Google Meet User Guide 

This guide is designed to help users become familiar with the most common features and 
functions of Google Meet on a computer. With this guide, you will be able to:   
❖ Schedule a meeting from Calendar 
❖ Start meeting from Meet 
❖ Layout and View options 
❖ Mute audio/video and see chat options 
❖ Present a screen during a meeting and view participants at the same time 
❖ Change your background 
❖ Organize Breakout Rooms 
❖ Open and share a Whiteboard 
 
Adapted from Google Meet Help page: ​https://support.google.com/meet#topic=7306097

Schedule a video meeting from Google Calendar 

1. Open Chrome browser and select Google Calendar 
from the waffle menu or go to 
https://calendar.google.com/​ in any browser. 
2. In​ ​Calendar​, create an event. 
3. Click Add guests and enter the names or email of the 
people you want to invite. 
4. Click Save. 
5. Click Send to notify guests. 

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Start a video meeting from Meet 

For ​Google Workspace​ users (using Meet with a work or school account) 
❖ Go to Google Meet​. 
❖ Click Join or Start a meeting. 
❖ Optional​: Create a nickname for your meeting 
and enter the nickname. Click Continue. 
❖ Click ​Join now​. 
❖ To add someone to a meeting, choose an option: 
➢ Click Copy joining info and paste the 
meeting details into an email or another 
app. 
➢ Click Add people and choose an option:  
➢ Under the Invite section, select a name, or 
enter an email address and click Send 
invite. 
➢ Under the Call section, enter a phone number and press Call . 

For users using Meet with a ​personal account 

❖ Go to Google Meet​. 
❖ If you have a meeting code, 
enter a code in the “Enter 
meeting code” field click Join.  
❖ If you want to start a new meeting, click New 
Meeting. 
❖ Choose an option: 
➢ Create a meeting for later:​ This will 
generate a meeting link which you can 
share to meet now or later.  
➢ Start an instant meeting​: Creates a meeting that you join now. 
➢ Schedule in Google Calendar​: To schedule a meeting, you will be directed to 
Google Calendar​.  
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View meeting details 
❖ The Meeting details panel provides information like the 
Meeting link, Dial-in number and Pin number. You can 
also copy the meeting invitation here. 
➢ Click the lower left hand panel with the up carrot ^. 
Your meeting nickname should appear here.   
 
 
 

Change your layout 

Google Meet automatically switches the layout in a video call to display the most active 
content and participants. You can change the number of participants you see on your 
screen. The number of tiles may change 
depending on the size of your browser window. 

❖ At the bottom right, click More  

Change layout .  
➢ Auto​: The view that Meet chooses for 
you. By default, you’ll see 9 tiles on your 
screen. 
➢ Tiled​: The view that can show up to 49 
people at the same time. By default, 
you’ll see 16 tiles on your screen.At the 
bottom of the window, move the slider 
to the number of tiles you want to see 
on your screen. 
➢ Spotlight​: The active speaker or 
shared screen fills the entire window. 
➢ Sidebar​: The main image is of the active speaker or shared screen. You’ll see 
thumbnails of additional participants on the side. 
 
 
 
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View yourself in a video meeting 
You can choose whether or not you would like to see yourself appear alongside other 
participants in a meeting. You will not see yourself among participants if you select the 
Spotlight layout or have pinned another participant. 

Turn on self view in a video call​:  

❖ On the top right corner of your screen, hover over yourself preview click Show in 
a tile . On the People panel, click Show in a tile . 
 
Turn off self view in a video call​:  
❖ On the top right corner of your screen, hover over yourself preview click Remove 
tile  
❖ On the People panel, click Remove tile . Hover over your tile in the video grid  
click Remove tile . 

Mute a participant’s microphone 

If there is feedback or background noise in a video call, you may want to mute other 
participant’s microphones. For video calls organized through a personal account, only the 
video call moderator can mute other participants. 
❖ To mute other people, on the People tab, select the person and tap Mute . 
❖ Important​: If you don’t see the People tab, long press/tap a participant’s thumbnail, 

tap .  
❖ Tip​: For privacy reasons, you cannot unmute another person. Ask the participant to 
unmute their audio. To mute or unmute yourself, tap Mute .  

Send a chat message during a video call 

❖ Click Chat (upper right corner).  

❖ Enter a text message and click the Send 
icon  

Note​: If you want guests to be able to edit a 

file, make sure you have shared the Google file 
with them. 

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Present screen during a meeting 
❖ In the bottom-right corner, select Present now. 
❖ Select ​Your entire screen​, ​A window​, or ​Chrome tab​. If 
you present a Chrome tab, it shares that tab's audio by 
default. 
❖ Tip​: If you are sharing audio/video mute your own 
window to prevent a feedback loop. 
❖ Sharing is indicated by a blue square on a tab or blue 
border around a window.  
❖ To present a different tab, select the tab 
you want to present, click Share this tab 
instead. Select Share. 
❖ Important​: If your camera is turned on, 
your video is active while you're 
presenting. 

