# Installation and getting started

This guide is intended for Windows, macOS, and Linux users because TrueConf client applications for desktops are cross-platform and have the same features and UI.

# TrueConf desktop client application features

  • Single Sign-On/Active Directory Federation Services (SSO/AD FS) authorization in the application

  • Automatic discovery of available servers

  • Enjoy 4K (Ultra HD) video calls and conferences with a frame rate of 60 fps

  • Call VoIP users, landline and mobile phone numbers and send DTMF commands

  • Call SIP/H.323 and RTSP devices

  • Point-to-point video calls can be run directly between the users bypassing the server

  • Run meetings with up to 1,000 participants (up to 1,600 using UDP Multicast mode)

  • Try different types of video conferencing: video call (one-on-one) and four conference modes — all on screen, video lecture, smart meeting and moderated role-based conference.

  • Private meetings for registered users and public webinars with guest connections

  • Schedule conferences, create virtual rooms, and send email invitations to meeting participants

  • Quick call-to-conference escalation

  • Create conferences protected from unauthorized connections with a PIN

  • Change the PIN or identifier of an ongoing conference if you are the owner

  • Start meetings instantly and save their templates

  • Add and remove participants while the conference is in progress

  • Control participants’ cameras and microphones, change devices or adjust microphone sensitivity

  • Mute microphones for all participants except the selected one

  • Lock an ongoing meeting from new participants if you are the owner

  • Select and manage multiple conference participants

  • Move participants to the waiting room to manage access to a conference

  • Set mandatory registration for webinar guests

  • View detailed analytics about a conference (available only to the owner)

  • Highlight active speakers in the video window layout with a customizable color frame and set up microphone sensitivity level

  • Сonference moderators can lock video layout for all participants or set individual layouts for each user, including SIP/H.323 endpoints and browser participants

  • Configure your own video layout

  • Set video layout background

  • Automatically enlarge speakers in a meeting

  • Remote desktop control

  • Control PTZ cameras, both your own and participants’ devices

  • Meet both with guests and users registered on TrueConf Server

  • Join conferences without signing in to the application

  • Attendees can push to talk or send a request to become a speaker in role-based conferences, while moderators can appoint or remove speakers from the podium

  • Switch between a smart meeting and moderated role-based mode without interrupting the conference

  • Take polls or share reactions in conferences

  • Push to talk even when your microphone is disabled.

  • Show slides and images in a separate media stream to all participants, including in-browser connections and SIP/H.323 endpoints over H.239/BFCP protocols

  • Share your entire screen or separate windows. Both your video and content will be visible in recordings, streaming and on devices that do not support H.239/BFCP protocols

  • Annotate over the shared screen

  • Stream audio when sharing content or showing slides

  • Stream video files to a conference

  • Stay focused on your meeting when sharing your content or switching to other windows thanks to a customizable widget with quick conference controls

  • Control how the recording of an ongoing conference will be saved on the server and download the video file when this meeting is over (available only to the owner)

  • Record video calls and conferences, choose a suitable video format and storage location

  • Built-in player for video recordings

  • Full address book support (adding and deleting contacts and groups, editing contact information, searching and blocking contacts)

  • Exchange messages and share files in personal and group chats. Your messages will be delivered even if your partner is currently offline

  • Create group chats that can be escalated into a group conference with all chat participants in one click.

  • Chat history, including group chats of the meetings that have already finished

  • Appoint chat moderator

  • Transfer chat ownership to another participant

  • Configure display settings for chat notifications

  • Show/hide previous chat history from new participants

  • Disable notifications from private and group chats

  • Compress images sent to a chat if necessary

  • Text formatting in chats

  • Ability to share a contact in a private or group chat

  • Enjoy built-in algorithms of echo/noise cancellation and automatic gain control (AGC)

  • Set a virtual background (select one of the default backgrounds or add a custom one)

  • Blur the background

  • Use face tracking during meetings (available for one and multiple participants)

  • Optional network speed limitation templates or manual settings

  • Try built-in tools for testing the quality of server connection

  • Change app notification settings

  • Configure the main menu: choose the elements to be displayed and select how they should be displayed during calls and conferences

  • Customize hotkeys

# Installing the application

Before installation, make sure your computer and network connection meet our system requirements depending on the desired video quality.

To get started with TrueConf client application, download it from the guest page of your TrueConf Server instance (please contact your server administrator to find out its URL address) or from our official website:

Before using the client application, make sure that your operating system and graphics card driver is up to date. Please note that we recommend downloading the drivers from the manufacturer's official website (Intel (opens new window), Nvidia (opens new window), AMD (opens new window)).

# Connecting the application to the server

This guide shows how to use TrueConf desktop client applications. TrueConf for Windows is taken as an example.

When TrueConf client application is launched for the first time, it will automatically detect a TrueConf Server instance in the local network and display a dialogue window for connecting to it.

Only TrueConf Server 4.5 + instances can be automatically detected.

/client/media/find_server/en.png

By default, the application connects to TrueConf Online cloud service.

To switch to a corporate TrueConf Server instance, click the Change button.

In the window that opens, switch to TrueConf Server/ TrueConf Enterprise in the Connect to the server section and enter the IP address or FQDN of your video conferencing server. Click the Connect button.

