East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) Timor-Leste Students & Friends Sorumutu Virtual Friendship, Solidarity and Activism

Instructions for setting (or changing) the background picture on Zoom.

You need to have a Zoom account.  It’s free.

Backgrounds only work when your video (camera) is on.

You can have different backgrounds set on different devices (i.e. computer and phone). Here’s an example:

On a computer:

1.       Open the Zoom app, and sign in if you aren’t already.

2.       Click on the settings icon (upper right – it might be a picture of you) or on the Zoom home screen.

3.       Choose “Background and filters”

4.       If you want to use one of their built-in photos, select “virtual backgrounds” and then pick one.

5.       But it’s more interesting to use your own photo.  To do this, click “+” above and to the right of the photos and then “Add image”

6.       Navigate to the photo you want, which should already be stored on your hard drive.  A landscape (wider than it is high) photo works best, and remember that you’ll be in the center of it on Zoom, so the sides should be interesting. 

7.       Once you select it, the picture will automatically be added to the thumbnail images which appear in the Zoom settings Window (although you might have to scroll down or up to find it). Click on whichever photo you want to use as your background, and voilà!

On a computer, you may also be able to choose a video background. Only some videos and some computers will work – this can be tricky.

On a phone

1.       Sign in to the Zoom mobile app.

2.       While in a Zoom meeting, tap “. . . More” in the controls.

3.       Tap “Background and Filters”

4.       Tap the background you would like to apply or tap + to upload a new image. The background will be automatically applied.

5.       Tap Close (X) after selecting the background to return to the meeting 

The “video filters” and “Studio effects” in the “Background and Filters” screen can also be fun to play with.