Zoom video conferencing | 6 features that can enhance your video calling experience

Let’s face it — Not all households are clean at all times, and attending a video call with an untidy background can be embarrassing. Zoom allows users to customise the background when on call. Currently, the tool lets you virtually transfer yourself to a beach, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, or even to the outer space. To do so, one can go to Settings > Virtual Background > Click on the option that you would like to have as a background.

You can also upload a custom image as a background wallpaper by clicking on the ‘+’ icon next to the Choose Virtual Background.

2.   Emojis for reaction

Zoom lets you choose between two emojis — clap and thumbs up. The two emojis can come handy when the audio quality may not be good and you want to acknowledge the message that has been sent across. We wish if the app offered more than two emojis.

3.  Screen Sharing

You can share your screen when on a Zoom video call. The screen sharing feature can be used to show a video, a game or some notes to your colleagues or friends. To do so, click on the ‘Share screen’ icon at the bottom of the screen.

4.  Recording a meeting 

Another handy feature of Zoom is the ability to record a full video call. However, the free version of the feature is currently limited only to desktop users. To record a Zoom video call, simply click on the ‘Record’ icon on the bottom toolbar.

5.  Gallery View

This feature can be useful for companies or classes where several people have joined for a video call. Zoom features ‘Gallery View’ that allows you to see all the participants, instead of the one person speaking. To do so, click on ‘Gallery View’ on the top right corner. As of now, the desktop version can fit 49 participants in one screen. 

6. Hiding participants who do not have the video camera on

There could be some participants in the video call who have no enabled the video camera on their device. You can simply hide such participants rather than viewing them at the black screen. To do so, go to Settings > Video > Meetings > Tick Hide Non-video participants.