How to Create a Poll in Zoom

Over the course of a year, Zoom experienced a tremendous boost in popularity. Time and again, it has proven vastly superior to the alternatives for virtual conferences.

Zoom allows users to create polls that help gather feedback from meeting participants. It enables you to create single-answer or multiple-choice polls, and access results live. In this article, you will learn how to create polls for your Zoom meetings across the supported devices.

Requirements

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let us see some of the requirements for creating polls in Zoom. First of all, the host has to be a licensed user. In other words, you have to be a paid user. So, one of the extra features that licensed users have, is the polling feature.

Another limiting factor is that polls can only be created for scheduled and instant meetings (where the host uses a Personal Meeting ID).

Lastly, you need to ensure that the Zoom version you’re running is up-to-date.

• If you are using the desktop clients for Windows, your version should be 3.5.63382.0829 or higher.
• If you are using the Mac desktop client, it needs to be version 3.5.63439.0829 or above.
• For Linux, the client version should be 2.0.70790.1031 or higher.

So, if you are having polling issues on your desktop client, you should try updating your software.

How to Create a Poll in Zoom from Mobile Apps

Zoom is used widely on mobile devices. Naturally, there are both Android and iOS versions of the app. But when it comes to polling, things are not exactly the same as on the desktop version of Zoom.

All meeting participants can participate in polls – they do not have to be paid members.

However, licensed users won’t be able to manage and create polls on the mobile app. To do that, the hosts need to use the desktop client.

So, the answer here is that you cannot create polls in Zoom from mobile apps.

How to Create a Poll in Zoom from a Windows, Mac, or Chromebook

For whichever of the above devices, the best way to create a poll is to use the web browser.

Open a browser and go to the main page on Zoom. Once there, sign in using your credentials and select your profile picture in the upper-right corner of the screen. You’ll now see your profile page.

Enabling Polls

Before we can use polls in Zoom, we need to enable them. Here’s how:

1. Open Zoom and click on the navigation menu to the left. Then, select Account Management.
   
2. Click on Account Settings.
   
3. In the Meeting tab, go to the Polling option and make sure that it is enabled. You might be asked to verify the change if you want to turn it on.
   
4. Confirm by selecting Turn On.
   

If you want the polling option to be mandatory for all the users in your account, select the lock icon and confirm.

Creating a Poll

Now that you’ve enabled the polling option, it’s time to create your poll. Here’s how:

1. From the account screen, click on the Menu again and click on Meetings.
   
2. Click on the Meeting’s Hyperlink to access the management page.
   
3. On the management page for meetings, scroll until you reach the Poll option. To start creating a poll, select Add.
   
4. Enter the title of the poll and add the first question. If you check the box next to Anonymous? Poll participants will be anonymous.
   
5. Below the first question, choose between Single Choice and Multiple Choice. This, of course, refers to the type of the poll. Select one. Now, start adding questions.
6. To add more questions, select Add a Question at the bottom of the page. To delete an item, select the corresponding Delete.
   

To create polls during a meeting, click the Polling option. This will automatically open your preferred browser and allow you to create a poll in the same way as above. Note that there is a maximum of 25 polls per meeting.

Launching a Poll

Once you’ve created a poll, all that’s left is to launch it. The meeting needs to be ongoing for you to add polls.

1. Navigate to the Meetings tab and click Start Meeting.
   
2. Click on Polling at the bottom.
   
3. Click the arrow icon next to the Poll. This will display a list of polls that you’ve created.
   
4. Select the poll that you wish to launch.
   
5. Select Launch Poll.

Once the poll is launched, all participants will get to participate in it. As a host, you will be able to see live results.

Ending a Poll

As a host, you are the one who can end the poll at any time. To end a poll, do this:

1. Select End Poll at the bottom of the poll page.
   
2. To share the results with the meeting participants, select Share Results.
   

To stop sharing the results, select the Stop Sharing option.

Enabling Polling for a Group

If you want a specific group that you’re hosting to gain access to the Polling feature. Here is how to do this.

1. Go to the Zoom homepage as the admin (you have to have user group editing privileges). In the menu to the left, select User Management.
2. Then, go to Group Management.
   
3. Click on the group in question and select the Meeting tab at the top.
   
4. In the Meeting tab, go to Polling and enable the polling option.

Enabling Polling for Yourself

You might want to enable Polling for your own purposes. To do this, follow the above instructions but go to Account Management followed by Account Settings (instead of User Management).

Additional FAQ

Here are the answers to more of your questions about polling your participants on Zoom.

Where do I view the results of the poll?

As mentioned above, the moment you end a poll, you will get access to the poll’s results. You can share poll results with others within the group, and you can stop the sharing at any point. If you want other participants to be able to see poll results according to participant names, you need to deselect the Anonymous option when creating a poll.

Do the polls need to be created before or after the meeting has started?

Polls in Zoom can be created before and after the meeting is started. The only thing that you need to understand is that you will be making the polls on a desktop browser. So, even if you are using a desktop client, once you select the option to create a poll, you will be redirected to your default browser.

Creating a poll, however, does not automatically run it. To run a poll, you have to have an active meeting. Again, you won’t be able to launch a poll before the session has started.

How do you send a message to everyone in Zoom?

While in a meeting, tap your screen or move the mouse cursor to bring up the controls. Then, select More, followed by Chat. Type in a message you want to send to others and select Send. If you want to send the message to a specific person or group of people, click the arrow next to Send and select the people you wish to send the message to.

How many people can join a Zoom meeting?

You can host up to 100 participants on a Zoom meeting. There is an add-on, however, called Large Meeting that allows you to host as many as 1,000 participants.

Is Zoom better than Skype?

Skype is the original online meeting giant. It was so popular that people referred to online video calls as skyping. Put side by side, Skype and Zoom each have their own advantages. As a rule of thumb, Skype is more of a holistic business tool. On the other hand, Zoom is an excellent option for teams that frequently communicate online and have a lot of meetings.

Do I need to become a licensed Zoom member?

If your goal is to get access to things such as creating polls and more advanced features, then yes, you need to be a paid member. However, if you only want to organize more casual meetings for the purposes of communicating with others remotely, using Zoom for free is completely fine. Yes, you can host meetings as a free user.

Can I share a poll without paying for a premium service?

There are third-party websites that provide free polling options with clickable links. As long as you enabled the chat function in your meeting you can post the link to an external polling site and bypass the premium Zoom service.

Polls in Zoom

Creating and managing polls are restricted to licensed Zoom members. This is also limited to desktop browsers. However, any members can participate in polls and gain access to poll results if the host decides to share with the group.

Hopefully, this article has made creating polls clearer in Zoom. If you have any questions or tips to add regarding polls in Zoom, feel free to hit the comments section below and get in touch with our community.