Adobe Connect 8 Transition Guide for 7.5 Users

Adobe Connect 8 Transition Guide for 7.5 Users

Adobe® Connect™ 8 has a simpler and more intuitive user interface that makes it even easier to run, present, and participate in meetings. This guide is intended to help you quickly make the transition to using Adobe Connect 8’s new interface and features.

It’s divided into two sections:

• What’sChangedforPresentersandHosts

• What’sChangedforParticipants

The presenters and hosts section is a tour of the major changes in Adobe Connect 8 and goes into some detail. The participants section is designed as a quick visual overview of key interface changes and new features. If you’re a host or presenter, you can send this sheet out to your meeting participants to help them quickly find their way.

The screenshot below summarizes several of the new features added in Adobe Connect 8.

Adobe Connect 8 as seen by hosts. (If you’re logged in as a presenter or participant, some of these options won’t be visible.)

Table of contents1: What’s Changed for

Presenters and Hosts2: Adobe Connect 8

Quick Reference for Participants

The new App Bar lets you control audio, video, voice, and attendee status.

Share your desktop, presentation, and other documents via drag-and-drop to the Share pod.

Use the Video pod to get one-click access to your webcam. You can also check the video from your webcam before it’s broadcast to other users.

The Chat pod now allows multiple tabbed written conversations, easy access to private chat, and enhanced text formatting.

The new Attendees pod more clearly shows user roles and statuses. It contains three views that put options, such as promoting and demoting attendees, in quick reach.

1Adobe Connect 8 Transition Guide for 7.5 Users

What’sChangedforPresentersandHosts?

User Interface ImprovementsUsing the App Bar – Click the Speaker icon to turn your speakers on/off. Use the Speaker Icons menu to mute the audio of the conference and adjust the volume of the meeting audio. Click the Microphone icon to turn your microphone on. Click the Webcam icon to start your webcam.

Use the Webcam Icons menu to enable/disable participants’ webcams. Switch the meeting to single-speaker mode or enable audio for participants through the new Audio menu.

Click the Raise Hand Settings menu icon to access status settings. These include Raise Hand, Agree, Disagree, and Step Away.

Meeting Layout buttons have been eliminated from the user interface. Create, access, and manage meeting layouts through the Layouts menu in the App Bar.

Host only

Host only

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Accessing Contextual Menus – Access pod options through contextual menus, located in each pod’s upper-rightcorner.Hostscanchooseto Hide or Maximize pods from the contextual pod menus.

Consolidated Preferences – Adobe Connect 8’s centralized preferences panel lets hosts quickly access and optimize meeting settings in one location (Meeting > Preferences).

Host only

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The functionality available in the Present menu has been reorganized in the interface. Changing the host’s User Role, enabling/disabling the Presenter Only Area, and switching to Prepare Mode can now be done from the Meeting menu. The options related to showing/hiding the host’s cursor have moved to the Preferences dialog (Meeting > Preferences).

Accessing the Presenter Only Area – Icons for enabling/disabling the Presenter Only area have been eliminated. The Enable Presenter Only Area option is now available in the Meeting menu.

SharePodScreensharing –WhenyouopentheShare pod, you’ll see a prominent Share My Screen button. Other options, such as Share Document and Share Whiteboard are still available from the Share My Screen buttons menu.

Host only

4Adobe Connect 8 Transition Guide for 7.5 Users

Drag-and-Drop Sharing – You can now share files by dragging them into the Share pod. All participants can make the Share pod full-screen by default. If presenters want they can “force” their view, so that it’s what all participants see, by selecting Force Presenter View from the Share pod’s contextual menu.

Whiteboard Enhancements – The Whiteboard tools are now located in a horizontal row in the upper-left of the pod. From a shared document, click the Draw button to add the Whiteboard as an overlay.

Youcanaddtexttoshapesbydouble-clickingtheshape.Whenyou’reusingthewhiteboardoverlayoveranAdobe®PDFdocument,youcannowzoominoroutandpanasharedPDFdocumentbyusingthecontrolsprovided by the PDF Viewer toolbar. The overlayed whiteboard drawings will also zoom and pan appropriately.

