Remote Work Tools: Zoom

Getting Started with Remote Work Tools

Not sure how to get set up with the technology listed below? Here are some Step-by-Steps. First Things First

Comfortable Figuring It Out On Your Own? OIT has already created a good resource, if you’re comfortable using that: Remote Work Tools and Data Security Guidelines

Getting Started with Zoom

  • WARNING: If you do not access Zoom via the PSU Company Domain or Use Single Sign-On (SSO) to log into the App, your meetings will be limited to 40 minutes and are less secure because they’re not hosted via PSU.

  • Accessing via Laptop/Desktop/Browser

    • https://pdx.zoom.us/

    • HACKS: Check out the “Download Client” options at link on bottom of page to download Zoom Client (and pin to taskbar), Chrome extensions, Zoom Client Plugin for Sharing iPhone/iPad

  • Accessing via Phone/Tablet

    • You can also access via above browser option OR you’ll need to download the Zoom App

    • See attached document for Android and iPhone screenshots of this step-by-step.

    • Android Step-by-Step:

      • Open App

      • Tap Sign In

      • Select “Sign in with SSO (Single Sign-On) - DO NOT ENTER EMAIL

      • Type “pdx” as the company domain

      • Tap Continue

      • You’ll be taken to the PSU SSO page. Enter your ODIN and Password

      • From here you can host or join a meeting, view schedule, and share your screen. Use Settings and Contacts to decide whether you want to sync Zoom with your Google calendar and phone contacts.

    • iPhone/iPad Step-by-Step (Coming Soon)

  • Host Meetings, ie. Managers/Directors, you’ll need to Sign In and configure your account. Clicking Sign In will take you to the Single Sign-on Screen to login with your PSU account.

    • I recommend reviewing your Profile to:

      • Add a photo

      • Customize your personal Zoom link

    • I recommend reviewing your Meeting Settings to:

      • Start meetings with Host and Participant Video On

      • Allow attendees to Join Before Host

      • Turn off the Waiting Room, so that Participants can join before the Host

      • Turn off Live Streaming Meetings (to protect the privacy of your Participants, unless everyone agrees and this is intentional)

        • Live Stream Options include Facebook, Workplace by Facebook, YouTube (not encrypted), or a Custom Live Streaming Service

    • I recommend reviewing your Recording Settings to:

      • Turn off Cloud Recording (to protect privacy of your Participants)

  • Participating in Meetings:

    • I recommend reviewing your Profile to:

    • Add a photo

    • If you opt to turn off video at any time, folx will still be able to see who is who in the Zoom Room

  • Anti-Defamation League (ADL) 'Zoombombing' Safety:

Zooming as a Participant


Hosting Meetings (up to 350 participants)


​​A Few Recommendations for Meeting Settings...

  • Create a waiting room, so people can't join before you let them in.

  • Allow collaborators to share their screen.

  • Co-host meetings in case something happens with the primary host connection or they get sick. You can add a co-host to any meeting. (Good practice for promoted events, too.)


Ideas for Coordinating via Zoom

  • Add everyone's Zoom link to a staff/member contact list spreadsheet

  • Create a Virtual Background with your logo in a few different complementary colors that are part of your visual identity, so that staff can choose between different options.


Hosting Webinars (or larger online events)

The Webinar feature has to be activated. It allows up to 500 participants and includes options for pre-registration and more.


A Few Recommendations for Larger Event Settings:

  • Require Single Sign-On. This limits it only to PSU students.

  • Set up a password, especially for larger events that you've published broadly.

  • Once you've begun your programming, lock new attendees out.

Zoom Safety Checklist

Before Meeting:

  • Disable autosaving chats

  • Disable file transfer

  • Disable screen sharing for non-hosts

  • Disable remote control

  • Disable annotations

  • Use per-meeting ID, not personal ID

  • Disable “Join Before Host”

  • Enable “Waiting Room”

During Meeting:

  • Assign at least two co-hosts (Recommended for Senate)

  • Mute all participants (Recommended for Senate)

  • Lock the meeting, if all attendees are present (Against OPML Protocol)

Getting Started with Google Hangouts

  • WARNING: Google Hangouts may be simplest because it’s integrated with Google Calendar, but it has more connection problems than Zoom. I’ve been experiencing problems even with just two people connected. I definitely recommend Zoom for 5+ people.

