Zoom Settings & In-Meeting Controls

Recommended Zoom Settings

Northwestern University recommends that meetings are set to allow only authenticated users. 

If you create a meeting and set a security passcode, the passcode will be embedded in the meeting invitation link by default unless you turn off that setting. We do not recommend that you do so.

Basic In-Meeting Controls

  • Zoom's in-meeting controls allow you to control various aspects of the meeting such as adjusting the volume, sharing a screen, or managing participants.
  • Zoom controls are located on the menu bar at the bottom of the video screen.

More information is presented in an upcoming module: Basic In-Meeting Controls

Screen Sharing

During a Zoom meeting, the host can share their screen at any time. Why do so? You can share slides, videos, and other materials. Select the Share Screen bottom at the bottom of the window (or use the Alt+S shortcut key on Windows 10 or Command+Shift+S on Macs).

While in a meeting, you can share:

  • your entire desktop or phone screen
  • a specific application
  • a portion of the screen
  • whiteboard
  • audio device
  • content from a second camera
  • iPhone/iPad screen

The host can disable participants' ability to share their screen. (In a webinar, only the host, co-hosts, and panelists can share their screen. If you're using the desktop client, you can show Zoom windows during screen share.)

To learn more, watch this brief video from Zoom:

Keyboard Shortcuts

The Zoom site provides a list of hot keys and keyboard shortcuts. To learn more, visit Hot Keys and Keyboard Shortcuts for Zoom Links to an external site.. Learning these key combinations can help save time during busy meetings.

Changing the Video Layout

There are three video layouts when no one in the meeting is screen sharing: Active Speaker View, Gallery View, and floating thumbnail window. When someone is screen sharing, you can use side-by-side mode or view the screen share with Active Speaker View. Any of these layouts can be used in full screen or windowed mode (with the exception of the floating thumbnail view).

Pinning or Spotlighting Videos

You can also pin or spotlight videos if your computer meets Zoom specifications. Links to an external site.

  • Pin screen allows you to disable active speaker view and only view a specific speaker. Pinning another user's video will only affect your local view in the Zoom Room, not the view of other participants and will not affect cloud recordings. Pinning video allows you to disable active speaker view and only view up to nine specific speakers. It will also only record the pinned videos if you are recording locally (to your computer). Pinning another participant's video will only affect your local view and local recordings, not the view of other participants and will not affect cloud recordings. You can pin a second screen if you are using dual monitors.
    • Start a new or scheduled meeting.
    • Click Manage Participants (in the Zoom Room Controller).

    • Select the host or participant's name, then Pin or Spotlight Video.

    • If you have multiple screens, choose which screen to add the pin to.

  • You can spotlight up to nine videos. Spotlight video puts a participant as the primary active speaker for all participants. All participants will only see the selected speakers as the active speakers. (This feature is often used to spotlight a keynote speaker.) Spotlight video puts a user as the primary active speaker for all participants in the meeting and cloud recordings. To spotlight, you need at least three participants in the meeting with their video on and can only be done by the host.