Display Settings in Zoom

NOTE: Make sure that you are using the most recent version of Zoom to ensure that the information in these pages matches what you see. Zoom Support's documentation on Updating Zoom to the latest version explains how to check for updates. After updating, restart your computer.

This article contains the following:

• Options When No Users are Screen Sharing
• Options When a User is Screen Sharing
• Options for When You're Screen Sharing
• Options for Minimizing your Meeting Window
• Turning Off Automatic Full-screen When Viewing Screen Share

Options When No Users are Screen Sharing

There are four basic display options in Zoom when nobody is screen sharing. To access these options, click the "View" icon in the top right of the Zoom screen to see a drop-down menu.

The first option is "Speaker view." This option displays the video or profile image of the person who is currently speaking in the center of the screen.

You can also pin someone's video or profile image to the center of the screen. To do this, right-click the blue 3 dots button (...) in the top right corner of their video or profile image and select Add Pin from the drop-down menu. This positions their video or profile image in the center of the screen. This can be un-done at any time.

The second option is "Gallery view." This option shows off all users' profile images (or video images, if their cameras are turned on) at once. When the number of participants exceeds a certain number (this number will change depending on your screen size and CPU) a new page of thumbnails will be created that you can navigate to by clicking an arrow that will appear above your toolbar. Participants with their cameras on will be displayed first. 

The third option is "Multi-speaker view." In a meeting of 5 or more participants this setting will allow for 4 active speakers to have their videos (or profiles) enlarged as the focus of the meeting. If there are not more than 5 participants then Zoom will default to the gallery view. 

The final option is "Immersive view." This option allows hosts to place video participants onto a virtual background. 

Options When a User is Screen Sharing:

1. When someone in the meeting is screen sharing, your display options in the "View" menu will change. The first option is "Standard view." This prominently displays the shared content in the center of the screen and places all participants' videos or profile images above.

2. The second option is "Side-by-side Gallery." This moves the participants' videos or profile images into a column to the right of the shared content.

3. The third option is "Side-by-side Speaker." This is similar to the side-by-side gallery option, but will only show the video or profile image of the participant who is sharing their screen.

4. The fourth option is "Immersive View" while screen-sharing. This shows the participants and the screen being shared on a virtual background. 

Options When You're Screen-sharing

When sharing your screen, your chat box and view of others participants' videos or profile images will disappear.

• To make the chat box appear, click Chat from your meeting controls/tool bar. 

• To view participants' videos, click More from your tool bar, then click Show Video Panel. Please note that this option will not be available if none of your participants have their cameras on.

Options for Minimizing your Meeting Window

There are two methods of minimizing your Zoom meeting so that you can look at something else on your screen while the meeting is happening. Please note that you can only minimize Zoom if you are not in full-screen mode. To exit out of full-screen mode, press ESC on your computer keyboard.

Method one: Clicking into a different program.

1. On your computer toolbar, click on another open application. This will completely minimize Zoom so that you can still hear what is going on, but not see anything. The application icon on your bottom toolbar will light up if there is a new chat message.
   
   
2. To return to the complete view, click the Zoom application icon on your toolbar and select the window with your meeting. 

Method two: Clicking the minimize bar in the top right corner of your screen. 

1. This will create a miniature version of the featured content on your Zoom so that you can still see and hear what’s going on while using other applications on your computer. However, with this option you will not be notified if there are new chat messages.
   
   
2. To return to the complete view, click the arrow button in the bottom right corner of your mini Zoom window.

Turning Off Automatic Full-screen When Viewing Screen Share

When someone else is sharing their screen in a meeting where you're a participant, the default is for your Zoom screen to enter full-screen. Follow these steps to learn how to turn off this setting. 

1. Open Zoom on your desktop. 
   
   
2. Click the gear icon in the top right corner just below your profile picture.
   
   
   
   
3. Click Share Screen from the list of options on the left side of the window.
   
   
4. From the first setting, "Window size when screen sharing:" you have three options. "Fullscreen mode" will be selected by default. "Maximize window" will expand your Zoom window to fill your whole screen without gong into full-screen. "Maintain current size" will keep the size of your Zoom window as it was when somebody started sharing.