Zoom is a popular program for video calls and can be used together with Astropad. Whether you are teaching a class, leading a presentation, or having a meeting, working with this combination can help you enhance your remote work routine.
In this quick, step-by-step guide, we’ll help you organize an efficient workspace for using Zoom together with Astropad Standard.
Arranging your Screen View
Astropad mirrors your Mac desktop onto your iPad. Since iPad display aspect ratios are different than Macs, you can use Astropad’s Move & Zoom feature to select the portion of the screen you would like to project onto your iPad. From there, you can resize the Zoom app window to fit within the edges of your iPad screen for optimal viewing during video calls.
To learn more about Move & Zoom, check out Astropad Standard’s Getting Started Guide
You can keep your Zoom Participants panel available, or view the video call in in full screen; any type of arrangement works with Astropad. The Astropad sidebar can be placed to the left or right side of the iPad screen, or hidden by tapping the white ring button. Use your finger or stylus to drag the sidebar and ring button to either side of your iPad.
Setting menu shortcuts
Astropad Standard’s shortcuts sidebar is preset to Photoshop defaults, but these can be changed to accommodate Zoom. At the bottom of Astropad Standard’s sidebar, tap the gear symbol (⚙️) to open the Settings menu. From there, select Edit Shortcuts.
You can fully edit and rename shortcuts for the sidebar. When you select Add Shortcut, a full onscreen keyboard will pop up. Multi-key shortcut commands are entered by holding each onscreen key at the same time, exactly as you would with a hardware keyboard. When you’re done, tap Workspace to see all your newly added shortcut commands.
We recommend placing your most used shortcuts in the sidebar. It’s completely customizable, so add whatever works best with your workflow!
Recommended Zoom shortcuts for Astropad’s sidebar:
- Control + \ : Toggles the “Always Show meeting controls” options in Settings / Accessibility
- Command(⌘) + U : Display / hide Participants panel
- Command(⌘) + Shift + W : Switch between active speaker view or gallery view (depending on current view)
- Command(⌘) + Shift + F : Enter / exit full screen mode
- Shift + Command(⌘) + A : Mute / unmute your audio
- Command(⌘) + Shift + S : Open / stop screen sharing menu
- Command(⌘) + Shift + T : Pause / resume screen sharing
- Command(⌘) + W : Prompt to End or Leave Meeting
Other helpful Zoom shortcuts to consider:
- Shift + Command(⌘) + R : Start local Recording
- Command(⌘) + Shift + M : Switch to minimal window
- Command(⌘) + Control + M : Mute audio for all, except host (only available to host)
- Command(⌘) + Control + U : Unmute audio for all, except host (only available to host)
- Command(⌘) + T : Chat screenshot
Screen sharing in Zoom
Zoom allows you to easily share a selective part of your screen in realtime with your peers. To do this quickly during a call, use the shortcut Command + Shift + S to open Zoom’s Share Screen menu or to stop sharing your screen. Do this even more quickly by adding the shortcut to your Astropad shortcuts sidebar.
You can use your finger, Apple Pencil, or even a regular non-Bluetooth stylus to easily select menu items on your iPad screen.
Whiteboard in Zoom
In Zoom’s screen sharing menu, another useful feature to facilitate meeting engagement is its Whiteboard function.
Whether using Apple Pencil or a regular stylus, this Zoom feature has a variety of tools to type, annotate, and highlight notes for your meeting attendees.
While in this mode, you can still have convenient access to your Meeting Control menu. Use the shortcut command Control + \ to toggle between showing or hiding the menu options.
Have remote work tips? How does your Astropad and Zoom workspace look? Share with us in our Astro Community forum!
