Add meeting to zoom schedule and join directly from app

[Ice4]

I'm trying to set up Zoom for an elder's birthday party, and need it to be very simple, with as few steps as possible, for him to join the meeting. I've only been able to find explanations for how to join the meeting by clicking on a link in an email, or in a calendar, but I can't find any explanation for how to add a meeting to join it from the app itself.

It looks like meetings can be accessed from the app, so that when we open the app, the next meeting is visible in the window that pops up. But how do we add the meeting to the schedule that the app can access to display the meeting? I've seen explanations about how to schedule a call as a host, but not how to keep track of a schedule as a participant.

Thanks to anyone who could clarify this for us.

 

[DaveA]

Once the Admin set up the meeting, the email link will do it all with only 1 or 2 questions.
That is the simplest method. Which include opening the app

 

[Ice4]

Thank you, but the email option is not the simplest in the situation that I'm dealing with. I would really just like to know how to add meetings so that they are reflected in the app when it is opened. It is clearly an option to join a meeting from an entry in the schedule in the app, so there must be a way for such an entry to be added to the schedule. Does anyone know how to do this?

 

[DaveA]

OK, then you need to tell us what app and on what kink of device(s)?

 

[Ice4]

I'm talking about the Zoom app itself, running on Windows 10. When I open Zoom on the computer, there are four buttons on the left, labeled 'New Meeting', 'Join', 'Schedule', and 'Share Screen', and an open pane on the right with the current date and time, and a space where apparently upcoming meetings are supposed to be displayed. I've seen explanations of how to set up a new meeting as a host, and how to join a meeting that is already in that 'upcoming meetings' pane, but not how to add a meeting so that it will display there when the Zoom app is opened. That's the part I'm trying to figure out.

 

[Couriant]

I have a work account so I don't know if this is true for free accounts, but it should show here under Meetings providing that the person made the meeting:



I believe this is also true if the person is a co-host, but it doesn't appear that Zoom will allow anyone to be co-hosts from different 'accounts', i.e. if the forum has one called tsg.zoom.us then only anyone in the tsg.zoom.us can be co-hosts. I can confirm this later but I tried it with son's gmail account and it didn't work.

At this time, it looks like the email will be the way to go. typically you can save the appointment to the calendar so it should show up as an alert x minutes from the time, but I guess it depends on how the person uses the computer.

 

[Ice4]

The problem is that our elder is no longer able to operate the computer on his own. He needs help with it from the people who run the assisted living facility where he is in lockdown, and there's a pretty substantial language barrier.

To use an email account would entail giving them all access to it. They would have to switch on the computer, then open the browser, open the email account, find the email, find the link, then follow the instructions to open Zoom, and then allow audio and video. That's a lot of steps where things can and likely will go wrong. For this to be able to happen, I need to make it as simple on their end as possible, and the least number of steps I can think of are from the Zoom app directly, which I think would just entail opening Zoom, the clicking on the one meeting displayed there.

I've seen the option of joining a meeting as a participant from Zoom in various explanations, so I'm sure it's possible, but strangely there doesn't appear to be any explanation for how to set it up to be able to do that. I suspect it might involve somehow tying a calendar to his Zoom account? I noticed when a friend emailed me an invitation to my email account, it showed up in my Google calendar....even though I don't use Google calendar for that account at all. I had opened the calendar for a different account before signing out of Google groups with my primary account, and there was the Zoom meeting listed in a calendar I don't even use!

 

[Couriant]

If the meeting is the same ID, as in they are using the Personal ID not an autogenerated one, then you should be able to make a shortcut to point to the link... that should make it all easier. There is a Zoom for G-Suite that you can sync but that is not for personal accounts.

What type of email account does this person have?

 

[Ice4]

He no longer has an email account. He hasn't been able to use the computer for several years. I set up an email for him through my own email account, to be able to send messages for him once in a while, but there is no way I'm making that accessible to other people, since it would give them access to all of my private correspondence.

I tried to set up a Gmail account for him for just Zoom, but had to use a phone number that has been used for previous verification, so Google disabled it. We appealed, and got two simultaneous responses: one that we were in violation of some unspecified policy, and one that our appeal was approved, but the link to sign in and verify was not working. I tried to log in normally, but I'm back in the verification loop that requires the phone verification, and that phone is in the possession of another family member and not accessible right now (none of the rest of us use cellphones, so don't have texting capabilities).

So I'm back to square one with the email.

How would one set up a shortcut to the link? That sounds like it would at least cut out some steps.

 

[DaveA]

Are you trying to set up an new meeting or add one that has been set up and was invited to it?

 

[Ice4]

We're trying to add a new meeting to the schedule as a participant, not as a host. The invitation will be sent out by someone else once we figure out how to do this.

 

[Couriant]

We're trying to add a new meeting to the schedule as a participant, not as a host. The invitation will be sent out by someone else once we figure out how to do this.

In all the testing that I have done, the only way that I can see this can be done on a personal account is that you create the zoom meeting so it will be in the meetings section like I have posted in the picture. Then it will be a simple thing of opening the app which should auto login and then click on Meetings then start.

 

[Ice4]

So it sounds like I can add a meeting manually to the meeting section in the Zoom app, or can only hosts do so? That's the part I've been trying to figure out. What are the steps to do so? When you say 'create' a Zoom meeting, do you mean as a host or as an attendee? The account in question will never be the host, but only an attendee. I won't have a meeting invitation until tomorrow, when the host will be back online, but I plan to try it out at that time.

 

[Couriant]

It looks like there is a connector for G-Mail (different to the G-Suite one) or Outlook to sync the meetings from the calendar to Zoom, but that will involve you logging into the account...

I don't see any other way.

 

[Ice4]

That's not a problem. I'm the person who manages his accounts, and I can log in. So if I can get Gmail functioning again that sounds like it would be worth a try. I think I can keep him signed into Zoom, so that his helpers can just click on it without having to log in again. Could you point me to how to set it up with Gmail? Thanks so much.