- After re-evaluating our videoconferencing software picks, we can no longer give Zoom our full throated recommendation.
- After re-evaluating our videoconferencing software picks, we can no longer give Zoom our full throated recommendation.While it has the best balance of features, usability, and value among the major videoconferencing providers, the privacy issues remain a worry until they’ve been satisfactorily addressed. That said, if you’re already using Zoom for casual chats with friends and you’re not divulging sensitive personal info or discussing issues of national security, you’re probably fine to keep using it. Just educate yourself when it comes to the best settings to use before you start a meeting and the best practices for keeping meetings secure.
How to Zoom In and Out on Macbook Pro / Air - macOS 10 - Duration: 2:52. Anson Alexander 116,969 views. Mac Tutorial for PC Users / Beginners - Duration: 15:43.
- Zoom in and out using a MacBook trackpad. You can also zoom in and zoom out your screen on a MacBook Pro trackpad. Again, hold down the ctrl key, but this time take two fingers and swipe upwards on the trackpad area to zoom in, then use your two fingers to swipe downwards to zoom out.
- MacBook Pro Touch Bar controls are available for the Zoom client and when in a Zoom meeting. These controls give you quick access to start a meeting or screen share, join a meeting, or schedule a meeting when you are not in a meeting but have the Zoom Desktop client in focus.
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If you’re new to working from home, there’s a pretty good chance that you’re also new to using Zoom—our former pick for the best videoconferencing service. We’re not the only ones who like it: Zoom has added millions of users over the past few months as teams shift to remote work in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
But although it’s easy to get up and running with Zoom, you may not be aware of some of its best, most useful features (many of which are buried in advanced setting menus). At Wirecutter, we’ve been using Zoom daily for years, and we’ve learned a few tricks along the way. Here’s what you need to know to get the most out of the service, even if you’re using only the free, basic version.
Beautify (or hide) your face
Best mouse recorder software. If you’ve just rolled out of bed and right into a company meeting, sans coffee or makeup, check the Touch up my appearance box in Zoom’s video settings menu. It basically functions like a soft-focus lens, adding a slight blur to skin tones and smoothing out wrinkles, blemishes, and other little imperfections.
Here’s a dirty little trick: If you’d prefer not to be seen at all (and you’re not planning to speak in the meeting you’re attending) you can use a screenshot of yourself in a Zoom meeting as your profile picture. That way, you’ll always look perfect—and look like you’re paying attention.
Regardless of whether you’re properly put together, we think it’s a good idea to set Zoom to disable your camera and mic by default when joining meetings, and to enable the option to always see a video preview before you join. That way, you can catch any stains on your shirt or spinach in your teeth.
Pretend you’re on the moon or cosplay as George W. Bush
One of Zoom’s coolest, most underutilized features is its Virtual Backgrounds—basically green-screen technology for your boring office meetings. Need an example? Here’s Wirecutter lead engineer Courtney Wilburn on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln.
The caveat is that you need a strong processor or an actual green screen to make this technology work. Even with my Intel Core i5–powered 2019 MacBook Pro, I don’t have sufficient processing power for Zoom to differentiate my face from the white wall behind me. When it works, though, it’s glorious.
Prevent embarrassment by silencing desktop notifications
Windows 10 has a built-in feature called Focus Assist that does just this. Just head to Settings > System > Focus Assist, and toggle When I’m duplicating my display to On. You can also toggle it manually from the Action Center found at the bottom right of the Windows 10 taskbar. Mac users need to employ a third-party app to automate the process. Our favorite is Muzzle, which simply toggles on macOS’s built-in Do Not Disturb mode whenever you start screen sharing, so you don’t forget. (Check out the Muzzle website for hilarious examples of the kind of wince-inducing texts and dating-app notifications you can prevent your colleagues from seeing.)
There’s more to screen sharing than PowerPoint presentations
Zoom’s screen-sharing feature is extremely deep, letting you share your entire desktop or specific apps. But did you know it has a built-in whiteboard? Sure, it’s useful for mapping out complex ideas and communicating visuals, but we’ve probably used it more often as a delightfully low-tech way to play Friday-afternoon games like Pictionary and Hangman.
