Web conferencing with ConnectNow

Your online meeting room

Adobe® ConnectNow gives you and two other people access to a secure, personal online meeting room. Use your meeting room to collaborate with others on the web in real time. You control the meeting from the Screen Sharing palette and attendees see your screen in the Screen Sharing pod of the meeting room. Attendees can zoom to increase the shared document, follow the presenter’s mouse movements, or scroll independently to areas of interest. All attendees can collaborate regardless of differences in operating systems or installed software.

Note: If you need meeting access for more than three people, you can purchase a subscription for a larger group.

Share and annotate your entire desktop or certain applications on your computer screen
Send chat messages
Communicate using integrated audio
Broadcast live video
Capture meeting notes
Control an attendee’s computer remotely

Access meeting room features in different ways. For example, use the menus and icons on the menu bar or click the arrow icon on a pod title bar to view a menu. You can also right-click on some pods to display a menu.

Meeting room overview

A.: Menu bar
B.: Screen Sharing pod
C.: Attendee List
D.: Invite Participants
E.: Share Screen
F.: Upload A File
G.: Share Webcam
H.: Share Microphone
I.: Set Up Phone Conferencing
J.: Webcam pod
K.: Chat pod
L.: Shared Notes pod

Pod reference

Chat pod

Send a chat message to another attendee, to all hosts in the meeting, or to all attendees. Type your message in the Enter Chat Here box and click Send. When you receive a chat message, your Chat pod shows the sender name and the message. If the message was sent only to you, the message also contains “(privately).” The host can disable private chatting. When private chat is disabled, attendees can send chat messages to all hosts or to everyone, but not to individual attendees.

Chat text can be displayed in a custom color.

Select an attendee from the To menu to chat privately.

To choose a custom font color for your chat messages use the Color Picker in the Chat pod.

Note: The private chat font color is always red. Messages sent only to the host are always blue. These colors apply even if you change your chat font color.
To add a timestamp to your chat message, click Meeting > Preferences > Chat and select Show Timestamps On Chat Messages. Select Am/PM or a 24-hour clock.
To disable private chat, click Meeting > Preferences > Chat and deselect Allow Private Chat Between Attendees.
To save chat text as a Microsoft Word file (.doc), in the Chat pod title bar click the down arrow and select Save As.

ConnectNow supports the following emoticons in the Chat pod:

Key combination	Icon
:-) or :)
:( or :-(
;) or ;-)
:D or :-D
:p or :P or :-p or :-P
X-( or X(

Shared notes pod

Hosts and participants can use the Shared Notes pod to take meeting notes or show agendas and other meeting information. To use it, just start typing in the pod. Audience members can read, but not write, text in the Shared Notes pod. Text remains visible in the Shared Notes pod throughout the meeting or until the host or a participant clears the note.

Change the font size, create bulleted lists, make text bold or italic, and change the text color.
(Optional) To save the notes as a Microsoft Word file (.doc), click Save in the formatting bar before the meeting ends. (Notes are automatically erased when the meeting ends.)

Note: Participants can save notes only if they used the ConnectNow Add-in to attend the meeting. Audience members can't save notes, but they can copy the contents of the Shared Notes pod and paste them into another program such as Notepad or Microsoft Word.

Files pod

Hosts and participants can easily distribute documents and files to other attendees by adding the file to the Files pod. Hosts and participants can upload, rename, and remove files in the Files pod. Any attendee can download and sort files from the Files pod. When a meeting ends, all uploaded files are deleted from the Files pod. The next time a meeting is started in the same room, attendees do not see the files from the previous meeting.

Select Pods > Files.
To add a file from your computer, click Upload A File, select the file, and click Open.
Once the file is in the Files pod, right-click the filename to delete the file, if necessary.
(Optional) Attendees can download the file by selecting the file in the pod and clicking Save Selected File.

Whiteboard pod

Hosts and participants can use the whiteboard to draw concepts, flowcharts, user interface mockups, annotations, and other basic diagrams. A variety of whiteboard drawing options are available, including the highlighter pen, shapes, arrows, and text. Audience members can only view the whiteboard.

Select Pods > Whiteboard.
In the Whiteboard pod, select a tool, such as the text tool or the arrow tool, and click in the whiteboard.
(Optional) Drag the whiteboard toolbar to a different location in the Whiteboard pod if it is in the way.

Use the whiteboard to draw diagrams and add text.