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AttendeesPodParticipantmanagementhasbeenintegratedintheAttendees pod (formerly known as the Attendee List pod), primarily through three views that put key functionality in easy reach.

Enabling Audio – Enable Audio For Participants has moved to the Audio menu in the App Bar.

Attendee ViewIn Attendee View, you can promote/demote one or more selected attendees via drag-and-drop. You can also promote/demote attendees, and enable/disable attendees’ microphones and webcams through the mouse-over controls.

Starting Private Chats – If private chat is enabled for the meeting, attendees can start private chats using mouse-over controls.

Attendee Status ViewSwitching to Attendee Status View, you have access to an overview of all the participants’ status settings categorized into Raise Hand, Agree, Disagree, and Stepped Away.

Host only

Host only

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Breakout Room ViewYou can now create and manage breakout rooms by clicking the Breakout Room View icon at the top of the pod. New breakout rooms can be created within the Attendees pod by using the Create a New Breakout Room icon . Attendees of the main menu can be automatically and randomly assigned to breakout rooms by clicking the Evenly Distribute From Main icon .

You can assign attendees to a breakout room via drag-and-drop or through the mouse-over controls.

Choose Broadcast Message from the contextual pod menu to send a message to all breakout sessions.

Once participants are in a breakout room, they can send messages to hosts by choosing the Send Message to Hosts option at the bottom of the Attendees pod.

Host only

7Adobe Connect 8 Transition Guide for 7.5 Users

ChatPodTabbed Conversations – It’s now possible to have private chats between participants in separate tabs. Presentersandhostscanalsochatamongthemselvesasagroupinseparatetabs.

Private Chats –HostscanenableprivatechatsforallparticipantsbyselectingEnable Private Chat in Meeting > Preferences. All attendees can then start private chats directly from the Attendees pod. Initiate private chats by hovering over the Attendees list and choosing with whom to chat. Then select Start Private Chat from the mouse-over controls. The private chat opens in its own tab in the Chat pod.

Another way to start a chat with other hosts, attendees, or presenters is by selecting Start Chat With from the contextual pod menu.

Formatting Text – Use the contextual pod menu to select one of eight colors for your text before you type a message. Other attendees see this color change in the active chat. You can modify text size from here as well. Unlike changes to text color, changes to text size don’t alter the appearance of that text on other attendees’ screens.

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NotesPodFormatting Text – Use the Notes pod formatting icons to apply formatting changes to Notes text. These icons include bold, italic, and underline. You can also change text color and text size, and create bulleted lists. Changes to both text size and color in the Notes pod will be seen by all participants.

Exporting Notes – To retain formatting, export your notes as a Rich Text Format (RTF) file by choosing Export Note > Save as RTF from the contextual pod menu.

Keyboard Shortcuts* – Adobe Connect 8 supports standard keyboard shortcuts for text formatting, for example:

• Bold:Ctrl+BinWindows;Cmd+BontheMac

• Italic:Ctrl+Iinwindows;Cmd+IontheMac

• Underline:Ctrl+UinWindows;Cmd+UontheMac

* Some shortcuts are not supported by all browser/OS combinations.

TheQ&APodThe Q&A pod makes it easier to handle questions during meetings between multiple presenters. You no longer need to link the Q&A pod to a Chatpod;itisnowvisibletoallattendees.TheQ&A pod features two views: Participant View and Presenter View .The Participant View displays questions with answers, while the Presenterviewallowsmanagementofquestionsandansweringthem.Presenterviewisonlyavailabletopresenters and hosts. Click a question in the Presenter View to delete or assign the question to a presenter or host.Withaquestionselected,clickthePublic icon or the Private icon in the lower-right of the Q&A pod to answer the question publicly or privately.

