Zooming Into Zoom's Hidden Features

With the majority of us working or studying from home, we’ve familiarised ourselves with the different conferencing apps that have made themselves known during this pandemic. Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, you name it. But sometimes, we might not have the time or patience to look through and maximise all of their special features. So this time, we’re going to be looking through every nook and cranny to find some of Zoom’s unique and helpful features.

1. Virtual Background

Haven’t had time to clean up your room? Or maybe just want to make your background a bit more interesting to look at? You can use Zoom’s Virtual Background feature. To do this, you can go to the Settings > Background & Filters > Virtual Background. Aside from the Virtual Background presets you’re provided with, you can also upload your own images and even videos!

2. Audio Settings

Sometimes, even with the volume cranked up, the audio you’re hearing still isn’t loud enough. Or maybe, it’s the other way around and the other meeting participants can’t hear you well. To fix the former, you can go to Settings > Audio and adjust the Output Volume to your liking. For the latter, do the same but this time, adjust the input volume instead. Some other features you can find in Audio Settings are Suppress background noise, Press and hold ‘Space Key’ to temporarily unmute, and Sync buttons on headset.

3. Share Screen

Just like the Audio Settings, Zoom’s Share Screen feature also has quite a few options you can control. When someone is sharing their screen, you can turn on the Side-by-side Mode option, where the screen automatically places the shared screen onto the left and the participant videos to the right. On the other hand, if you’re sharing your screen, you can choose to silence system notifications when sharing your desktop. All the mentioned settings (and a few others!) can be found under Settings > Share Screen.

4. Do Not Disturb

At times, notifications can be quite a nuisance when you’re trying to focus on speaking in a meeting, or what the speaker is saying, for that matter. The best way to solve this is to temporarily disable notifications on your desktop. Here’s how you do it.

For Mac: Go to the Notifications Center at the top right corner of your screen and scroll all the way up. Turn on the Do Not Disturb option, and turn off when you want notifications again.

For Windows: Open the Start menu by clicking on the Windows Key and search for “Notifications and actions settings. Near the top of the menu, toggle the “Get notifications from apps and other senders” to off. To receive notifications, turn it back on.

5. Zoom Extensions and Plug-ins

Outside of the app itself, Zoom can be further integrated with different sites and media, such as Google Calendar and Outlook. These can include allowing you to add your meeting schedules to your calendar and saving existing contacts. You can find the full list of extensions here.

Overall, there are many ways to help you get the most out of Zoom, and these are just a few of them! You might stumble across some new features along the way, so don’t be afraid to explore and see the wide array of features Zoom has to offer.

Sources: Ambrose, Shawn. “10 Advanced or Hidden Features in Zoom That'll Make Videoconferencing Great Again.” Goody Feed, 2020, goodyfeed.com/10-hidden-zoom-features/, “Discover the Newest Features in Zoom.” Zoom Video Conferencing, zoom.us/whatsnew