Annotate pod

While screen sharing, hosts and participants can pause the screen display and annotate it using the whiteboard drawing tools. Annotating is useful if all attendees must review an item or document collaboratively. When you finish, you can save a copy of the annotated screen in PNG format. Audience members can watch the screen being annotated but cannot participate.

In the Screen Sharing palette, click the plus sign to open the Annotate pod at the bottom of the palette, and then click Start. The shared screen displays a set of annotation tools.
Use the tools to mark up the shared screen by adding arrows, shapes, and text comments. If you want to save the annotated screen as a PNG file, click Save in the toolbar.
When you finish annotating the shared screen, click Stop in the Annotate pod.

Webcam pod

Meeting hosts and participants can use the Webcam pod to broadcast live video from their webcams. Multiple attendees can share their webcams at the same time. Audience members can view webcams. When you share your camera, your live video appears in the Webcam pod. The video images are automatically arranged and resized as other hosts and participants share or stop their cameras. The video images are also resized if the host changes the size of the Webcam pod.

Note: Broadcasting live video works best with high-speed broadband connections. Attendees with slower connections could experience irregular or choppy display. By default, video is broadcast at high bandwidth. The host can change this setting by clicking Meeting > Preferences > Webcam.

Multiple webcams can be shared in a meeting room.

Open the Webcam pod by clicking Pods > Webcam.
In the Webcam pod, click Start My Camera.

If Flash Player displays a prompt requesting access to your camera, click Allow. If you are using the built-in camera on a Macintosh®, you may need to select USB Video.
Click Pause or Stop in the upper-right corner of your video feed as necessary.
(Optional) If you are a host, you can pause or stop another attendee's camera. When you pause another attendee's camera, the camera temporarily stops broadcasting in your Webcam pod. The camera continues to broadcast in the Webcam pods of other attendees. When you stop another attendee's camera, the broadcast is stopped for all attendees in the meeting.

Host a meeting

Your meeting room is available 24 hours a day. Share windows, applications, or your entire desktop with participants in a meeting. Assign participant roles, which allow attendees to carry out certain activities attendees during a meeting.

Log in to your meeting from one of the following places.

A browser window

Open your web browser and type your meeting room URL. (When you set up an Acrobat.com account, Adobe sends an e-mail message containing information about your account, including the meeting room URL.)
The Acrobat.com organizer

Click Meetings in the upper-left area of the organizer window. From there you can either go to your meeting room or invite people to your meeting room. To view your meeting room URL without leaving the organizer, click My Account in the upper-right corner and view the URL in the Settings dialog box.
Adobe® Acrobat® 9 or Adobe® Reader®

click the Collaborate button in the toolbar and select Share My Screen.
Invite attendees.

From your meeting room

click Invite Participants . The URL for your meeting room is displayed. Send an invitation by clicking Compose E-mail, or cut and paste the URL into an e-mail message or instant message. When people receive the invitation, they can join the meeting by clicking the URL. (Remember, as the host, you must be logged into your room before others can enter.)
From Microsoft® Outlook® 2007

Easily insert the URL to your personal ConnectNow meeting room in your e-mail messages or calendar meeting invitations with the click of a button. For information on using the Acrobat Add-in for Outlook to invite participants to your meeting, see Share files using Microsoft Outlook.
Note: The Outlook Add-in feature is currently displayed only in English in the Acrobat.com user interface.
Share your screen.

In the Screen Sharing pod (Pods > Screen Sharing), click Share My Computer Screen to share information, such as a document or spreadsheet. If you do not have a supported version of the ConnectNow Add-in, a dialog box asks you to install the add-in. The ConnectNow Add-in is a version of Flash® Player with additional features that enable collaborators to share their screens. Click Yes to download the ConnectNow Add-in. After the add-in is installed, click Share in the confirmation dialog box that appears.
Desktop

Shares your entire desktop. If you have more than one monitor connected to your computer, a desktop appears for each monitor. Choose the desktop you want to share.
Note: Consider closing your e-mail and instant messaging programs before sharing your desktop so others do not see private information.

Windows

Shares one or more windows that are open on your computer. From the list, choose the window or windows that you want to share.
Applications

Shares an application and all its related windows that are open on your computer. Choose the application or applications that you want to share.

View full size graphic
What you see when you share your screen (left), and what others see (right).

A.

The Stop Screen sharing button
B.

