All University of Chicago and UChicago Medicine instructors, staff, and students have access to a Zoom Pro account at no cost. For more information and instructions on claiming your Zoom account, visit the Web Conferencing Login website.

These settings may be set for all of your Zoom sessions by selecting Settings from your web profile page.

Sample User uchicago.zoom.us/profile

or you may set them per meeting as shown in the image below.

Sample Personal Meeting ID Settings

Tip: Changes to your profile settings take immediately. You have to Save your settings when making these changes on a per meeting basis.

Global Defaults for Zoom Meetings

• Host video – Off: All meetings will be launched with the Host video off. Hosts should click Start Video to turn on video.
• Participant video – Off: All meetings will be launched with the Participant video off. Participants should click Start Video to turn on video.
• Required meeting password – On and enforced: All meetings will have this option turned on by default. This means that a meeting host may uncheck the password box for meetings if a password is not desired. (This is not recommended.) Adding a meeting password means participants can only join the meeting with both the Meeting ID and meeting password.
• Embed password in meeting link for one-click join: This setting will hash (random-looking strings of characters) the password and include it in the Join Meeting link to allow participants to join without having to manually enter the password.
• Screen sharing – Disabled: Participant screen sharing is disabled to provide the host control. To allow participants to share their screen during a call, click the arrow next to Share Screen and Advanced Sharing options.
• File transfer – Off: File sharing between hosts and participants in Chat is disabled.
• Auto saving chats – Off: Meeting chats are deleted when the host ends the meeting.
• Only authenticated users can view cloud recordings – On: Participants must use their UChicago Zoom account to view recordings in the Zoom cloud. You will need the meeting password to view recordings in the cloud.
• Nonverbal feedback – On: Participants are permitted to provide nonverbal feedback by clicking the Participant button and using feedback icons during the class or meeting.
• Recording disclaimer – On: Participants will hear a message when they join a meeting that is being recorded, notifying them of the recording and giving them the option to join or leave.

Quick Checklist to Use Before Scheduling or Starting a Zoom Meeting

• Know your network limitations when running a meeting from home. Read more on how to improve your Zoom experience when running Zoom meetings while at home.
• Use a Zoom webinar for large meetings. For large public meetings, a Zoom webinar provides greater control and participant management. Request a webinar license at least three days before your planned webinar date, but no more than fourteen days in advance.
  Note: Licenses are shared and may not be always be available. Requests are considered on a case-by-case basis.
• Do not use a Zoom Personal ID for Group Meetings. Use the Zoom website or client tools to schedule meetings with a unique Personal ID for every meeting. This reduces the likelihood of a Meeting ID becoming known and public.
• Schedule a practice meeting. A practice run of your meeting will help you familiarize yourself with the Zoom application and settings and with the timing your meeting.
• Use Share Application instead of Share Desktop.  Sharing your one application keeps your meeting participants from seeing your entire computer desktop, which helps with data security. For more information on how to share documents, see Zoom Functionality FAQ. See the question and answer, How do I share my screen or application in a Zoom meeting?.
• Close pop-up applications. You don't want to have pop-ups from show up during your Zoom session from apps like, Slack, iMessage, Teams, and Outlook, so remember to shut them down before starting your class, meeting, or webinar.
• Suspend your screensaver. You want to suspend your screensaver so that your computer doesn't go to sleep if your don't touch your keyboard for a while during your session.

Manage Participants During a Zoom Meeting

Most of the in-meeting controls are accessed by clicking on the Manage Participants option at the bottom of the main Zoom window, which displays the Participants list. From the Manage Participants toolbar, the host can lock a meeting, mute all participants, make someone a co-host, and remove an uninvited or disruptive individual.

