Access audio settings during a meeting

Mute or unmute yourself

For information on audio settings, see Select audio settings for Webex Meetings and Webex Webinars.

To mute or unmute yourself, click MuteMute or UnmuteUnmute.


 

You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + M for Windows or Command + Shift + M for Mac to mute and unmute yourself.

If you want to speak while muted, you can hold the spacebar down to temporarily unmute yourself. When you finish speaking, release the spacebar to mute yourself again. If the host doesn't allow participants to unmute themselves, you receive a notification.

If you try to speak while muted, a message appears letting you know to unmute yourself first or to raise your hand to let the host know that you want to be unmuted.


 

If you haven't said anything for more than 60 seconds and you start talking again, a message to unmute yourself shows up on your screen.

You can also press *6 on your video device to mute or unmute yourself.

You're muted notification

If you use your computer for audio, you can mute and unmute yourself using your headset controls. Your mute status appears in the meeting controls and the Participants panel. Similarly, muting and unmuting from the desktop app also affects your headset.

If the host has prevented participants from unmuting themselves in Meetings or Webinars, you can only unmute yourself after the host sends you a request. When you get the request, click Unmute me. To keep your microphone turned off, click Stay muted.

Mute or unmute a connected device

When you join a meeting using a paired device, you can mute or unmute the device from the meeting.

To mute or unmute your device, click Mute device or Unmute device

Mute while sharing

When you're sharing, click Mute Me on the meeting or webinar controls panel at the top of your screen to mute your microphone.

Muting from the sharing toolbar

Mute others as a host or cohost

If you're the meeting or webinar host or cohost, you have options to help you moderate your meeting or webinar. You can mute individuals or everyone at once, prevent participants from unmuting themselves, and mute participants automatically when they join. Webinar attendees are always muted and cannot unmute unless given permission. Muting participants is useful when you hear background noise or when participants speak out of turn.

1

To mute or unmute specific people or video device users, go the Participants panel, find their name and click MuteMute or UnmuteUnmute. When you click Unmute, you send a request to the participant that asks them to unmute themselves.

2

To mute everyone but yourself and the presenter at once, open the Participants panel, and then select Mute all or Unmute all.

3

To mute participants automatically when they join the meeting or event, go to the Participants panel and click Mute on entry.

Prevent participants from unmuting themselves

By default, Meetings participants are allowed to mute and unmute themselves freely when they want to speak. In some cases, like large meetings, classroom or training environments where you want to minimize distraction and pick who is allowed to speak, you can prevent attendees from unmuting themselves.

This is helpful for taking questions from your meeting attendees. For example, you can ask meeting attendees to raise their hand if they would like to speak. For information on raising your hand, see Raise your hand in Webex Meetings and Webinars.

Meeting hosts and cohosts can even control whether attendees are allowed to unmute themselves when in an individual breakout session.


 

Hosts, cohosts, and presenters are always able to unmute.

When a meeting host or cohost is not present in the breakout session, meeting attendees can mute and unmute themselves freely.

From the Participant panel, click More options and uncheck Allow attendees to unmute themselves.

When unchecked, attendees can't unmute themselves until you allow them to.


 

In Webex Webinars, these settings only apply to panelists, as attendees are muted by default, and must always be given permission to unmute.

Allow attendees to unmute themselves menu option

Use Moderated Unmute mode

Moderated Unmute mode is available for Meetings and Webinars.

Moderated Unmute mode allows hosts and cohosts to unmute participants and SIP-based video devices directly instead of prompting users to unmute themselves. For example, a teacher may unmute a student when they call on them. Meetings and webinars in Moderated Unmute mode have an indication at the top of the meeting or webinars window to let everyone know.

If your administrator has enabled Moderated Unmute mode, you can schedule meetings and webinars with it, or enable it for Personal Room meetings.

Click UnmuteUnmute icon in the Participants panel next to name of the participant that you want to unmute.