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Improved Keyboard AccessibilityThe interface is now completely navigable by keyboard.* Shortcuts include:

• Movingthroughthemainmenu:Ctrl+SpaceinWindows;Cmd+SpaceontheMac

• Navigatingthroughthepods:Ctrl+F6inWindows;Cmd+F6ontheMac

• Accessingthecontextualpodmenus:Ctrl+F8inWindows;Cmd+F8ontheMac

• Movingbetweenoptionswithinapod:Tabkey(WindowsandMac)

Otherexamplesofkeyboardshortcutsincludeenteringthechattextentrybox(Ctrl+;inWindows,Cmd+;ontheMac)andRaising Hand(Ctrl+EinWindows,Cmd+EontheMac).Aspreviouslynoted,AdobeConnect8also has numerous keyboard shortcuts in the Notes pod.

* Some shortcuts are not supported by all browser/OS combinations.

EnhancedScreenReaderAccessibilityThe Adobe Connect 8 interface is now friendly to screen reader users. It exposes all key properties of interface elements like identity, operation, and state to screen readers. Images and icons have alternative text descriptions that can be read by screen readers. This is applicable to almost the entire interface including the notifications and error dialogs. These improvements are all built on top of the existing functionality, like the real-time captioning extension.

PasscodeProtectionIf enabled by the account administrator, Adobe Connect 8 lets you control meeting access by setting a room-specific passcode. From the Create New Meeting wizard in Adobe Connect Central, select the Users must enter room passcodecheckboxandenterapasscode.Participantsarepromptedtoenterthisroompasscodeduring login. You can later reset these passcodes as needed.

Host only

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AdobeConnectDesktopAdobeConnectDesktopisanewAdobe®AIR®-basedapplicationthat’savailableasanoptional,freedownload.Hostscan use it to create and manage meetings, e-mail participants, create contact groups, and quickly view recordings.

Installing Adobe Desktop Connect –BeforeinstallingAdobeDesktopConnect,firstverifythatyouhaveAIR 2.0 installed. If not, you can get the free application at http://get.adobe.com/air. Then, download the installer from http://www.connectusers.com/downloads. Run the installer and click through the various installationoptions.AftertheEnd-userLicenseAgreement,ifyouagreetotheterms,you’llgototheloginscreen. Add the server, user name, and password, and check the appropriate boxes, such as save password or log in automatically.ThenclicklogintoaccessAdobeDesktopConnect.

Click the Meeting Roomscontextualpodmenutocreateameeting.EntertheinformationandclickCreate. Next, add participants, conferencing information, and meeting access details. Click the Advanced tab at the upper-right of the screen to access more details about the meeting.

Managing Recordings –WithinAdobeDesktopConnect,youcanviewyourrecordingsbyclickingtheRecordings button at the top of the window. In the navigation pane on the left side of the window, click My Meetings. This will list all of your recorded meetings, ordered by date. You can see recording durations at the far right of each listing.

Click Search Recordings to find a particular recording. You can choose to search titles and descriptions or content.

Host only

Adobe Connect 8 Transition Guide for 7.5 Users

AdobeConnect8QuickReferenceforParticipantsThis page gives you an overview of Adobe Connect 8’s interface changes and several of its new features.

If the meeting’s host has enabled these features, start your microphone or webcam with one click on these icons.

Click here to turn your speakers on/off. Use the Speaker Icons menu to mute the audio of the conference or adjust the meeting’s volume. Set your Attendee Status from the App Bar by

selecting options such as Raise Hand, Agree, Disagree, or Step Away.

If your host enables this feature, you can start private chats directly from the Attendees pod. Use mouse-over controls to choose with whom you want to chat and then select Start Private Chat. The private chat then opens in its own tab in the Chat pod.

Access an overview of all participants’ status settings by switching to the Attendee Status View.

Lookingformore?

•FindbasictutorialsattheLearnAdobeConnect page.

•MoretutorialsandbestpracticesattheAdobe Connect User Community.

•Userguides,troubleshooting,andmoreattheAdobeConnectHelpandSupport page.

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