• Limit Chat Options: From the Chat window, the host can disable chat, limit to host only, limit to everyone publicly or publicly and privately. This can prevent multiple private chats from occurring during a meeting. Chat options are: No One, Host Only, Everyone Publicly, Everyone Publicly and Privately. For large meetings, it is recommended to set chat to No One or Host Only.
• Lock Meeting: When all attendees have arrived, the host can lock the meeting by clicking on the More button at the bottom of the Manage Participants window and selecting Lock Meeting. This will prevent new participants from joining.
• Mute all: A host can mute all in the Manage Participants window. The host can also stop participants from unmuting themselves and ask them to use chat for questions. For large meetings or classes, consider assigning the job of managing chat to a co-host.
• Mute a participant: People often leave their microphones on unintentionally, meaning everyone in the meeting can hear their background noise. The host can mute individual participants by clicking on the "More" button next to their name in the Manage Participants window.
• Stop a participant's video: If a participant's video is distracting or disruptive or causing them to have connection issues, the host or co-host can switch it off by clicking on the More option next to a participant's name.
• Remove unwanted or disruptive participants: In the rare event that someone joins a meeting who shouldn't be present, or if they need to be removed for another reason, the host or co-host can quickly remove a participant and prevent them from being able to rejoin by clicking on the More option next to their name in the Manage Participants window and selecting Remove. Step-by-step instructions are provided below:

1. Identify the participant that you want to remove.
   
2. Select the person that you want to remove.
   
3. Select Remove to remove the participant.
   
4. Confirm you want to remove the participant by clicking Cancel.
   
5. The removed participant will receive this notification.
   
6. If the individual tries to rejoin the meeting, the person will be notified that they cannot rejoin the meeting.
   

Recommended Settings for Zoom Meetings

The following Zoom settings are recommended to anyone who hosts classes, meetings, or webinars.

1. Disable join before host. Disable Join before host when setting up the meeting. (This option is found in under the Schedule Meetings options under Settings in your profile.) This will allow participants to connect ahead of time, but they will see a pop-up window that says, "The meeting is waiting for the host to join." participants won't be able to join the meeting until after you join.
   
   
   To disable Join before host, move the slider from right to left.
   
   You may also deselect Join before host from the meeting level as such:
   
2. Mute participants upon entry. All student participants will start the class with their audio muted and will need to unmute themselves to speak, to cut down on background noise as a session begins. The host can also click the Mute all from the Manage Participants toolbar, located at the bottom the screen, to deactivate all participant microphones.
   
   You can also Mute participants on entry before you set your meeting, as such:
   
3. Disable entry/exit chime. Participants may hear an entry chime (doorbell sound) when entering a session, which can be disruptive. The host can turn this off from the drop-down menu located on the Manage Participants toolbar once the meeting has started.
   
   You can turn the chime on/off from within your profile Settings as well for all of your meetings, like this:
    
   The default Chime setting is set to off as above. You can turn the Chime on for all meetings, by moving the slider from left to right, although using no chime is recommended.
4. Enable only authenticated users to join. This option ensures that only users with UChicago Zoom accounts (*.uchicago.edu, *chicagobooth.edu, *uchospitals.edu) can attend your class.
   
   Campus only, or
   
   
   Sign in to Zoom (customized, but includes these groups: *.chicagobooth.edu, *.uchospitals.edu, *.uchicago.edu)
   
   You can set the Authenticated Users settings on the meeting level as shown below:
   
   
   Note: These authentication options do not prevent UChicago participants who are not registered for a class from joining. Participants who have not claimed a student Zoom account will have one automatically created when logging into the course for the first time.
5. Assign one or more co-hosts. You may want to ask a Teaching Assistant (TA) or a trusted student in the class to serve as a co-host. They can help mute/unmute participants, help monitor the chat for questions and problems, and remove any disruptive attendees. The host can add a TA as an alternative host when creating the class, or
   
   the host can also click on the More option next to a name in the Manage Participants toolbar after the session has begun by selecting Make Co-host.
   

Related Resources

IT Services Knowledge Articles

Detailed information on installing the desktop/laptop client, scheduling meetings, Zoom functionality, frequently asked questions, and more are located in these knowledge articles.

Zoom Online Learning Resources

• Web Conferencing
• Teaching Remotely
• Manage Zoom Meeting Security

Support

Please contact Support for any questions you may have.