    • The link is in each calendar invite. Just click on Join Google Hangouts Meet, and you’ll be connected to a video.

    • If you don’t have a video option, it gives an option for calling in. (See image below.)

Zoom-Bombing Prevention (source)

Preventing unwanted guests and bad behavior in Zoom meetings is a combination of configuring your settings and learning key crowd control techniques. We suggest you first go through your settings and make our recommended changes. Then, read about crowd control techniques and practice them. If you need more help, we invite you to attend a daily Zoom-In with our Zoom experts, who can help you gain confidence with running Zoom meetings and classes. This article covers the following:

Recommended Settings

Crowd Control Techniques


Recommended Settings

There are settings in Zoom that can help you reduce the likelihood of a Zoom Bombing attack. Most settings can be adjusted at both the global and individual meeting-levels. Adjusting global settings will change the defaults for subsequently scheduled meetings, including those subsequently scheduled via the D2L-Zoom Meetings tool. Adjusting settings on an individual meeting basis is a good option to change meeting settings for previously scheduled meetings.

Limit Meetings to Authenticated Users

Limiting meetings so that only authenticated users with PDX accounts can join new meetings is currently the system default for newly scheduled meetings. We strongly recommend you set all of your meetings up so that participants have to be affiliated with PSU (have pdx.edu credentials) in order to join. The exception to this practice would be a meeting where non-PSU participants, such as guest faculty, will join.

To update this setting for an individual meeting:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal at pdx.zoom.us.

  2. Click on Meetings from the left navigation menu.

  3. Schedule a new Meeting or select an existing Meeting to edit

    • If editing, scroll to the bottom of the selected meeting page and click Edit this Meeting.

  4. Under Meeting or Webinar Options, click Only authenticated users can join.

    • To require participants to be PSU authenticated to join a meeting select the option for Signed in with a Portland State Account (Odin)

    • To let anyone with a Zoom account join a meeting: select: Signed in with a Zoom account

Note: You can also update this setting globally so it is the default for all subsequently scheduled meetings by logging into the Zoom Web Portal at pdx.zoom.us, and clicking Settings from the left navigation menu.

Put Participants in a Waiting Room

Waiting rooms are currently set as the system default for newly scheduled meetings This means that all meeting participants will be automatically placed in virtual waiting room, until you manually let them in to your meeting. You can admit participants individually or all at one time, once you have verified they are people you actually invited. See how to manage waiting rooms.

To enable Waiting Room for an individual meeting:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal at pdx.zoom.us.

  2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Settings.

  3. On the Meeting tab, navigate to the Waiting Room option under In-Meeting (Advanced) and verify that the setting is enabled.

  4. If the setting is disabled, click the Status toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, choose Turn On to verify the change.

  5. Select who you want to admit to the waiting room.

    • All participants

      • All participants joining your meeting will be admitted to the waiting room.

    • Guest participants only

      • Only participants who are non-PSU participants or are not logged into any Zoom account will be admitted to the waiting room. If not logged in, they will have an option to log in.

    • Optionally select the pencil icon to set a custom waiting room message.

    • Click Save if prompted.

NOTE: You can also enable/disable a waiting room for individual meetings when scheduling new or editing existing meetings.

Set Meeting Passwords

Setting a meeting password will require participants to enter a six digit code upon entry to your meetings. This feature is available for meetings as well as Personal Meeting Rooms and can be used in combination with Waiting Rooms for added security Meeting Passwords. Meetings are assigned a random password. You can assign or update the password to one of your choosing.

Set Passwords on a Meeting by Meeting Basis:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal at pdx.zoom.us.

  2. Click on Meetings from the left navigation menu.

  3. Schedule a new Meeting or select an existing Meeting to edit

    • If editing, scroll to the bottom of the selected meeting page and click Edit this Meeting.

  4. Under Meeting Options, enable the checkbox for require meeting password. Customize the password as needed.

  5. Click Save when done.

Note: You can also update this setting globally so it is the default for all subsequently scheduled meetings by logging into the Zoom Web Portal at pdx.zoom.us, and clicking Settings from the left navigation menu. You will have additional customization options at the global-settings level.

