Zoom Features That You're Missing Out On

You've probably used the phrase "Can you hear me?" over the past few years more than you ever did before 2020. While we're back to working at the office, the Zoom calls have managed to stick around. A June 2022 Gallup survey reveals three in 10 people are working exclusively remotely, while five in 10 are working a hybrid of remote and on-site. The result? Zoom's making money, and you're facing Zoom fatigue.

Even with its cons, Zoom is one of the most common tools we use for work today. However, it's surprising how many people don't make the best use of Zoom's features. Being able to use all Zoom features empowers you to use the tool to its full potential and improves your overall video conferencing experience.

For example, did you know you can integrate Zoom with Slack, configure shortcuts, and participate in team-building activities using breakout rooms? If those Zoom features sound interesting, we've got an excellent collection of Zoom features for you in this guide.

Like Zoom, Slack has become a staple for remote teams. Slack's video calling capability isn't all that impressive, and Zoom doesn't allow text-based communication outside of a call. Integrating the two tools enables you to make the best use of both of these apps.

However, note that only users on the Pro, Business, Education, or API plan can integrate Slack with Zoom. You also need the same email on both Zoom and Slack to set up the integration.

To get started, you'll need to request the Zoom administrator to approve Slack installation from the Zoom marketplace. Then, you'll need to add the Slack integration from your Zoom marketplace to Slack. When you're done, go to your Slack workspace, click Zoom on the list of Recent Apps, and select Authorize Zoom.

Once you're done, you'll be able to start using the /zoom command. You can use Zoom prompts to initiate calls, schedule calls, or join meetings using a meeting ID.

When you're working from home, life and work have a tendency to clash. Your dog might bark incessantly, or maybe your baby won't stop crying. Even when you shut the door, you can hear those sounds in the background, and so can the person you're talking to over Zoom.

Fortunately, Zoom helps configure audio settings to reduce background noise, so other meeting participants don't have to listen to the distracting noises coming from your physical background.

Zoom automatically uses noise suppression and echo cancellation to optimize your audio input quality. However, sometimes, you might need to increase (or decrease) suppression based on your background.

To adjust suppression, click on Settings, go to Audio, and select "Zoom optimized audio" under Audio Profile. Select the level of suppression as per your preference. The options include Auto (default), Low, Medium, and High. Note that using this feature can impact your CPU.

Zoom meetings can quickly turn chaotic, especially when the meeting has dozens of participants. The result is counterproductivity where team members find themselves disoriented and deviated from the primary topic of discussion.

The easy solution? Non-verbal feedback. Zoom allows meeting participants to communicate non-verbally so the meeting can conclude with everything on the agenda accomplished.

To enable non-verbal feedback, sign into Zoom's web portal as an administrator. You'll need the privileges for editing account settings. Navigate to Account Management > Account Settings. Go to the Meeting tab, and verify that the "Non-verbal feedback" setting is enabled under In Meeting (Basic). If it's disabled, toggle on the button.

Similarly, you can also enable meeting reactions for non-verbal communication. To enable meeting reactions, search for the "Meeting reactions" setting under In Meeting (Basic). If it's disabled, enable it. Click Save before you exit the settings. You should now be able to use reactions during a call by clicking on Reactions from the controls at the bottom.

Ever had to move away from a comfortable place to your desk because the background wasn't decent? Fortunately, Zoom can help you work from the most comfortable spots by changing your background.

You can hide the background by adding a virtual background, which can be an image, short video, or just a blurry layer. Virtual backgrounds are great to put yourself in a professional setting, or you can also get creative with your Zoom backgrounds. For example, you can use a background that makes it look like you're in the cafeteria from "Seinfeld." Note that if you want to use one of your own images or videos, you'll need to check the specifications.

Virtual backgrounds are enabled by default. Assuming they're enabled on your account, you can apply a virtual background by clicking on your profile picture from the Zoom desktop client, and selecting Settings > Backgrounds & Filters. Select the Virtual Background tab and choose a background you like. You can also add an image or video background by clicking on the + sign.

Remote work can feel lonely. You're locked away at home, working full-time, with minimal interaction with colleagues. That's why companies are focusing on team-building activities.

Breakout rooms have become a popular way to allow your employees or team to interact with a smaller group. Breakout rooms are a Zoom feature where you can split your team into smaller groups, so each of those groups is now in a different room. For example, you can break a room of 50 people into groups of five and create 10 rooms for each group.

Note that your account administrator must have breakout rooms enabled for you to be able to use them. Assuming breakout rooms are enabled, select the breakout rooms icon (the four windows) in your main toolbar during a call. Then, select the number of breakout rooms you want to create. You can break the room by group participants at random, manually select each room's participants, or let participants decide. When you're done, click the Create button.

It's annoying to have to slide through views to see all your colleagues. Gallery view is already the view that accommodates the most participants. If you're using one of the different Zoom views such as speaker view or immersive view, switch to the gallery view.

While you'll always have limited screen estate, Zoom makes things a little better by allowing you to increase the gallery view size. For example, instead of displaying 25 participants on a single screen, Zoom allows displaying up to 49 participants.

However, this isn't always possible. Your system needs a supported processor and a large enough screen. To increase the gallery view size to 49 participants, click on your profile picture in Zoom and select Settings. Select Video from the left sidebar and scroll to the bottom of the right pane. Select "49 participants" under "Maximum participants displayed per screen in gallery view."

This does mean you'll see every participant's video in a small window, but at least you won't have to keep swiping through screens.

Recording your meetings can be a great way to create a resource library or compile some training material. In some cases, it might even be legally required.

Zoom has a built-in option to record meetings. You get two options when recording meetings if you're a paid user. You can record meetings and store them locally or on the cloud. If you're not a paid user, you can only store recorded meetings locally on your computer. Both options provide you with MP4 video, MP4 audio, and chat text files.

When you want to start recording a meeting, click Record at the bottom of your Zoom meeting window. If you're a paid user and have enabled cloud recording, you'll need to select whether you want to store the recording locally or on the cloud.

Once the recording starts, you'll see a Recording tag at the top-left of your Zoom screen. When you're done, you'll find your recordings in the Documents folder (the default location), unless you've chosen a different location, or in the Zoom cloud if you're a paid user and selected to store the video in the cloud.