The Screen Sharing palette, visible only to the presenter
Note: To stop screen sharing, click the red Stop Screen Sharing button near the top of the Screen Sharing palette. (If you have minimized the Sharing palette, open it again so you can click the Stop button.)
(Optional) Assign participant roles. All incoming guests enter a meeting as participants. The host can reassign roles by choosing Meeting > Preferences > Room Management.
Note: For information on user roles for collaborating on documents, see Set user roles in a file
To end your meeting, select Meeting > End Meeting. To open the meeting room again, click the Start Meeting button that appears on the closing screen.

Meeting roles and permissions

Host	Participant	Audience
Highest level of permissions. Owner of the meeting room. Hosts can design the meeting room layout, specify features available during a meeting, and invite, and manage attendees. Hosts control access, share their screens, share files, control other attendees computers and use the whiteboard. Set phone conference options, broadcast video, control webcams, change chat settings, write shared notes, and change attendee roles. The host must be present for the meeting to start.	Can share and annotate screens, share files, and draw on the whiteboard. Can take notes, set microphone nad speaker properties, broadcast live video and audio, and send chat messages.	Can view the shared screen of a host or participant, view any shared webcams, and listen to meeting audio. Download shared files, view meeting notes nad the whiteboard, and send chat messages. Audience members cannot share their screens, use a microphone in VoIP conferences, broadcast live video, or take notes.

Zoom a shared screen or expand to full screen

Attendees can increase the document viewing area by using the controls near the bottom of the shared screen. The controls become visible when the mouse hovers over them. When zoomed in at certain levels, scroll bars appear on the right and bottom of the document viewing area. The pointer changes to a hand that lets you move anywhere in the document.

Attendees can use the controls to do any of the following:

To maximize the Screen Sharing pod on your screen, click Full Screen. To minimize the screen again, and display the task bar at the bottom of the screen, click the Escape button on your keyboard.
Use the zoom tool to increase and decrease the shared content view at several levels.
When zoomed in at a level where the scroll bars appear, click the pointer icon to follow the presenter’s mouse on the screen. To scroll independently of the presenter, click the pointer icon again.
To request control of the presenter’s screen, click the steering wheel icon.

Note: If you are the host, maximize the window you are sharing. For example, if you are sharing a document, maximize the application window containing the document. Maximizing the window makes the document as large as possible for attendees. (Attendees can then use the zoom tool or Full Screen button to increase the size of the document further.)

Give screen control to another attendee

As a host, you can ask participants to share their screens or you can change their role to host or audience.

While sharing your screen in a meeting, click a participant name in the Attendee List pod.
Select Ask This User To Share Their Screen.
The participant receives a message requesting that they share their screen and can choose to share their entire desktop, or specific applications or windows.

Give computer control to another attendee

A host or participant can ask for control of an attendee’s computer. For example, you can ask a customer experiencing a computer problem for control so that you can fix the problem. The computer owner can still control the keyboard and mouse, even after granting control to another attendee. Remote control requests appear in a message and control is not granted until the request is accepted. Computer owners can take back control at any time.

Important: The person who takes control of your computer has access to your entire system.

From the pop-up menu in the Attendee List pod, select Request Control of This User’s Computer or click the steering wheel (the rightmost transparent control).
The participant sharing their screen accepts or declines the request. If accepted, your keyboard and mouse input will now affect the sharer’s desktop.
To take back control, the sharer clicks Regain Control in the Screen Sharing pod. Or, the controller can click Release Control.

Phone conferencing

An Adobe phone conferencing number and host ID is included with your account. Use the number provided or customize the phone conferencing number displayed in your meeting room. Also included is a participant ID that attendees can use to phone in to your online meeting.

Note: When using Adobe phone conferencing, regular long-distance rates apply.

Click Meeting > Preferences > Phone Conferencing.
Choose from the following options:

Display Phone Conferencing Information To Participants

Displays a notification message with detailed phone information and a phone conference button in the meeting room menu bar. The message appears when attendees enter the meeting room. The Phone Conference button is available during the meeting. If this option is not selected, the notification message does not appear and attendees do not see the Phone Conference button in the menu bar.
Adobe Conferencing

Displays the ConnectNow phone conferencing number and participant ID to meeting attendees. As the host, you also see a host ID that is specific to your account.
Other Conferencing

Select Other Conferencing to display an alternative phone conferencing number to attendees. For example, enter a conference telephone number or numbers, such as a domestic and international number. You can also enter a Host ID, and Participant ID, depending on the phone conferencing features offered by your provider.