Require Advance Registration for Public Meetings

You can require participants to register for a meeting in order to attend. This is generally not advised for class meetings, but it is strongly recommended for public meetings or with meetings where the Zoom links are posted publicly.. This requires users to register to receive the meeting link/password (if required). The meeting host can customize the registration field and approve or deny guests. This option can only be managed through meeting-level settings not set globally. Advance registration requires 2 steps: first you must enable registration for the meeting, then you should customize your registration settings.

Enable Registration for your meetings:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal at pdx.zoom.us.

  2. Click on Meetings from the left navigation menu.

  3. Schedule a new Meeting or select an existing Meeting to edit

    • If editing, scroll to the bottom of the selected meeting page and click Edit this Meeting.

  4. Select the option to require registration.

  5. Click Save when done.

  6. You will now have a registration URL that you can use to invite people to register for your meeting.

Adjust the Registration Settings:

After enabling registration, a new set of options will appear at the bottom of the meeting details page.

  1. Click Edit on any tab to view and edit options.

  2. See Zoom registration documentation for more information.

Crowd Control Techniques

There are a number of features within Zoom that you can use during a meeting to help manage your participants, and mitigate unwanted behaviors.

Manage Your Waiting Room

You’ll need to have enabled a waiting room for your meeting ahead of time.

  1. Join your meeting as the host.

  2. Click Manage Participants from the Host Controls.

  3. Click Admit to allow the selected participant join the meeting.

  4. Click Admit All to allow all waiting participants to join the meeting.

Manage Participants

As the host, you have a number of crowd control tools accessible to you in the host control panel. We outline them below, and also recommend Zoom’s In Meeting Controls 101 Video.

Host Controls

    • You may need to move your mouse to the bottom of your screen to trigger host controls.

    • Host controls contains all settings needed to control your participants in meeting. This menu contains individual user settings and controls for the whole meeting.

Click Manage Participants to open the participant window.

  • Mute a Participant

    • Hover to the right of a user’s name to find the mute/unmute options for audio and the stop video/ask to start video option.

  • Remove a participant

    • Temporarily remove a participant by selecting Put in Waiting Room in the drop down next to the participant’s name. This feature removes the guest back to the waiting room, and you can allow them back into the meeting as you choose.

    • Select Remove from the drown down next to the participant’s name to block the user from re-entering the meeting. This does not ban the user from your meetings permanently. Please make sure to report the guest.

  • Mute all Participants

    • At the bottom of the Manage Participants window, click the Mute All button. This will mute everyone in the meeting except the host.

    • Disallow participants from unmuting themselves:

      • Click More

      • Make sure Allow Participants to Unmute Themselves is deselected. When users need the host to unmute them, have them raise their hands or comment in chat.

Control Who Can Share Their Screen

We highly recommend that you control who shares their screen by setting it so that only you, the host, can share your screen. This is the default setting for all PDX users. When this setting is on, the host can grant participants permission to share their screen at their discretion.

To allow participants to share their screen

  1. Click the caret to the right of the Share Screen button from the host controls.

  2. Select Advanced Sharing Options.

  3. Select the All Participants option under Who can share?

  4. Do not change the default (Only Host) option under Who Can Start Screen Sharing When Someone Else is Sharing.

  5. Close the dialogue box.

Control Who Can Annotate the Shared Screen

Zoom has a feature that allows users to annotate on top of any shared source. If you have enabled annotation for your meeting(s), any participant will be able to annotate the shared screen by default.

To temporarily disable participant annotation in a meeting

  1. Start a screen share

  2. Click the kebab (…) on the right side of the host controls.

  3. Click the option to Disable Attendee Annotation to prevent participants from annotating the shared screen.

  4. If you need to allow shared annotation, it’s recommended to select the option to Show Names of Annotators to prevent anonymous annotation.

Lock your Meeting

When all of your participants have arrived in your meeting, you can “lock” the meeting so that no more participants can join or ask to join. When you lock the meeting, no new participants can join, even if they have the meeting ID and password.

    1. When ready to lock, click Manage Participants in host controls.

    2. Click Lock Meeting

Adjust Chat Settings

If the chat feature is causing disruption, you can adjust it to allow participants to chat with the host only, all participants publicly, all participants publicly and privately, or no one.

  1. Click Chat in host controls to open the chat window.

  2. Click the kebab icon (…) in the corner of the chat window.

  3. Select the option you would prefer.

ASPSU has access to a zoom webinar license that we can schedule meetings with. Reach out to an LCORE member to learn more!