Meeting controls: for desktop
Using Meeting and calling
Last updated November 19, 2021With StarLeaf for desktop, the following meeting controls are available:
- Basic controls
- How to share your screen
- Participant management controls
- Meeting layouts
- How to blur or replace your background
- Spotlight meeting controls
- Mini call window
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Controls for Poly headsets
- Switch between computer and phone audio
- Who is the meeting host?
- Who can use meeting controls?
Basic controls
To access meeting controls, hover your mouse anywhere on the call window.
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Select Participants to access participant management controls. Permission to manage the Participants panel differs depending on the type of meeting you are in. See Who can use meeting controls? below for further detail. |
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Invite another person to the meeting. You can share the meeting ID, send an email with instructions on how to join the meeting, or directly call them. |
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See In-meeting chat below for more information. |
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See Share my screen for more information on how to share your screen. This is only enabled when the meeting has started or more than one participant has joined. |
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Configure your Audio and video settings, and blur or replace your background. |
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In More you can switch between computer and phone audio, and also access a keypad. |
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Enter and exit full-screen mode from here. This control is only available on Windows devices. To switch between full screen mode on other devices, double click on the video. |
In-meeting chat
During a meeting, you can now access a meeting group chat and send instant messages to other participants. You can share and view files like any normal one-to-one chat.
When the meeting ends or drops down to one participant, the chat and chat history disappear.
Meeting rooms cannot view or participate in the chat.
How to share your screen
You can share content to a call or meeting from any device. For more information, see Share my screen.
Participant management controls
From the Participants panel, you can access controls relating to other participants:
Mute participants
You can individually mute or unmute participants by selecting the microphone icons beside their name in the Participants panel:
You can also choose to Mute all participants, or Unmute all participants from Options:
In a scheduled meeting, all participants have access to these mute controls and in an ad hoc meeting, only the person who initiated the meeting has these controls.
Locking the meeting
Locking a meeting prevents any more participants from joining the meeting. Those that attempt to join after a meeting has been locked see a screen telling them that the meeting is locked.
To lock a meeting:
- Select Participants from the meeting controls panel.
- Select Options.
- Select Lock meeting.
To unlock a meeting, follow steps 1 to 2 above and select Unlock meeting.
Remove a participant
To remove a participant from the meeting:
- Select Participants from the meeting controls panel.
- Click the remove icon next to the participant who you want to remove:
- Confirm that you want to remove the participant.
When you remove a participant, they are disconnected from the meeting.
Ending the meeting
There are two ways to end the meeting for all participants:
Hang up
- Hover your mouse over the call window to display the meeting controls.
- Click the hang up icon at the bottom of the call window.
- Select End meeting for everyone.
Participants panel
- Hover your mouse over the call window to display the meeting controls.
- Open the Participants panel.
- Click Options > End meeting.
Meeting layouts
You can change how you view participants and content in a meeting or call, from any device. For more information, see Meeting layouts.
How to blur or replace your background
For information on how to blur or replace your video background while in a call or meeting, see Blur or replace background.
Spotlight meeting controls
For information on in-call meeting controls for Spotlight meetings, go to Spotlight meetings.
Mini call window
Minimizing your meeting on a Windows or macOS device turns it into a mini call window:
You can click and drag on the video to move the call window around your screen.
Hover your cursor over the mini call window to access call controls such as microphone and video mute. Click the maximize icon in the top-right to return the call window to its normal size.
Keyboard shortcuts
When you are in a call or meeting, the following keyboard shortcuts for your microphone and camera are available:
Turn microphone on / off | |
---|---|
Windows | Alt+A |
macOS | Shift+Command+A |
Turn camera on / off | |
Windows | Alt+V |
macOS | Shift+Command+V |
Push-to-talk | |
Press and hold the space bar to temporarily unmute your microphone |
Controls for Poly headsets
With StarLeaf for desktop, you can use call controls with the buttons on certain Poly headsets:
- Mute/unmute microphone*
- Adjust the volume of the call
*To use push-to-talk, you must still use the space bar to unmute your microphone.
Functionality may vary depending on the headset you have. Refer to Poly documentation for more information.
Poly Hub
You can configure additional settings for your headset, such as the voice-over language, by downloading the Poly Hub app .
Supported headsets
- 3210
- 3215
- 3220
- 3225
- 3310
- 3315
- 3320
- 3325
- 5210
- 5220
Prerequisite: you must download and run Poly Hub app for the 7200 series to work
- 7220
You can use the Poly BT600 bluetooth adapter with the following wireless headsets:
- Voyager 4200 Office + UC
- Voyager 5200 UC
- Voyager 6200 UC
- Voyager 8200 UC
- Voyager Focus UC
- Savi 8200 Office + UC
Switch between computer and phone audio
When you are in a meeting, you can choose to switch between your computer and phone audio if you are experiencing problems with one of them, for example. Select More to view the audio options available.
If you select Phone audio, you will be provided with a dial-in number that you can call from your mobile or landline while viewing the meeting in your browser.
Who is the meeting host?
In a scheduled meeting: the person who originally scheduled the meeting and sent any invites.
When using Meet Now: the person who started the meeting by selecting Group video meeting in a group or Start a meeting from the Today tab and invited others to join.
In an ad hoc meeting: the person who created the meeting by adding another user(s) to an ongoing one-to-one call.
In a Spotlight meeting: the person who originally scheduled the meeting and sent any invites. During the meeting, only the host has access to participant management controls.
Who can use meeting controls?
Depending on the user and type of meeting, participants’ permissions and controls vary according to scenarios below:
Spotlight meeting | Start new meeting, Scheduled meeting, or Group video meeting | Ad hoc meeting | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Permissions | Users inside or outside of the host’s organization | Users inside host’s organization | Users outside of host’s organization | All |
In-meeting chat | All | Yes | Yes | Yes |
View Participants panel | All | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Add participants | Host only | Yes | No | No |
Remove participants | Host only | Yes | No | No |
Mute individual participants | Host only | Yes | No | No |
Unmute individual participants | Host only | Yes | No | No |
Remove individual participants from the call | Host only | Yes | No | No |
Mute all participants | Host only | Yes | No | No |
Unmute all participants | Host only | Yes | No | No |
Lock the meeting | Host only | Yes | No | No |
Unlock the meeting | Host only | Yes | No | No |
End the meeting for everyone | Host only | Yes | No | No |
Record the meeting* | Host only | Yes** | No | No |
Stop recording of the meeting | Host only | Yes** | No | No |
Spotlight meetings only: | ||||
Move a participant into spotlight | Host only | – | – | – |
Remove a participant from spotlight | Host only | – | – | – |
In-meeting chat | Yes | |||
Raise hand | Yes | – | – | – |
Lower hand | Yes | – | – | – |
*The recording solution is an optional extra. If enabled, only the meeting organizer can download and view the recording. To learn more about recording controls and permissions, go to StarLeaf recording.
**This option may be disabled by the admin.