It’s always a good idea to perform software updates on any of your productivity applications installed on your laptop (or desktop) PC. With Zoom, you need to update your desktop app, and we find Zoom must be kept fairly close to the latest version to work properly. In November, Zoom is beginning a policy of only allowing a few of the latest versions to operate with web meetings. If your app falls behind this rolling minimum version, you will be obliged to update it before joining a meeting. For example, on November 5th, Zoom users must have version 5.8.6 or later.

Updating is easy to do on your laptop (or desktop) computer. When logged into the app, click your account icon in the upper right. On the dropdown menu, you’ll see Check for Updates. Here’s a tutorial showing what to expect, but it’s a pretty simple and usually fairly quick operation.

We recommend checking for Zoom updates at the beginning of semesters, before any important upcoming Zoom event, and perhaps any time you happen to be in the app to schedule or manage meetings. If you teach with Zoom, put it into your schedule to update it every week, perhaps as a routine during scheduled office hours.

If your Zoom app becomes too old, and it will not let you update it, you may quickly delete and reinstall the app.