Zoom has become part of the regular work day for many of us. “There are lots of cool things that Zoom can do, but they aren’t always obvious. Controlling them may not be so easy during meetings, where we’re trying to look at the screen and be engaged as if we were face-to-face. This is a list of some of the basic keyboard shortcuts for Zoom, which might make it easier to use some of Zoom’s features without having to hunt the proper place to click on the screen.

Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Alt-F1: Change to active Speaker View
  • Alt-F2: Change to Gallery View
  • Alt-A: Mute/Unmute microphone
  • Spacebar (hold): temporarily unmute (while holding down)
  • Alt-R: Start/Stop local recording
  • Alt-C: Start/Stop Cloud recording
  • Alt-P: Pause or resume recording
  • Alt-Y: Raise or lower hand (to show the host you want to ask a question usually)
  • Alt-H: Display or hide Chat panel
  • Alt-U: Show or hide participants panel
  • Alt-N: Switch camera (if you have more than one camera available, like your laptop’s camera plus an external one)
  • Ctrl-2: Read active speaker’s name (for screen readers only)

For a full list of the default keyboard shortcuts and how to change them in the Zoom settings, check out this page on Zoom keyboard shortcuts.

Apple Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Command(⌘)+J: Join Meeting
  • Command(⌘)+Control+V: Start Meeting
  • Command(⌘)+J: Schedule Meeting
  • Command(⌘)+Shift+A: Mute/unmute audio
  • Command(⌘)+Control+M: Mute audio for everyone except the host (only available to the host)
  • Command(⌘)+Control+U: Unmute audio for everyone except host (only available to the host)
  • Space: Push to talk (when muted)
  • Command(⌘)+Shift+V: Start/stop video
  • Command(⌘)+Shift+N: Switch camera (if you have more than one camera, like the camera on your laptop plus an external one)
  • Command(⌘)+Shift+R: Start local recording
  • Command(⌘)+Shift+C: Start cloud recording
  • Command(⌘)+Shift+P: Pause or resume recording
  • Command(⌘)+Shift+W: Switch to active speaker view or gallery view, depending on current view
  • Command(⌘)+U: Display/hide Participants panel
  • Command(⌘)+Shift+H: Show/hide In-Meeting Chat Panel
  • Command(⌘)+I: Open invite window
  • Option+Y: Raise hand/lower hand

For more information about the default keyboard shortcuts and instructions on how to change them to fit your preferences, check out this article on the Zoom website.

What about Linux and iOS shortcuts

This is just a quick look at some of the most common shortcuts for Windows and Mac computers. The Zoom website has a long list of shortcut combinations for Linux and iOS, with expanded lists for Windows and Mac, along with links to other tips and tricks.

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