when viewing a shared screen, disable this option in your desktop client settings: Enter full screen automatically when a participant shares screen.

Note: On Mac OS 10.15 Catalina, you need to allow Zoom access to screen recording to share your screen. You can do this in your System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Screen Recording. Check the option for zoom.us.

Share screen menu

When you start sharing your screen, the meeting controls will move into a menu that you can drag around your screen.

Sharing and iPad Screen

Zoom allows sharing an iPad screen during your meetings, which can be helpful to act as a digital whiteboard.  

Click below to access Zoom's support site for step-by-step instructions.

Additional Resources:

Below are some additional resources from Zoom Support that you may find useful when participating in a Zoom meeting.

Changing the Video Layout

Video Layout Options while Screen Sharing