How to Stop Zoom From Going Full Screen?

In this modern era, the Zoom video conferencing application has become a popular mode of communication. It is a cloud-based communication platform that enables users to connect virtually for video conferencing with audio, video, and chat. It allows users to host one-by-one meetings or team meetings, or webinars virtually.

In Linux, while conducting the meetings, the Zoom screen goes to full automatically, which hides the other opened applications. This quick guide will address this problem by providing a simple working solution. The timeline for this article is as follows:

Let’s start with this quick solution.

How to Stop Zoom From Going Full-Screen in Linux?

This section will guide you to stop zoom from going full screen. Before that, we will also state why zoom switches to full screen. So, let’s benign:

Reason: Default Settings Set to Full Screen

The main reason for this zoom automatically going to full screen is the default setting to open in full screen automatically. Most new users don’t know how to change the size settings, so this happens frequently. Let’s perform the steps to stop Zoom from going to full-screen.

Solution 1: Change Zoom Full-Screen Default Settings

To stop Zoom from going full-screen, the default settings must be changed. To do so, follow the below simple steps:

Step 1: Open the Zoom Preferences

Launch the zoom client using this command below-mentioned command; it will open the below-shown interface. Click on the “Preferences” icon as indicated to open the “Zoom” client default settings:

$ zoom-client

Let’s modify the required settings.

Step 2: Check the General Setting for Zoom Full-Screen

After clicking the preferences icon, the main system “Settings” options will appear. Navigate to the “General” settings and make sure the “Enter full screen automatically when starting or joining a meeting” option is “unchecked”, as shown below:

Note: This option is unchecked in the default settings but if you have manually checked the option, make it unchecked.

Step 3: Check the Screen Share Settings

Now; navigate to the “Share Screen” option, which will open different settings options. Ensure that the “Enter full screen when a participant shares screen” option is unchecked to stop Zoom from going full screen as shown below:

Modifying the above settings, Zoom stopped from going full screen automatically.

Solution 2: Re-install Zoom

What if the first solution is not working? In that case, you need to reinstall zoom. Let’s see how it can be installed on different Linux distributions.

Prerequisite: Remove Installed Zoom

Before reinstalling, make sure you have removed the already installed version. To remove it on various Linux distros, use the following commands:

For Debian-based distros:

$ sudo snap remove zoom-client                    #if installed from snap
$ sudo apt remove zoom                            #if installed using deb file

For RHEL-based distros:

$ sudo snap remove zoom-client                    #if installed from snap
$ sudo yum remove zoom                            #if installed using rpm file

For openSUSE-based distros: 

$ sudo snap remove zoom-client                    #if installed from snap
$ sudo zypper remove zoom                         #if installed using rpm file

How to Install Zoom on Linux?

Now, reinstall zoom on your machine. The process of installation for various Linux distributions is listed below:

For Debian-based distros, click here to read the article:

For other distros follow the below stated steps

Step 1: Download Zoom Installation File From Website

Navigate to the Zoom Download Center to download the Zoom deb file and specify the Linux Type and click on the “Download” button to download the Zoom file (in case of RHEL/openSUSE/Fedora-based, it would be rpm file):

Step 2: Install the Package

After downloading the zoom rpm file, run the below-mentioned command to install the zoom-client:

$ sudo yum localinstall <package_name>.rpm            #For RHEL-based Distros
$ sudo zypper install <packag_name>.rpm               #For openSUSE

Once installed, launch zoom and then follow the steps explained in the “Solution 1”.

That’s all from the guide!

Conclusion

Zoom can be stopped from going full screen by changing the “General” and “Screen Share” settings. Open Zoom preferences & uncheck the Zoom Full-screen options to change the general & screen share settings. This post has provided several ways to stop zoom from going full-screen.