Use voice over Internet protocol (VoIP)

Use VoIP for audio in ConnectNow meetings as an alternative to using the Adobe phone conferencing number and host ID included with your account. With VoIP, hosts and participants use microphones and headsets (recommended) to transmit voice conversations over the Internet. Audience members cannot speak but can listen through their headsets or speakers.

When using VoIP for audio, you can change your audio preferences, including setting and testing your microphone and speakers.

Click Meeting > Preferences > Microphone And Speakers.
Use the microphone menu to select a microphone. (All microphones available on your computer are listed.)
Use the slider to set a microphone volume level.
Click Test Microphone to check that the microphone is working properly.
Click Test Speakers to check that your speakers are set to an appropriate volume level.

Customize a meeting room

Manage your Acrobat.com account from within your ConnectNow meeting room. When you set up an Acrobat.com account, Adobe sends an e-mail message containing information about your account, including the meeting room URL. If you are already logged in to your meeting room, you can see the meeting room URL by clicking Invite Participants . Change your meeting room URL, for example, if you want the URL to include your name or a project name.

From within a meeting room, click Help > Account Settings.
Next to Meeting URL, click Change. Other available options include changing name, password, e-mail address, display image, and display language.
(Optional) To use your webcam to take a display image picture rather than uploading an image file from your computer, in Account Settings next to My Image, click Take Snapshot to use your webcam to take a picture. Click Capture and if you are satisfied with the picture, click Upload New. Or, click Take Snapshot to try again.
(Optional) Rearrange or resize pods before a meeting begins or during a meeting.
- Use the Pods menu to choose which pods are displayed in the meeting room.
- Rearrange pods by clicking their title bars and dragging them to a new location in the meeting room.
- Resize pods by dragging an edge or corner.
- Return to the original meeting room layout at any time by clicking Pods > Reset To Default Layout.

Limit attendee access to meeting features

By default, all incoming guests enter a meeting as participants and have all participant rights. To limit attendee access to features such as screen sharing, the whiteboard, and notes, you can have all attendees enter as audience members instead.

Click Meeting > Preferences > Room Management.
Under Default Attendee Role, select Audience.

Note: If you do not want to change the entrance setting, you can change attendee roles at any time during a meeting. Click a name in the Attendee List and select Role.

Control who enters a meeting room

When you are logged in to your meeting room and someone attempts to enter, a notification window appears. (If automatic entry is enabled, the notification window does not appear.)

The notification windows show who is trying to enter the meeting room.

A notification message also appears in the lower-right corner of your screen if you have installed the ConnectNow Add-in. This notification window is visible even if other windows hide the meeting room. If multiple people are attempting to enter, the notifications show a list of all the attendees who want to enter the meeting.

To refuse entry to an incoming attendee, click Decline in one of the notification windows.

When denied entry, attendees receive a message stating, “This room is private. Your request to enter was denied.”

Automatically accept requests to enter a meeting

By default, attendees joining a meeting request approval to enter the room and the host approves their request. You can skip this step and have attendees enter automatically.

Click Meeting > Preferences > Room Management.
Select Automatic Entry.

Note: Alternatively, while attendees are attempting to enter, click Allow Automatic Entry in the notification window.

Bandwidth and meeting diagnostics

Change attendee connection speed

By default, ConnectNow detects the connection speed of each attendee in a meeting. Adobe recommends that attendees leave the automatic connection speed detection setting on. If necessary, though, attendees can manually configure their connection speeds. Changing individual connection speed is useful, for example, if attendees are experiencing a time lag with a shared screen or choppy video in the Webcam pod.

Attendees can do one or both of the following:

Select Meeting > Preferences > Connection, and choose either LAN, DSL/Cable, or Dial-Up Modem.
Click Calculate to have ConnectNow recalculate connection speed. (Recalculating is useful, for example, if an attendee is using a laptop and moves from a wired to a wireless connection.)

Test computer and network connections

Test computer and network connections using the ConnectNow meeting connection diagnostic test. This diagnostic test quickly analyzes your computer and network connections to ensure they are properly configured to provide you with the optimal meeting experience. The diagnostic test checks your Flash Player version, connection to the ConnectNow Service, bandwidth availability, and the presence of the ConnectNow Add-in on your computer. Your meeting room does not have to be open to run the diagnostic test.

Open a web browser and navigate to ConnectNow meeting diagnostic.