Zoom is one of the many excellent conference calling technologies available. 1UC offers a huge array of training courses around different Unified Communication technologies and we have decided to share this basic quick start guide to using Zoom to help all of you who may be new to working for home.  

A brief video guide that walks you through these functions is available on our Youtube channel and below.

Downloading Zoom 

You can use zoom through a web browser however, to get the best experience, we strongly recommend downloading the zoom desktop application.  

Smartphone/Tablet: 

  • If you are using a smartphone or tablet this can be done via the App store (Search for Zoom Cloud meetings). 

Computer: 

  • On a computer go to https://zoom.us/DOWNLOAD  
  • You are now given the choice of downloading both the desktop app and the outlook plug in. We definitely recommend downloading both of these.  
  • Once its finished downloading, click on the file to start the installation. you won’t need to run through a wizard. The zoom desktop app will open automatically. 

If you are using a computer that doesn’t already have the zoom desktop app installed and someone has invited you to a Zoom meeting, in the email, you’ll find a link. Clicking on this link will automatically download the zoom desktop app and connect you to the meeting.

However, this may take some time so make sure you do this in advance of joining a meeting at a specific time. This option isn’t available on smartphones and tablets. 

Setting up a Free Account  

With zoom, It is possible to be a guest without requiring an account. 

However, to host a call you need an account and Its very easy to set one up. Free Accounts are limited to 40mins for group calls however you can just re-initiate the call after the 40min cut-off. 

To sign up for a free account,  open your web browser and Type in this link  https://zoom.us/signup 

You’ll then be asked to enter either a work email, or you can sign up with a google account, or using Facebook. 

You’ll then need to activate your account. Zoom will send you an email and you’ll need to open the email and activate your account by clicking the ‘activate button’.  

You’ll be redirected back to a browser and from there you’ll need to enter your name and create a password.  

Once you’ve done that you’ll be asked to make a test call.  

 Schedule a meeting using the Outlook Plugin 

Scheduling a meeting using the zoom plug in within outlook is by far the easiest and quickest way to setup a new zoom meeting.  

  • In Outlook along the top ribbon click “schedule meeting”. 

A zoom pop up will appear asking you to fill your meeting preferences.  

Now you need to decide what type of meeting ID you want to generate, ‘Automatically’ or using your ‘personal meeting ID’. It’s worth understanding the differences between them as it will determine which type of meeting you use going forward.  

If you are scheduling a meeting with someone you know and you have regular calls with, then go ahead and use the personal room option. All the meeting links for your personal room will never change. But be aware that if someone has your personal room link, they might pop in uninvited.  

If you’re having a meeting about any sensitive issues and you want to ensure no unwelcome visitors accidentally join, it’s best to use the ‘generate automatically’ option. These meetings have different details every time one is scheduled. once you’ve finished in that meeting, the joining details become redundant. This is a much more secure option compared to using your Personal room. Don’t forget you can still lock your personal room once you are in it.  

Fill in the relevant information and hit ‘continue’.  

the calendar invite will populate the meeting details in the body. 

Don’t forget to sort out the usual invite details and then send the invite when you’re ready.  

Scheduling a meeting using the Zoom Desktop App 

If you don’t have outlook, you can use the desktop app to easily schedule zoom meetings. The process is very similar to scheduling a meeting in Outlook. 

To schedule a meeting open the application and click on the blue “schedule” icon, a zoom invite window will populate, there will be several options to fill in. 

  • A title for your meeting  
  • Set a date and Time for your meeting  
  • If you want to generate a meeting ID or use your personal room 
  • Decide if you want a meeting password  
  • Your video and audio preferences for yourself and participants  
  • And which Calendar you would like the invite to populate  

 

 

An outlook calendar invite will populate and you can now send the email to the relevant people. You don’t need to edit or change anything on the invite that has been generated.

When you’re ready, hit send.  

Starting a scheduled Meeting  

You can start your meeting very quickly from the zoom app. You’ll see your scheduled meetings listed on the right with a start icon next to it.  

