Help using Zoom meetings

'Zoom' is a video-conferencing app, very similar to Skype and FaceTime and WhatsApp, but it allows meetings with people who are not 'friends' and you do not have to share contact details.

Two different ways to view

One great feature of Zoom is the ability to show lots of people's faces all at once. But sometimes users struggle to find the button which switched to that view, or back to the single view of the meeting host. Note that laptops/desktop computers look different to tablets/phones (and Apple devices look different to Android).

On a laptop or desktop computer the controls you need are usually in the top right.

You can switch between GALLERY VIEW and SPEAKER VIEW.

The buttons look like this, but you will only ever see one of them at a time.

In some modes, the words GALLERY VIEW disappear, leaving only the 'grid' icon.

On an iPad or iPhone, whilst some of the controls are in the top right, the ones you need are on the upper/middle left!

The wording here is SWITCH TO GALLERY VIEW or SWITCH TO ACTIVE SPEAKER.

You will see only one of these icons at a time.

On Android phones and tablets the controls you need are at the bottom of the screen, but confusingly there are two sets of controls that appear and change over.

The first image below shows some very clear icons that are labelled helpfully - you don't want those ones!

Tap the screen in the middle and the controls will disappear - to be replaced by three dots (see middle/right images below).

These three dots indicate to you that you can swipe left and right to see different views.

Signing up for an account

You can join a Zoom meeting without needing a Zoom account.

If you set up a free account, you can host a meeting.

You will be shown a link which you can copy and paste into an email to your friends/colleagues.

The link is not always necessary; the number on the end of the link can be used instead, if you wish to verbally tell someone how to join.

Joining a meeting

Anyone wanting to join a meeting can either use the proper link (also called a URL), or can start up the Zoom app, click JOIN A MEETING, and then enter the number only.

Passwords

If you are setting up your own meeting, Zoom will create a random password for you, such as TfkR8sf or 856294, which is not memorable and is a pain to type. You can pick the password yourself, so make people's lives easier by using a simple word like quiztime or family.