All:

Last October the Freedom Scientific Training Unit had a webinar that talked about hosting a Zoom meeting using the Outlook plug-in.  In it, Elizabeth Whitaker demonstrated how to schedule a Zoom meeting.  She said that when you are anywhere in Outlook you could start scheduling a Zoom meeting by using Alt+H and then arrowing down.  When she did this demonstration when she hit Alt+H (or just the Alt key that placed you on the Home tab) she arrowed down once.  JAWS said "New Message Split."  Elizabeth then said to arrow to the right and the Zoom option would then eventually be heard.  This has not been happening when I have tried to schedule a Zoom meeting using Outlook.  Elizabeth Whitaker and I have been e-mailing each other about this all weekend, but nothing she has suggested has been working.  When I hit the Alt key in Outlook JAWS puts me on the Home tab.  I arrow down once and I hear JAWS say "New New E-mail Split. "  I e-mailed Elizabeth about this.  When she replied she told me that after I heard JAWS say "New," to hit the space bar and I would get the options to start either a new message or to schedule a new meeting.  This is not happening.  When I hit the space bar after arrowing down to "new," instead of giving me a list of new options I get put in the "to," field of a new e-mail message.  Outlook seems to think that I am trying to compose a new e-mail message.  I have also tried arrowing to the right when I hear the "new," option.  Instead of giving me the option to start a new meeting JAWS says "Move Split," the first time I arrow to the right and "archive," the next time I arrow to the right.  I have on my computer the latest version of JAWS that came out earlier this month.  I tried doing a JAWS repair, but that did not solve the problem.  I feel pretty sure that I still have the Outlook Zoom Plug-In on my computer because I have been able to join Zoom meetings using Outlook, but I have not been able to schedule one in the way that Elizabeth Whitaker demonstrated in the October 2022 webinar.  Is this a JAWS or an Outlook problem?  If it is an Outlook problem, how can I find out for sure if the Zoom plug-in is indeed installed?  None of Elizabeth Whitaker's suggestions have been working, so now I am having to turn elsewhere for help.  Thank you for any help you can give.

Rick Miller

I can’t comment on the podcast with Elizabeth on it.  What I can tell you is some just follow a script and haven’t tested what they read or say as they read it. Thus Elizabeth may not have tested what she is preaching.   

Rick

I have the Zoom plug in on my personal and company issued laptops.  On my company laptop, for whatever reason, I’m not seeing the Zoom button on the home ribbon when I am in the inbox. I go to Calendar with Control 2 and then can hit alt H and tab a few times to hear the button. Here is what I hear:

Home Tab‑
New  New Appointment Button‑
New Meeting split button‑
Zoom  Schedule a Meeting split button‑

The New Meeting split button is the default Outlook button. Even if you use this, a button will appear on the Meeting ribbon to add Zoom information, but, if  you know you want this to be a Zoom meeting, you simply start the invitation with that  “Zoom  Schedule a Meeting split button‑  On my personal laptop, the Zoom Schedule a meeting button does appear on my home ribbon in the inbox, as Elizabeth described.   

So, the real question is whether you have the Zoom plug-in installed. You can check this by going to the Options dialog with alt F, T, then arrow down the category list to Add-ins and see if it’s in the list. If not,  go to the Zoom website and search for the plug in for Outlook.  I seem to recall needing to install this separately; it’s not part of the default installation when you download the Zoom desktop client, although there may have been a prompt. 

V                                          

Using Windows 10, JAWS 2022, Office 365.

Robin Van Lant

The first