13 Best Zoom Keyboard Shortcuts for iPad

Zoom makes teleconferencing incredibly easy with a host of intuitive controls and features. It is platform independent and is one of the reasons for its popularity as it already caters to over 300 million daily meeting attendees. However, it’s not exactly a simple app and muting/unmuting calls can become a chore. So, if you use Zoom for professional and personal calls on your iPad, you can make things even easier for yourself with some keyboard shortcuts.

While Zoom for iPad doesn’t have complex enough shortcuts like on desktops, you can still make the most of a few and avoid touching the screen feverishly. That’s why Bluetooth keyboards can be useful for more than just typing.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the list of the best Zoom keyboard shortcuts (both direct and system-based) for iPad to aid navigation and multitasking.

Note: For Windows based Bluetooth keyboards, replace ‘Command’ with ‘Windows Logo’ and ‘Option’ with ‘Alt’.

1. Stop/Start Video

Let’s say you are in the middle of an important video call and someone has broken into your room. By the way, you will have some clue as you will pay attention to the other participant’s video.

Before you embarrass yourself, hit the Command + Shift + V shortcut to quickly pause your video.

After dealing with the situation, use the same shortcut to unblock the camera.

Even if you stop the video with this shortcut, the microphone remains active and participants can still hear everything. So you have to deal with that too, right? Keep reading.

2. Mute/Unmute Microphone

Therefore, if someone suddenly walks in, your phone rings, or there is a sudden increase in ambient volume during a call, you should mute it. Take pity on your participants and press Command + Shift + A to mute the microphone. Repeat the shortcut to unlock yourself.

3. View/Hide Chat

Want to access the Zoom chat box during a meeting? Stop opening the Zoom menu every time you view or hide the chat and press Command + Shift + H instead.

When you’re done chatting, apply the same shortcut to hide the chat box.

4. Minimize the Meeting

If you want to check other Zoom chats, view upcoming meetings or change Zoom settings, you must minimize the current Zoom meeting first. Press Command + Shift + M to do this, people won’t even notice.

Once minimized, you can drag the floating window of the meeting feed to any corner of the screen while interacting with the rest of the Zoom UI.

Tap the floating meeting pane when you want to enlarge it. Just like YouTube’s Picture-in-Picture mode in Chrome.

5. View/Hide Attendee List

The Attendees list in Zoom meetings lets you do all sorts of things, from inviting new people to notifying attendees to muting them. Press Command+U to bring up the attendees list.

Repeat the shortcut to hide it.

6. Shut down Windows

The Command + W key combination helps you close most Zoom pop-ups and windows (Participant list, Meeting Settings, etc.) immediately. However, do not overdo it, otherwise you can also close the ongoing search window. Also, it’s better than tapping elsewhere or reaching for the Close/Done buttons.

7. Show Shortcuts

Some shortcuts can be difficult to remember. But don’t worry. Just hold down the Command key for a few seconds to bring up a handy list of shortcuts listed above.

You can access the list of shortcuts at any time as long as Zoom is turned on. Zoom displays the shortcuts it supports directly in this list. Keep an eye out when a new Zoom update arrives on your iPad.

8. Switch Apps

Noticed a notification and want to switch to that app while a Zoom meeting is in progress? Hold Command + Tab to scroll through the list of open apps and then press Tab (while holding down the Command key) – release the Tab key to open the app you want to access.

Press Command + Shift + Tab instead to go back in the list of app icons.

Note that if you switch to another app, your iPad will stop transmitting videos to other participants until you reopen Zoom. However, the microphone will be active and the sound will continue to be transmitted as usual.

9. Take a Screenshot

Unlike desktop, Zoom doesn’t offer a direct shortcut to take screenshots of key moments in your meetings. But you can always rely on the iPad system screenshot key combination – for this, press Command + Shift + 3.

10. Take Screenshots and Edit

Want to edit your screenshots as soon as you take them? Press Command + Shift + 4 to open Markup mode for editing the image. However, keep in mind that Zoom will pause your video while you’re making edits, but your microphone will remain active.

Tap Done after you’re done editing.

11. Bring the Dock

Want to drag an app out of the iPad dock to work in Slide Over? Press Command + Option + D to open the dock in the middle of a meeting.

Note: At the time of writing, Zoom for iPad does not support Split View.

12. Start Searching

Can’t find the app you want to multitask in the iPad dock? Search with Command + Space shortcut to invoke Spotlight.

From the search results, drag the app icon out of the section to launch Slide Over. Check out this guide to learn how multitasking works on iPad.

13. Go to Home Screen

Whenever you want to visit your iPad’s Home screen, use the Command + H key combination or press Esc.

However, visiting the Home screen does not stop the meeting you are hosting or joining. Zoom pauses your video, but does not stop the microphone and audio. Tap the Zoom icon on the Home screen or the Zoom app card in the app switcher to return to the meeting.

Zoom Your Way

Shortcuts are very helpful in speeding up the Zoom app experience on iPad. And due to iPadOS’s desktop-focused approach, expect new shortcuts to arrive in Zoom soon.

Next: Looking for an ultimate guide to zooming? We protected you. See below.