Stop presenting 

❖ In the Meet window, click Stop Presenting. In the bottom-right corner, you can also 
click You are presenting Stop presenting. 
 

View participants while simultaneously presenting screen 

There are two easy options for viewing your participants at the same time 
you are sharing content on your screen. These options allow you to monitor 
student engagement, assess their understanding or to take questions.  

❖ Option 1​: Open a new browser 

window with the content 
you’d like to share. Select 
Present​ on the lower right 
menu bar and choose ​A 
window​. Arrange the windows 
on your desktop so that you 
can see both your 
participants and content.  
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 ❖ Option 2​: Attach a second monitor to your computer or laptop. This allows you to 
open the Meet window with your learners on one monitor and your content on 
another. External monitors can be connected via HDMI, VGA or Display ports. You will 
need an adapter if your 
computer uses USB-C ports. 
You may need to configure 
your displays once the 
monitor is connected. Select 
the option to extend your 
screen and be sure to 
deselect screen mirroring.   

Change your background  

Before a video call  

❖ On the bottom right of your self view, click Change Background . 
➢ To slightly blur your background, click Slightly blur your 
background . 
➢ To completely blur your background, click the second button . 
➢ To select a pre-uploaded background, click a background. 
➢ To upload your own image for your background, click Add . 

❖ Click Join Now.  

During a video call  

❖ On the bottom right, click More . 
❖ Click Change background . 
➢ See instructions above. 

Tip​: Your camera is automatically turned on when you click Change background. 
Changing your background may slow down your device. You may want to turn this 
feature off to allow other apps to run faster on your computer or if your connection is slow. 

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Use breakout rooms in Google Meet 
Important​: Breakout rooms are available to users with a ​G Suite Enterprise for Education 
license and permissions to create meetings. Click ​here​ for more information. 

For video call moderators 

❖ On your computer, start a video call.  
❖ In the top right, click Activities Breakout rooms. 
❖ In the Breakout rooms panel, choose the number of breakout rooms. You can create 
up to 100 breakout rooms in a call.  
❖ Call participants will then be randomly and equally distributed across the rooms. 
➢ To manually move people into different rooms, you can either: 
■ Enter the participant’s name. 
■ Click the participant’s name. Hold down the mouse, drag the name, and 
then drop it into another breakout room.  
➢ To randomly mix up the groups again, click Shuffle . 
❖ In the bottom right, click Create.  

Tip​: To redo the breakout rooms and put all participants back in the Main room, click Clear 
.  

Edit, join, or leave breakout rooms 

❖ Once you’ve created breakout rooms, you can make changes to the rooms or join 
each breakout room to monitor and participate in discussions. 
❖ Tip​: Moderators won't see chat messages that were exchanged between 
participants before they join or after they leave a breakout room. 
To make changes to the participant groups or number of breakout rooms, click Edit 
breakout rooms . Once you’ve made your changes, click Save.  
❖ To join an individual breakout room, next to the breakout room number, click Join.   
To leave all breakout rooms and return to the Main room, next to the current 
breakout room, click Leave. 

End breakout rooms 

❖ In the Breakout rooms panel, at the top right, click End breakout rooms .  
❖ Click End breakout rooms. 

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For video call participants 

Your moderator will create breakout rooms and invite you to join one. Your moderator can 
join each breakout room at any time during the video call.  

❖ On a computer or mobile device, sign in to your Google Account.  

❖ Join a video call from your computer or the Meet mobile app.  
➢ Important​: If you dial in to the call from your phone, you won’t be able to join 
breakout rooms.  
❖ When your moderator invites you to join a breakout room, you’ll see a prompt on 
your screen. Click Join.  
➢ Tip​: If you click “Cancel,” you’ll remain in the Main room. At the top, next to 
“Invited to Breakout #,’ click Join. 

Use a whiteboard in Google Meet 

Start or open a Google Jamboard while in a video call. A ​Jamboard​ is a virtual dry erase 
board where you can brainstorm ideas live with others. 

Important​: You can only start or open a Jamboard during a Meet call if you joined the call 
on a computer. Video call participants on a mobile device or tablet will get a ​link​ to a 
Jamboard file and be directed to the Jamboard app. 

Start or open a Jamboard in a video call 

❖ In the video call at the bottom right, click More 
options Whiteboard.  
❖ To create a new Jamboard, click Start a new 
whiteboard. To open an existing Jamboard from 
your drive, shared drives, or computer, click Choose from Drive.  

Tip​: The Jamboard file will open in a new tab and a link is shared automatically via the 
in-call chat. Click here for more information on using Jamboards.