How to Mute Zoom Meeting - Everything You Need to Know

You’re in the middle of an important meeting. Suddenly, you must take care of something that requires your undivided attention. You don’t want to leave your conference call with clients and colleagues. So how do you mute Zoom Meeting?

Suppose you’re wondering how to mute Zoom Meeting, no worries. This article will answer your question with easy-to-follow instructions. Silence your microphone while taking care of business!

Why Should You Mute a Zoom Meeting?

Zoom meetings are an efficient way to communicate without ever having to leave your desk. But there are a variety of situations where most people would be better off on mute. Here are five reasons why you should mute your Zoom meeting!

1) Prevent Background Noise From Making a Distraction

It’s a no-brainer. You should mute your meeting if there’s background noise. Especially if there is loud music or a construction crew outside. We do our best to plan meetings in spaces where background noise isn’t an issue. If you find yourself in a situation with distractions, it only makes sense to silence your line.

2) Focus on the Agenda of the Meeting Without Disruption

It’s essential to focus on the agenda. If your meeting is about a controversial topic, people might be anxious to give their opinion. By muting your meeting, you can control the flow of the conversation. Let people know that they will have a chance to voice their opinion.

It will ensure that specific speakers get an opportunity to voice their thoughts. It will minimize interruptions during a Q&A session or open forum.

3) Show Others That You Are Listening to What They Have to Say

The most significant advantage of using Zoom is that it’s easy to mute yourself. It allows you to show others that you are listening to what they are saying. You can easily switch back and forth between muting and unmuting yourself. It’s a great way to build rapport with those around you when you need it most.

4) Keeps a Call With Many Participants Organized

It’s easy to get off track in a group call. The conversation can wander. You might find yourself repeating yourself or even talking over others. By muting the meeting, you can control who is speaking at any time. Also, there’s no need for everyone on a call to respond at once. Let people chime in once and jump back on mute when someone else speaks.

5) Silence Those With Bad Zoom Etiquette

People sometimes consider meetings a nuisance. Typically when dealing with participants who can't follow the basic Zoom meeting etiquette. Before you know it, everyone else suffers from the distraction. Unnecessary back-and-forth interactions with participants who can't keep quiet can hinder productivity. 

You can avoid having meetings that get derailed by a few bad apples. Mute them during crucial moments of discussion.

How to Mute Yourself in a Zoom Meeting

In this section, we’ll go over how you can mute yourself in a Zoom meeting:

How to Mute Yourself by Default for Each Zoom Meeting

Step 1: Open the Zoom Client. Click the little gear icon on the top right to open ‘Settings’.

Step 2: Click ‘Audio.’

Step 3: Scroll down and check the box for ‘Mute my mic when joining a meeting.’

How to Mute Yourself During a Zoom Meeting

Step 1: Click on ‘Mute’ on the toolbar at the bottom of the Zoom window.

Step 2: Click ‘Unmute’ to unmute yourself or hold Spacebar to unmute yourself until you let go of the key temporarily.

How to Mute Other Participants in a Zoom Meeting

Here we’ll discuss how to mute other participants in your Zoom meeting. Note: You must be the Host to mute anyone other than yourself.

How to Mute All Participants by Default When They Join a Meeting

Step 1: Sign in to your account on Zoom.us.

Step 2: Click ‘Settings’ on the sidebar to the left.

Step 3: Scroll down to ‘Mute all participants when they join a meeting’ and tick the option to turn it on.

How to Mute a Specific Participant

Step 1: While in a meeting, click ‘Participants’ on the bottom toolbar.

Step 2: This will bring up a sidebar to the right of the Zoom window. Hover over the participant you want to silence and click ‘Mute’.

How to Mute All Participants During a Meeting

Step 1: While in a meeting, click ‘Participants’ on the bottom toolbar.

Step 2: This will bring up a sidebar to the right of the Zoom window. Click ‘Mute All’ at the bottom of the sidebar.

