This article lists ways that meetings hosts, alternative hosts, and co-hosts might
Deal with unexpected behavior during a Zoom meeting.
Prevent undesired behavior before scheduling meetings.
Immediately install updates if prompted by Zoom to do so. The company regularly releases patches to address any security concerns.
In-Meeting Tools
Hosts, alternative hosts, and co-hosts have immediate access to a variety of tools to mediate disruptions that may occur after a meeting starts. Skip to the preventive actions section of this article for tips on how to prevent undesired behavior before scheduling meetings.
Removing Participants
People may take advantage of unsecured Zoom meetings to drop in, promote their social media or businesses, share inappropriate materials, or cause trouble.
Be prepared to handle this situation by taking the following steps:
Click Participants in the bottom toolbar.
Hover over the participant’s name and click More.
Click Remove.
Stopping Participants' Screen Sharing
While a screen is being shared:
Click Participants in the bottom toolbar.
Hover over the participant’s name and click More.
Click Stop Video.
To disable screen sharing for all participants:
Go to your controls toolbar and click the up arrow icon next to Share Screen.
Click on Advanced Sharing Options.
Scroll to the Who can share section.
Select Host Only.
Stopping Chat
Click Chat.
Click More at the bottom of the in-meeting Chat window.
Scroll to the Participant Can Chat With section.
Choose from No one, Host Only, Everyone Publicly, or Everyone Publicly and Privately.
Alternatively, disable private chat before scheduling meetings to prevent participants from sending private messages to each other during meetings. Participants will still be able to privately message the host.
Muting Audio
Click Participants in the bottom toolbar.
Hover over the participant’s name and click More.
Click Mute.
To mute all participants:
Click Participants in the bottom toolbar.
Click Mute All.
Click on Mute All again to mute all current and new participants.
Optionally, you can uncheck "Allow participants to unmute themselves" so that only the host(s) have the power to unmute participants.
Preventative Actions
There are some options available when you first start your meeting or when you schedule a meeting that can help prevent in-meeting disruptions.
Preventing Uninvited Participants
To avoid letting in uninvited participants in the first place, you can lock your Zoom meeting so no one can join after a certain point.
Join the meeting and wait for all participants to join.
Click Security in the bottom toolbar.
Select Lock Meeting. This will automatically turn away anyone attempting to join the meeting.
To unlock the meeting, repeat the same steps.
Enabling Waiting Room
This is the most effective preventative measure. When using the Waiting Room, you will need to manually allow participants into the meeting as they join. For details, go to Using Waiting Rooms.
Using Passwords
If you add a password to a meeting that is already scheduled, the meeting URL will change. You will need to copy the meeting invitation and share it with participants again.
You can set a password which is required to join the meeting, preventing anyone who doesn’t have the password from joining. The password is “embedded” in the meeting link, so most participants will not need to enter the meeting password. However, some people may need to manually enter the password so you should distribute this password to all meeting participants beforehand.
Disallowing Participants to Join Before Host
Do not enable join before host, as this allows people access to the meeting when it is not actually occurring.
Meeting IDs
Use Generate Automatically for Meeting IDs when scheduling. Using your Personal Meeting ID is comparable to giving out your cell phone number.