Hosts can (and should) mute attendees
Most Zoom users are good about muting, but in large meetings there’s usually at least one person who forgets to hit that mute button and ends up broadcasting a private conversation, baby cries, or … worse.
What many hosts don’t realize is that they have the power to mute these rogue talkers. If you want everyone to join the meeting muted by default, you can make that happen by toggling Mute participants upon entry in the Schedule Meeting section of Zoom’s account settings. And if someone forgets to stay muted, you can hit Manage Participants in the app and click the mic icon next to the person you want to silence. This is a feature you’re likely to find yourself using far more than you expect, hopefully saving your colleagues some embarrassment.
How to format pendrive in macbook pro. Attendees who are muted can of course unmute themselves, but there are other ways to keep a large meeting from descending into chaos. Free video trimming software for pc. You can press and hold the spacebar to temporarily unmute yourself—sort of like with a walkie-talkie—or open the Participants tab at the bottom of the Zoom window and hit Raise Hand to be called on by the moderator.
Take advantage of Zoom’s powerful scheduling feature
Zoom’s built-in scheduling function ties into iCal and Google Calendar, which makes organizing meetings a surprisingly seamless process. The scheduling setup screen even provides some thoughtful options that other videoconferencing services don’t, such as the option to start the meeting with video on or off (for both the host and participants), what sort of audio sources to allow, and whether to use your Personal Meeting ID (a dedicated number for your own room) or a randomly generated room number.
Keep unwanted guests out of meetings
With huge numbers of workers and students moving to Zoom and other videoconferencing platforms during the COVID-19 epidemic, an unfortunate new trend has arisen in online meetings: “Zoombombing.” Think of it like photobombing—someone finds or guesses your meeting URL, jumps into your chat uninvited, and puts themselves on camera. The results can be disturbing, to say the least.
Zoom has helpfully shared some tips in a Twitter thread, but here’s the condensed version of what you can do as a host to prevent this kind of harassment:
- Don’t publicly share your meeting ID, and if you’re having a public meeting, don’t use your personal meeting ID (PMI); use a randomly generated meeting ID (as explained in this video) instead.
- Use the waiting room feature to ensure that only people you know get into the chat.
- Limit meetings to those who are logged in to Zoom. If you want to be even more strict, you can even limit your meeting to those people whose email addresses use a certain domain (such as your company’s or school’s).
- Prevent attendees from screen sharing without your consent.
- Lock meetings that have already started to prevent new people from joining midstream.
If you follow these tips and someone still acts up during a call, remember that hosts can (and should) mute rogue talkers and have the power to kick anyone out of the meeting at any time.
Finally (and this can’t be said enough), please mute yourself
Yes, your host can do it for you, but come on: Be a responsible adult and smash that mute button unless it’s your turn to talk. You’ll save yourself some embarrassment, and everybody else won’t have to hear you eating your salad.
Further reading
The Wirecutter New Essentials
by Jason ChenThe coronavirus has turned life upside down. These are the things that have made living, working, and taking care of ourselves (all from home) easier.
With many people working from right now, Zoom has become more popular for doing online meetings, video calls, and video conferences. It has become the standard when it comes to connecting with other users virtually, whether in business or personal settings. Zoom has become the top platform of choice for video communication for government agencies, tech startups, religious communities, and even regular people looking to talk to their friends and family.
Zoom is a cloud-based video communications program that lets you set up live chats, virtual video and audio conferencing, screen-sharing, webinars, and other collaborative activities. You don’t have to create an account to join a Zoom meeting, and it can support up to 1,000 participants and 49 on-screen videos. It is compatible with Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android devices, so almost anyone can access it.
To use Zoom, all you need to do is download the app and set up the video call or conference. Unfortunately, creating or joining a zoom meeting is not that easy for everyone. Zoom has its own flaws, and it is normal for users to encounter bugs or errors when using the app. In fact, Zoom went down a few days ago and thousands of users reported issues with its audio and visual features. According to Zoom, the problem was caused by a hosting issue, which was immediately resolved a few hours later.