Click the start icon and you’ll be taken to your meeting.   

 Starting an Ad Hoc Meeting  

If you want to quickly start an Ad Hoc meeting, open the zoom desktop app, and click on the orange button called “New Meeting.” The video screen will open. Choose your audio connection and you are ready to go. 

When you start an AD Hoc Meeting, there won’t be anyone else in the meeting. to invite people to the meeting, click on the ‘invite’ icon.  

The ‘Invite people to join a meeting’ screen will open.   

 

The easiest way is to either ‘Copy URL’ or ‘Copy Invitation’ and paste this into an email or text / Whatsapp message and send it to your invitees.  

You can also invite people by clicking on contact name and then clicking invite.  

Joining as a guest

To join a meeting as a guest you’ll receive a link in an email. Simply click on the link and you will be taken to the meeting. 

Before you go into the meeting make sure you choose your preferred audio settings. The most common method is to join using the computer audio.  

 

 Joining from the desktop app 

Alternatively, you can join a call using the desktop application and the join dialog box. This is useful if you don’t have a link BUT you do know the meeting ID OR are joining a call to a host you have joined before. (The meeting ID is the Zoom Equivalent to a “phone number” for the host). 

  • Open the Zoom application before joining the meeting. A panel will appear that looks like this: 

 

  • Click on the big blue button called “Join,”. This will open a dialog box similar to the below: 

 

  • Enter the meeting ID if you have it or use the down-arrow to reveal a list of previous calls. 
  • In the second text box, you can change your name to clearly identify who you are in the call. 
  • Click Join and the video screen will open.  Choose your audio connection and you are ready to go.  

Choosing your audio connection 

When the meeting window first opens, you get a dialogue box that looks like this- 

 

Most of the time you will choose ‘Join Audio by Computer’. Click on the blue button to use your computer audio. If you don’t want to connect audio because your computer or webcam doesn’t have a microphone or if your internet connection is unstable, click on the cross when the dialogue box opens, to close it. 

You can join the audio part of the conference call through a phone. Join the meeting using one of the above options and then follow the steps below. 

Joining meeting audio by phone   

  • After joining a Zoom meeting, you will be prompted to join the audio automatically. If this prompt does not appear or you close out of it, click Join Audio in the meeting controls.

 

  • Click Phone Call.

Note: If you are subscribed to the call out add-on, you can join the meeting by having Zoom dial your phone number.  

  

Follow the instructions for dialling in:  

  • Select the country you’re calling from in the flag drop-down menu.
  • Call one of the numbers provided.  
  • Enter your meeting ID followed by #.  
  • Enter your participant ID followed by #.  

 The interface 

When you move your mouse over the video window a toolbar shows up at the bottom of the screen. 

 

  • Audio and Video- In the lower left corner of the screen you will find a microphone and a video camera icon. The microphone icon is used to mute your audio, the small arrow to the right of it will open a popup menu with various audio settings. 
  • The video camera icon can be used to turn off your video, the small arrow to the right of it will open a popup menu with various video settings. 

 

 Central buttons- At the bottom in the centre of the screen are a series of buttons that allow you to

  • Invite others to the call 
  • See who else is participating on the call 
  • Share your screen for others to see 
  • Open the chat panel 
  • Record the call (with the hosts permission) 
  • Reactions  

 

  • Leave or end meeting- in the lower right-hand corner is a button that allows you leave the meeting if you are a guest or end the meeting if you are a host. 

             

  • Speaker and gallery views- in the upper right hand corner is a button that toggles back and forth between speaker view where the current speaker fills most of the screen and the video of the other participants is in small thumbnails at the top of the screen or  Gallery view, where the video for each participant is the same size. 

Speaker view works well when the call involves up to four people, Gallery view works well for larger groups. 

We hope you have found this short tutorial useful. If you require more in-depth training or would like to discuss further training, please contact us using the contact us tab on the website.