Plan requirement
| Subscription | UC-Essential or higher, x-bees Basic or higher |
Everyone can join a video conference. To create one you need at least UC-Essential on Collaboration 7, or at least x-bees Basic. If the option is missing, that is why.
Start a meeting
- Open a conversation with the person or the group you want to meet.
- Click the Video icon at the top of the conversation.
- Invite anyone else by name for colleagues, or by email for people outside.
External guests join in their browser without installing anything or creating an account.
Starting one needs a plan that allows it: at least x-bees Basic, or UC-Essential on Collaboration 7. Joining needs nothing, which is why a colleague who cannot start a meeting can still sit in yours.
How people know it has started
A green Join button appears on the Inbox tab and the conversation jumps to the top of the list. A sound plays once, for seven seconds, and it plays even for people set to Do not disturb or Away.
It does not play in three cases, which covers most of the "I never heard it" reports: the person is already on a call or in another conference, they are already on the Inbox tab, or the x-bees or Collaboration 7 tab is closed.
How many people can join
There is no hard limit on the number of people sharing video, and Tiles view shows everyone who is. Above roughly 70 participants all sharing video, performance is no longer guaranteed, so that is the practical ceiling rather than a blocked one.
What the connection needs
| Situation | Inbound | Outbound |
| Bare minimum | 300 kbps | 300 kbps |
| Two people, ideal | 2.6 Mbps | 2.6 Mbps |
| Group of 5 | 3.2 Mbps | 2.6 Mbps |
| Group of 10 | 4.0 Mbps | 2.6 Mbps |
The quality adapts to the network, so a weak connection degrades rather than drops. If it is struggling, choosing a lower video quality in the options reduces what it needs.
Browsers
Chrome, Chromium, Safari 12.1 or higher, Edge 79 or higher, and Firefox. Screen sharing needs Chrome 72 or Firefox 66 at minimum.
If screen sharing shows a blank area
On macOS with Chrome, the fix is to refresh the permission rather than grant it: update Chrome, then go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Screen Recording and uncheck and re-check Google Chrome. Having granted it once before does not rule this out, which is why it catches people who know they already allowed it.
On Safari, a conference only works if Prevent cross-site tracking is switched off under Preferences > Privacy. That applies to your own people; external guests on Safari are not affected.
Two things worth knowing
Check your audio devices in Settings before an important call rather than during it: the wrong microphone is the most common meeting problem. And a conversation is deleted automatically after 30 days without activity, so a meeting room you use rarely will not still be there.
Recording
Meetings can be recorded. Tell participants before you start; in most countries that is a legal requirement rather than good manners.
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