Zoom on a Chromebook
With many students using Chromebooks as part of remote learning, Zoom has taken steps to make makes it easier for students to use Zoom on a Chromebook. Below are step-by-step instructions for how to best download, join, and use Zoom on a Chromebook. For the best functionality, we recommend using the Zoom Chrome Store app over the web browser. The steps below reflect using the Zoom app and features. Many of the features will also work in the browser and students can always join a Zoom meeting via the browser and not install the Zoom app.
Downloading Zoom to your Chromebook
To start using Zoom on your Chromebook:
1. Install the Zoom app from the Google Chrome store. (Here’s more info about adding apps to Chromebook.)
2. To join a Zoom meeting, go to the app launcher and click on Zoom and type in the Meeting ID, or click on the link in the invite.
Note: For staff, you can log into the Zoom app by clicking on Use SSO and using the domain catapultlearning.
3. If asked, be sure to give Zoom access to your microphone and camera. You can change these later from the Zoom Toolbar.
Zoom functionality on a Chromebook
Zoom for Chromebook offers much of the same great Zoom functionality as Windows or Mac desktop.
You can:
- Join audio/video
- Manage participants (host only)
- Invite others to join (host only)
- Control screen share
- Use the in-meeting chat
- Pin a participant’s video
- Start or stop your video
- Switch to Gallery View
There are also some settings in place to ensure the best experience for using Chromebooks in a classroom setting.
Teachers hosting a Zoom class from a Chromebook can:
- Access the Security icon in the meeting controls to lock the meeting, enable the Waiting Room, and remove participants
- Share their entire screen or just a single application window
Teachers hosting a Zoom class on the Chromebook app won’t see the Whiteboard option when sharing their screen, nor will they have the Annotate option. Additionally, when sharing the entire screen, your camera is turned off by default, but you can toggle this setting in the meeting controls.
- View a teacher’s shared screen and share their own if enabled
- Use nonverbal feedback like Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down
- Raise their hand to ask a question
- Chat with the teacher
- Students and other participants also don’t have the Annotate option on shared screens.
Additional tips & resources
A few other tips for anyone using Zoom’s Chromebook app:
- Always upgrade to the latest version of Chrome OS for the best performance.
- Reduce the number of open tabs and apps to avoid spreading out your CPU usage.
- Avoid connecting multiple monitors to minimize CPU load constraints.
- For additional Chromebook support, access the Chromebook Help Center.