Note: You will need to have your Zoom updated to 5.15.10 or higher to use Notes in Zoom and everyone in the meeting will need to be updated to see the notes. 


In Zoom, you can enable shared notes. You can set up the notes ahead of your meeting to save time or you can do it during the meeting. The host can control who is able to share and collaborate on notes in Zoom. Any notes you create or that are shared with you will be saved and can be accessed through your Zoom portal. It’s very similar to the way Google Docs work except that it’s stored in Zoom and can only be shared with people who have a Zoom account. The main advantage to using Zoom notes over Google Docs is that Zoom notes can be shared as a side panel on Zoom like the chat so it’s easy to access without navigating away from Zoom.

Creating Notes before the meeting

If you want to create notes before your meeting, go into your Zoom portal.

  • Click “Notes” in the menu on the left side of the screen. This will open the page where all of your notes are stored whether created before the meeting or during the meeting.

  • To create a new note, click “New”. 

The Zoom portal showing the Notes page with "Notes" and "New" highlighted.

  • The notes interface includes the usual word processing features, so you can type your notes as you normally would and everything is automatically saved to your Zoom portal Notes page. 

  • Any notes you’ve made can be accessed and shared in your next Zoom meeting. 

Using notes during the meeting

If you didn’t create your notes before the meeting, you can also create them while the meeting is in progress as well as use previously created notes. 

  • While in your Zoom meeting, click “Notes” to open the notes panel. 

  • You can search through existing notes or click “New” to start a new note. Click on an existing note to open it. You are not sharing your note yet so no one can see it. 

The in-meeting view of Notes with the search options and existing notes highlighted and labeled arrows pointing to them.

  • You can take notes just for yourself or you can share your notes with others.

  • To share with others, click the blue arrow next to your profile picture in the notes panel.

The notes panel with the Share button highlighted.

  • You can share to individuals or to the meeting as a whole. You can type in the names of other DDCC contacts in the box to share with them even if they aren’t in the meeting.

The sharing options for a Zoom note with the text box and Share to Meeting highlighted.

  • When you share to the group, you’ll be asked to choose what level of access you want to grant participants.

The sharing options that allow the user to invite participants to collaborate on the notes.