How to Mute a Zoom Meeting on a Mobile Device

Let’s look at using your mobile device to mute yourself or other participants during a Zoom meeting.

How to Mute Yourself

Step 1: Click anywhere on the screen to bring up the toolbar at the bottom.
Step 2: Click on ‘Mute’ on the toolbar at the bottom.

How to Mute Other Participants

Step 1: Click anywhere on the screen to bring up the toolbar at the bottom.

Step 2: Click ‘Participants’ on the toolbar.

Step 3: Click the ‘Microphone’ icon next to the name of the person you want to mute.

Step 4: Click ‘Mute’.

How to Mute All Participants

Step 1: Click anywhere on the screen to bring up the toolbar at the bottom.

Step 2: Click ‘Participants’ on the toolbar.

Step 3: Click ‘Mute All’ at the bottom of the screen.

How to Mute a Zoom Meeting Entirely

Step 1: While in a meeting, open ‘Settings’. On Mac, you will find it by clicking ‘zoom.us’ on the top toolbar and then clicking ‘Preferences’.

Step 2: Click ‘Audio’.

Step 3: Move the ‘Output Volume’ dial to the left.

Other solutions to entirely mute a Zoom meeting:

● Turn the volume of your device down.

● Plug in headphones and take them off of your ears.

● If you’re the host, mute all, then mute yourself.

Bonus: How to Use the Notta Bot to Transcribe a Zoom Meeting

Sometimes, you’ll have other things to attend to while a meeting is in progress. You can use a bot to take notes while the meeting is on mute so that you don’t miss any information.

Step 1: Start or join a Zoom Meeting. Click the ‘Arrow’ on ‘Participants’. Then click ‘Invite’.

Step 2: Click ‘Copy Invite Link’ on the bottom left of the screen that pops up.

Step 3: Log into your Notta Dashboard. Click ‘Join Live Meeting’ on the sidebar to the right.

Step 4: Paste the invite link into the “Meeting URL” box.

Step 5: Name your robot then click ‘Transcribe Now’. It will create alive transcription on your dashboard.

Step 6: Under ‘Participants’ in your Zoom Meeting you will see your Bot shown as a participant.

Step 7: Go to your Notta Dashboard and click on the live transcription.

Step 8: Watch as the robot transcribes the meeting in real-time.

FAQ

1. Is there a way to mute other participants on Zoom without being the host?

Participants who are not the host cannot mute other participants. If someone on the call is creating a disruption, you can ask them to mute themselves. Or you can ask the host to mute them.

2. Can Zoom Host still hear me even if I have muted myself?

If you mute yourself on a call, you will still be able to hear your presenters and other call participants. However, if you have muted yourself, all other participants will not be able to hear you. This includes the host.

3. Will I be notified when the Host unmutes me on Zoom meeting?

The host can never unmute you without your permission as of Zoom 5.0.3. If the host wants to unmute you, you will get a notification saying, "The host would like you to unmute." Then you can click either 'Stay Muted' or 'Unmute.'

4. How Do You Mute Annoying People on Zoom?

If you are the host, you can mute them in the Participants window. Click on ‘Participants’ on the toolbar at the bottom. Then find the name of the person you want to mute and click the ‘Mute’ button. It looks like a little microphone. You’ll have to use a little more tact if you are not the host. You can politely message the person and ask them to mute themselves. Or you can message the host and ask if they can mute the person.

5. How Do I Get My Zoom to Stop Beeping?

Your Zoom is beeping because you have the Join/Leave sound enabled. To turn this sound off:

1. Click on 'Participants' on the bottom toolbar to open the participant's window.

2. Click 'More'

3. Then click 'Play Join and Leave Sound.' 

Now you won't hear the chime playing whenever someone enters or exits the meeting.

Final Thoughts

Muting yourself and other participants is a great way to have a cohesive meeting. It allows others to talk without being interrupted. It also makes it much easier for the Notta Bot to transcribe what everyone's saying to text. Now you can go mute and catch up on work while the robot takes all the notes.