How to Mute Yourself Automatically When Joining a Zoom Meeting
Set Zoom to join every meeting with your microphone muted and camera off so you control when people hear and see you, and unmute with one key.
You join a meeting and everyone hears your keyboard or sees you before you are ready. Two settings in the Zoom desktop app make every meeting start muted and with your camera off, so you choose when to turn them on.
Open Zoom settings
Open the Zoom desktop app and click the gear icon (Settings) in the top right of the home window. During a meeting you can reach the same place by clicking the arrow next to Mute and choosing Audio Settings.
Turn on mute on join
Click Audio in the left sidebar. Under the microphone section, check Mute my microphone when joining a meeting. From now on you enter every meeting muted, even when the host has not muted participants.
Turn off video on join
Click Video in the left sidebar and check Turn off my video when joining a meeting. Your camera stays off until you start it. Close the settings window; there is no save button, and changes apply immediately.
Unmute when you want to speak
In the meeting, click Unmute in the bottom left of the toolbar. Shortcut: Alt + A (Mac: Cmd + Shift + A). To speak briefly, hold Space while talking; the microphone opens while the key is held and closes when you release it. This push-to-talk behavior is on by default and can be changed in Settings, Audio, under the option to press and hold the space key to temporarily unmute.
Start video when ready
Click Start Video next to the mute button. Shortcut: Alt + V (Mac: Cmd + Shift + V). The camera stays on for the rest of the meeting or until you click Stop Video.
If you are the host. You can mute everyone as they arrive instead of relying on their settings. When scheduling, expand the advanced options and check Mute participants upon entry. During a meeting, open Participants, click More at the bottom, and check the same option. Participants can still unmute themselves unless you also turn off Allow participants to unmute themselves under Security.
On a phone. In the Zoom mobile app, tap More, then Settings, then Meetings. Turn on the options to mute your microphone and turn off your video when joining. Push-to-talk is not available on phones; tap Unmute instead.