I work from a tiny apartment in the Bronx. I don’t mind, but I do hate Zoom calls because everyone can see my messy space. I know that Zoom has some built-in virtual backgrounds, but is there any way to add a library or gallery of great backgrounds I can select on a per-meeting basis?
One of the most surprising things about the modern work-from-home movement is the realization that a lot of people have pretty messy, chaotic, jumbled living spaces. Some might have a room dedicated for their work, set up with a fancy desk, art on the walls, and a bookcase or two full of reference books, but most of us have more modest workspaces, typically part of our regular living space. I often work in my kitchen or living room, quite comfortable, but I don’t want others seeing that I haven’t tackled last night’s dishes yet!
As you say, Zoom – and most other video conferencing programs – has the ability to replace your background with either a different image or to blur it. Quite handy so that people focus on you, not your environment. The default backgrounds are pretty slim pickings, tho, and while your institution or organization might automatically add more (my college does just that, so we can have standardized backgrounds), they might not tickle your proverbial fancy either. Fortunately, there’s a very slick solution…
SET YOUR FAVORITE PHOTO AS A BACKGROUND
First off, you can actually pick any image as your background, either a favorite photograph or an image downloaded from the Web (choose “extra large” size for best results). That’s done within the Zoom Settings window:
Here I’m in Settings > Background & effects and you can see a mix of images loaded by my organization (the last three on row two), images that are defaults in Zoom (the Golden Gate bridge, grass up close) and an image I’ve uploaded myself (Earth from outer space).
You can always add additional photos to your library with the blue “+” button. I suggest that you choose compositions that don’t have something critical in the center since that’ll be eclipsed by you in the resultant image. Easy, but… not very exciting.
INSTEAD, THE VIRTUAL BACKGROUNDS APP
What most people don’t realize is that the more recent versions of Zoom – and, as always, you should check for updates and apply any before proceeding – include support for third-party apps. Surprisingly, there’s only one for virtual backgrounds, but it’s a great little utility and quite easy to use. Start by going to the Zoom home screen:
Didja notice that it’s added an “Apps” tab? Choose it and you’ll see that there are two tabs: My Apps and Add Apps. I actually already have the Zoom Timer app enabled, as you can see on the very bottom. To add a new app, switch to “Add Apps” and search for “backgrounds”:
The left side shows major categories of helper apps and it’s definitely worth perusing. For our task, however, the one result for “backgrounds” is Virtual Backgrounds. Ok. Click on “Get” and after a few moments, the button will change to…
If you guessed that you should click on the Add button, you’re right. Click on it and you’ll be notified of what information Zoom will share with the app:
If you are okay with the app being able to view your profile and contact information, click on “Allow“. If you work in a highly secure environment, you might want to check with IT before you proceed, however, since this could theoretically be a concern. I’m not too worried about the app being able to see my profile, however, so I’ll click on “Allow”.
USING VIRTUAL BACKGROUNDS APP IN ZOOM
Now that it’s installed, you can actually see the app. It’s a simple and elegant gallery of hundreds of beautiful, high-res, large images from the Pexels public domain photo library:
Move your cursor over one of the images (as I’ve done in the lower fern leaves photo) and a “Set background” button appears. It’s time to peruse, however, not set one, so notice that there are four categories of images: Nature, Interiors, Art, and Travel. Let’s check out Interiors:
Very nice. You can go the Apps tab and choose an image from this library, but there’s an even easier way to set things up. To do this, go back to Settings and choose Zoom Apps:
I really like having the Virtual Backgrounds app open up in a side window every time I start a new meeting, so I’m going to check the box adjacent to “Open selected Zoom apps for me” on meeting start.
CHANGING BACKGROUND DURING A MEETING
Now when I start up a Zoom meeting (and remember, you can start up a one-person meeting if you want to experiment with Zoom features and functions) check out what shows up:
The Virtual Backgrounds app is neatly shown on the right side, with its four categories, search box, and nice big thumbnails. I’ll find one I like…
This is Shanghai at night and it’s pretty darn interesting. It’s also a great Zoom background, as is obvious as soon as I click on that “Set background” button:
Remember that once you change a virtual background, it sticks around and will be used on your next call too, so the power move is to open up a one-person Zoom call just a few minutes prior to a meeting or appointment, set the background, and close the Zoom call. Now when you jump into your next call, you’ll have one of hundreds of really cool backgrounds already set as your virtual background!
Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about how to get things done online forever. Please check out my extensive Zoom help area while you’re here! I promise it’ll help make you more productive with this useful tool.