This might be an isolated case, but it perfectly demonstrates the fact that the app is not perfect. One of the common errors Zoom users encounter involves the camera. This error can also be observed in other video conferencing apps, such as Skype and FaceTime.
MacBook Camera Not Working on Zoom
According to user reports, the MacBook camera doesn’t work on Zoom during video calls. The Zoom app works fine, except that the user’s video does not display the participants of the call. In some cases, the user only sees a black screen in the camera display, and can’t see the other people in the call. The other party is able to see the affected user, which denotes that the error lies in the affected user’s end, and not related to the call itself.
Based on the complaints, the camera seems to be working for other apps, such as PhotoBooth and Skype. But when it comes to doing video calls on Zoom, the camera does not display any output. This might not be a big issue since it does not affect the quality of the call, but it can be annoying not to be able to see who you are talking to.
What Macbook To Buy
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Why is MacBook Camera Not Working on Zoom
There are many reasons why the MacBook camera doesn’t work on Zoom. One of the factors you should look into is whether other applications are currently using your camera. Mac’s camera is designed to work for one application at a time. So if a program is using the camera — say, Skype or FaceTime, you won’t be able to use it with Zoom unless you close those apps first.
Another reason why you’re having issues with the camera is that you did not allow Zoom to access your camera when you started the call. Whenever you open Zoom and initiate or join a call, a message will pop up asking for permission to use the microphone and camera. If you did not click Allow, then your microphone and camera will not work during the call.
An outdated Zoom app will also cause some performance issues during video calls. If you’re running the app on macOS Mojave, you might be encountering compatibility issues between the app and your operating system. Whatever the reason is, this guide should cover all possible causes why your Mac’s camera is not working and present fixes to get it working again.
How to Fix Camera Not Working on Zoom
If you’re having problems with using your video camera when doing Zoom video calls, the first thing you need to determine is whether the issue is limited to Zoom or if it affects other video communication apps as well. To figure this out, open other apps that use the video camera, such as Skype or FaceTime, then try doing a video call. If it works fine, then the problem is closely related to the Zoom app.
Once you’ve deduced where the problem lies, you can then choose from the fixes below to see which one works for you:
Fix #1: Check Your Internet Connection.
Doing video calls consume a lot of data. Make sure your internet connection is stable enough for video calls by switching to a wired connection. If this is not possible, move closer to the modem or the router to have a better signal.
Fix #2: Close All Apps That Use the Camera.
As mentioned above, camera use is on a first-come, first-serve basis on Mac. This means that if another app is already using the camera and it is currently running, you can’t access it unless you close the open apps. So before you use Zoom, make sure Photo Booth, Skype, FaceTime, Messenger, and other programs that utilize the camera are closed.
To quit these apps, click on the Apple logo, then choose Force Quit. You’ll be presented with a list of all running applications on your Mac. Choose the app you want to close from the list, then click the Force Quit button.
Fix #3: Give Zoom Access to Your Camera.
4 Ways To Zoom Out On A Mac - WikiHow
If your camera is not working during Zoom calls, the might not have access to it. To allow Zoom to use the camera on your Mac, follow the steps below:
- Click the Apple menu, then go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy.
- Click on Camera.
- Tick off the box next to Zoom to give it access to your camera.
- Close the window and try doing a call with Zoom again.
Fix #4: Test Your Audio and Video.
Before jumping into a call or a video meeting, make sure to do a basic check of the app. Go to this test link, then click the Join Call button. If you don’t have Zoom on your computer, you will be required to download the app for the test, which you should install on your computer. Once installed, it will proceed to check the status of your audio and video. If you don’t want to download the app, you can choose to join using the web. If everything works fine, you can jump back to your call and see if the video is now working.
Summary
Not being able to see who you are talking to during a Zoom video conference is basically the same as doing voice calls, which defeats of using Zoom in the first place. If your Mac’s camera is not functioning when you’re on a Zoom video call or conference call, the guide above should be able to help you out. If all of the steps above don’t work, your last option is to uninstall the Zoom app and re-install a fresh copy of the app.
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