Recommended Zoom Configuration
How you capture Zoom meetings determines which of the settings below matters. If you use bot-free video capture, join Zoom from the Zoom desktop app, not a browser. If Fathom joins with the bot, three Zoom settings keep capture reliable: turn Waiting Room off, turn Allow removed participants to rejoin on, and give each meeting a unique Meeting ID.
Some of these are account-level settings that may require a Zoom admin to change. Not sure who your Zoom admin is? Check at zoom.us/account.
How do I capture video bot-free with Zoom?
If you use bot-free video capture with Zoom, join and host your meetings from the Zoom desktop app — not a browser. At this time, joining or hosting a Zoom meeting through a browser is not supported for bot-free video capture in (Fathom 3.0+). If you join via a browser, Fathom won't capture the video, and it may also miss speaker attributions.
If a Zoom meeting recorded no video, check how you joined first. Open the meeting in the Zoom desktop app and rejoin if needed.
This requirement applies only to bot-free video capture. If Fathom joins with the bot (the Fathom Notetaker), joining Zoom in a browser is fine.
How do Zoom Waiting Rooms work with Fathom?
Turn off Waiting Room. When it's on, the Fathom Notetaker can get stuck waiting for admission (or you may forget to admit it) and it misses the start of your meeting.
To turn it off:
Go to your Zoom Settings → Meeting tab.
Under Security, toggle off Enable waiting room.
How do I let Fathom rejoin a meeting after it's removed?
Turn on Allow removed participants to rejoin. If you reuse a Meeting ID for recurring meetings and remove Fathom from a call, it can't return to that same Meeting ID unless this setting is on.
To turn it on:
Go to your Zoom Settings → Meeting tab.
Click the menu item In Meeting (Basic) on the left, scroll down to Allow removed participants to rejoin, and toggle this on.
Should each meeting have its own Zoom Meeting ID?
Yes. Give each meeting a unique Meeting ID. Fathom works best when every meeting on your calendar has a distinct ID, so avoid using your Personal Meeting ID (PMI) or reusing one ID for recurring meetings. Fathom relies on identifying attendees and meeting details from calendar events, including unique Zoom links. Because Zoom PMIs are not unique, using them can confuse our system, especially when multiple meetings occur on the same day.
When scheduling a meeting in Zoom, set the Meeting ID to Generate Automatically rather than Personal Meeting ID.