/client/media/change_server/en.png

If connection is successful, you will see the text hint Connected to video.company.com in the Network state section in the upper part of the window.

# Signing in

Depending on the settings of the video conferencing server to which you will connect and your location (e.g., the corporate network or the Internet), you may have to use one of the following authorization options:

# Authorization with login and password

Click the Sign in button on the home page.

/client/media/sign-in-button/en.png

In the authorization window, enter your TrueConf ID (username) and Password. If you don't know your login details, please ask your server administrator to provide you with them.

/client/media/login/en.png

# SSO authorization

SSO (Single Sign-On) is a technology that allows a user to sign in to multiple applications or web services with the same login information.

In this case it will enable users to sign in to TrueConf client application without entering the login and password if they have already signed in to the operating system. However, two requirements have to be met:

  1. You will need to be authorized in the OS with the domain account (specified on the LDAP server).

  2. TrueConf Server to which you are connected should be integrated with the LDAP server from part 1.

This feature is available not only on Windows (where Active Directory is used as the directory service), but also on Linux.

If these conditions are met, you will be automatically signed in to TrueConf application once it is started.

# AD FS authorization

Click the Sign in button on the home page.

/client/media/sign-in-button/en.png

The AD FS authorization window will be displayed on the screen. Type your domain login and password (contact the server administrator to receive them). Next, click Sign in.

/client/media/adfs_auth_win/en.png

Once you have signed in, your user account information will be displayed in TrueConf client application.

If the administrator has configured authorization with login/password and AD FS on the side of your TrueConf Server, you will be offered multiple authorization options when you click Sign in. You will see the window for entering the login, however, in the bottom, next to the or sign in with block, there will be the button /client/media/gui/adfs-auth-btn/en.png for authorization via AD FS.

/client/media/adfs-auth/en.png

# Joining a conference as a guest

You can join a conference without signing in to the client application. To do it:

  1. Click the Join conference button on the application home page.

    /client/media/guest_conf_connection/en.png
  2. Enter the link to a conference or its ID in the form field.

Users can join a conference by its ID only if they are already connected to the server on which this meeting will be hosted. So, connection with a link will be a more flexible solution.

3. Enter the guest name under which you will join the conference and configure your devices. Next, click Join.

/client/media/guest_connection_config/en.png

Guest connections are available only for public conferences.

# Exiting the application

By default, /client/media/gui/exit_button/en.png (exit button) minimizes the application to tray. You also can change this button action in Settings → Preferences → General. To exit the application, you need to:

  1. Right-click on the application icon in the tray (lower right corner on the screen)

  2. Select Exit.

/client/media/tray_exit/en.png

# User roles

All TrueConf users can be divided into the following categories:

  • User – a user account registered on TrueConf Server. Please note that a conference can be created only by users authorized in the client application or in the personal area.

  • Guest – an unauthorized user who joins a TrueConf meeting. Guest access is supported only in public web conferences (webinars). Guest can be assigned with a moderator or speaker role. These roles are described below. О том как подключиться к конференции в качестве гостя рассказано в соответствующем разделе.

  • SIP, H.323 and RTSP devices – SIP/H.323 endpoints that participate in a meeting (but are not registered on TrueConf Server), and RTSP streams (for instance, for IP camera broadcasting).

# User roles in video conferences

All users and guests (for public meetings) who participate in a TrueConf conference are called participants. They can take part in a conference and at the same time communicate with each other via chat, reactions and audio remarks (in moderated role-based conferences). Every participant is publicly displayed in the list of participants and cannot be hidden. Conference participants can be assigned with the following privileges.

Unlike the owner, there can be multiple moderators in a TrueConf conference. They can be appointed by the conference owner or any moderator.

A [guest]](#user-roles) or a participant from a federated TrueConf Server can also be appointed as moderator.

  • Owner is the user who created a conference, or who was appointed as the owner by administrator when creating or editing a new conference. When the owner joins the conference, this user automatically get the following rights:

    A moderator cannot remove the owner from the conference.

  • Operator – the user who gets conference moderator privileges in any meeting hosted on their TrueConf Server instance. This role can be useful when an experienced user is required to help organize the conference.

    In addition to the moderator rights, the operator can:

    Unlike the moderator rights, the rights of an operator cannot be transferred via federation. It means that if you are an operator on your TrueConf Server, you will not become an operator when joining a conference hosted on a different server (with a different address).

  • Speaker – an active participant of the conference who has the right to present during the meeting.

    The speaker rights can be given to different participants depending on the conference mode:

    • In all-on-screen mode each participant is a speaker.

    • In video lecture mode there can be only one speaker (teacher) who can be seen and heard by other participants (students). However, you can add another speaker by promoting a participant to the role of a moderator. This participant will also be displayed in the layout.

    • In moderated role-based mode any participant can become a speaker by sending a corresponding request to the conference owner or moderator. The moderator can also invite a participant to the podium. The maximum number of speakers on the podium can be set when creating a conference.

    • In smart meeting mode, any participant can become a speaker if his/her voice activity is detected or if this user starts sharing content. In this case, the participant who keeps silent longer than others or started content sharing earlier (when the microphone is muted) will be removed from the video layout. The number of “spots” available on the podium is limited and can be set when the conference is created. The moderator can “pin” any participant on the podium to make sure that this participant is not accidentally removed from the layout even if he/she keeps silent.