Appropriate Zoom settings can prevent unwanted visitors to your meetings, and maintain a professional, secure Zoom experience for you and the participants. Below are tips for actions you can take, settings you can turn off, defaults that Zoom has adjusted, and recommended links.

Setup Two-Factor Authentication for Your Meetings

Generate a random Meeting ID when scheduling your event and require a password to join. Then you can share that Meeting ID publicly but only send the password to join via email or direct messaging.

Meeting and Webinar Passwords

Lock the Meeting

When you lock a Zoom Meeting that’s already started, no new participants can join, even if they have the meeting ID and password (if you have required one). In the Zoom Meeting:

  1. Press Participants at the bottom of the Zoom window
  2. Press the Lock Meeting button
Host Controls in a Meeting

Manage Your Participants

Remove Participants

As the host, you can remove unwanted or disruptive participants:

  • Press Participants at the bottom of the Zoom window
  • Hover over a participants name, several options will appear, including Remove
Manage Participants

Re-Add Participants

But in case you remove the wrong person, there are ways to add users back into the meeting!

Allow Removed Participants to Rejoin

Put 'em on Hold!

Putting attendees on hold causes their video and audio connections to become disabled. This can be done to the whole group if you all need a break, or on an individual basis.

Attendees on Hold

Disable Video

If a participant is distracting, making inappropriate gestures on video, or doesn't realize the video feature is on, hosts have the ability to disable participants' video.

Disable Video

Mute Participants

Hosts can mute/unmute individual participants or all of them at once. This is especially useful if there are distracting noises in the background. Hosts can also enable Mute Upon Entry in your settings to keep the clamor at bay in large meetings.

Mute All and Unmute All

Turn Off...

File Transfer

In-meeting file transfer allows people to share files through the in-meeting chat. Toggle this off to keep the chat from getting bombarded with unsolicited pictures, GIFs, memes, and other content.

In Meeting File Transfer

Annotation

Hosts and attendees can mark up content together using annotations during screen share sessions in meetings. You can disable annotation during screen sharing sessions to prevent people from commandeering the screen.

Using Annotation Tools

Private Chat

Zoom has in-meeting chat for everyone or participants can message each other privately. Restrict participants’ ability to chat amongst one another while your event is going on and cut back on distractions. 

Controlling In Meeting Chat
Private Message Note
Private Message Notes can be viewed by hosts at the end of meetings in the full transcript of meeting events.

Zoom Adjusted Defaults

Zoom has responded to expanded usage by increasing security features.

Screen Sharing OffWaiting Rooms On

Getting Started with Zoom

Step-by-step instructions for the basics are available: 

WPI Quick Reference Card (in Canvas)Zoom Getting Started Guide (in Canvas)