Get started with Meet

Modified on Wed, 9 Jul at 4:58 PM

Hold your first meeting

Start or schedule a video meeting

Start a meeting from Meet

Go to Google Meet.
Click New Meeting.
Select an option:
- Create a meeting for later:
  - To share the meeting details for a future meeting, copy the meeting link and share with participants.
  - To directly start the meeting with this link, paste the link into a browser; or enter the link into the “Enter a code or link” field click Join.
- Start an instant meeting: Create a new meeting and join the meeting directly.
- Schedule in Google Calendar: To schedule a meeting, you’re directed to Google Calendar.

Tip: Google Workspace Essentials users can't schedule a meeting in Google Calendar.

Schedule a meeting from Google Calendar

In Calendar, create an event.
Click Add guests.
Enter the names or email of the people you want to invite.
Click Save.
To notify guests, click Send.

Join a video meeting

Join from a Google Calendar event

On your computer, go to Google Calendar.
Click the event you want to join.
Click Join with Google Meet.
In the window that opens, click Join Now.

Join a video meeting from Classroom

Go to classroom.google.com.
Click the class.
Choose an option:
- On the Stream page, at the top, click the Meet link.
- On the Classwork page, at the top, click Meet .;
- On an announcement or post, click the link for the class video meeting.
(Optional) To allow Meet to use your camera and microphone, click Allow.
In Meet, at the top, make sure you’re signed in with your school account. To switch accounts, click Switch account select the Classroom account.
To join the class video meeting, click Join now.

During the meeting

Use meeting controls

Meeting controls are in one place on the bottom bar of the meeting window

Consolidated controls provide more room for participants and content.
When you point to a control, its name appears.
To prevent accidental hang-ups, the Leave meeting button is on the right, away from the camera and mic buttons.
All captions and participant tiles appear above the bottom bar.

Add or remove people

Add people to a video meeting in progress

At the bottom right, click People Add people .
Enter the name or email address Send email.

Share joining info with people you add

At the bottom right, click meeting details .
Click Copy joining info.
Paste the meeting details into an email, or other app, and send.

Remove people during a video meeting

At the bottom right, click Show everyone .
Next to the participant you want to remove, click More actions .
Select Remove from the call.
On the box that opens, select one or more of the following options:
- To just remove a participant, select Remove.
- To remove and mark a participant as abusive, select Fill out an abuse report.
- To make sure a participant doesn’t rejoin the same meeting, select Block.
  - Important: If you block a user, they are only blocked from the current meeting or concurrent meetings which use the same meeting code. They can still join other meetings you host. To allow users to rejoin a meeting they are blocked from, they must be manually re-invited from within the meeting.

Change your background

Change your own background

You can use this feature only if your organization supports it.

Go to Google Meet select a meeting.
On the bottom right of your self view, click Apply visual effects .
- To completely blur your background, click Blur your background .
- To slightly blur your background, click Slightly blur your background .
- To select a pre-uploaded background, click a background.
- To upload your own image for your background, click Upload a background image .
- To add a style to your video, click a style.
- To select a filter, at the bottom, tap Filters the filter you want to use.
- Tip: If the filter is interactive, follow the directions on the screen to activate it.
Click Join Now.

Create a background image before a meeting

On a computer, open meet.google.com.
Select a meeting.
At the bottom right of your self view, click Apply visual effects Generate a background .
Enter a prompt. For example:

"Luxurious living room interior"
"A magical sunny forest glade"
Tip: For better results, try including reference to a style or mood, a setting, and objects in the environment. For example: "A cozy coffee shop with flowers."

(Optional) You can select a style to customize the background image you create.
Click Create samples to see several suggested background images.
(Optional) After you click Create samples, you can:
- Edit your prompt: At the top of the panel on the right, click the prompt. Edit your prompt and click Create other samples.
- See more suggested background images: Click Create other samples.
Click one of the generated images to use as your background in your meeting.
Click Close to exit "Generate a background" setup.

Create a background image in a meeting

On a computer, open meet.google.com.
Join a meeting.
On the bottom, click More options Apply visual effects Generate a background .
Enter a prompt. For example:

"Luxurious living room interior"
"A magical sunny forest glade"
Tip: For better results, try including reference to a style or mood, a setting, and objects in the environment. For example: "A cozy coffee shop with flowers."

(Optional) You can select a style to customize the background image you create.
Click Create samples to see several suggested background images.
(Optional) After you click Create samples, you can:
- Edit your prompt: At the top of the panel on the right, click the prompt. Edit your prompt and click Create other samples.
- See more suggested background images: Click Create other samples.
Click one of the generated images to use as your background in your meeting.
Click Close to exit "Generate a background" setup.

Customize who you see

Change how many participants you see during a call

When you change your layout:

You can change the number of participants and how they display on your screen.
Changes are automatically saved and shown in future meetings.
The number of participant tiles you see may change based on the browser size and whether there’s an active presentation in the meeting.

On a computer, join a video meeting.
At the bottom, click More Change layout .
Select an option:
- Auto (dynamic) :This default layout maximizes available space and focuses on what’s most important. This layout allows for portrait tiles, where the backgrounds of participants might be automatically cropped out. It adapts your view and tile size in Meet based on the:
  - Size of your browser window
  - Number of participants in the call
  - Presence of active presentation
- Tiled (legacy):This view shows users in a fixed grid without portrait cropping. It doesn’t use screen space as efficiently as “Auto (dynamic),” but is less likely to crop anyone out of view. If there’s no active presentation, it can show up to 49 people at the same time. By default, you find 16 tiles on your screen.
  - At the bottom, move the slider to the number of tiles you want to see on your screen. The number of tiles you choose becomes the default for future meetings until you change it. In some cases, you might see a message that your selection is not saved, this can be due to performance limitations on your computer’s processor.
- Spotlight: The active speaker or shared screen fills the entire window.
- Sidebar: The main image is the active speaker or shared screen. You’ll see thumbnails of additional participants on the side.
Optional: You can hide participants who turn off their video. This doesn’t affect how their screens look. To hide non-video tiles:
1. At the bottom, click More .
2. Select Change layout .
3. Turn on Hide tiles without video .

Present in a video meeting

Join a Meet video meeting.
At the bottom, click Present now .
Select A tab, A window, or Your entire screen.
If you present a Chrome tab, it shares that tab's audio by default.
To present a different tab:
Select the tab that you want to present.
On the banner, click Share this tab instead.
If you present a Slides presentation through a tab, you can control it in Meet.
Click Share.
Optional: To unpin your presentation and show it as a tile, click Unpin .

Send a chat message to participants

Join a Meet video meeting.
At the bottom right, click Chat .
Enter a message.
Click Send .

Record a video meeting

On your computer, in Google Meet, click Start or Join.
At the bottom right, click Activities Recording.
- To record the meeting captions, select a language.
- In some cases, if the recording is played on Google Drive, the recording file might be ready a few hours before the captions are available.
Click Start recording.
In the pop-up screen, click Start.
Wait for the recording to start. Participants get a notification when the recording starts or stops.
- Meetings can only be recorded for a total of 8 hours, then the recording stops automatically.
To stop a recording, click Activities Recording Stop recording.
In the pop-up screen, click Stop recording.
- Tip: The recording stops automatically when everyone leaves the meeting.