Using Zoom with a Bluetooth (BT) speaker doesn’t work

Windows 10 Home v20H build 19042.746

My DELL laptop shows ‘Connected’ to Bluetooth speaker (B-3319) and outputs audio to it when playing video & audio clips so Windows talks to the speaker OK.

Zoom, however, does not output audio to this BT speaker and it is not possible to select this speaker because only the DELL internal speaker appears in the Zoom / Settings ‘Speaker’ list. I have not tried connecting the speaker via cable since I do not want it connected this way. I want the BT connection.

Question 1 – Is BT audio a known ‘Zoom’ limitation that one has to accept?

Question 2 – Is there a way to get BT speakers to appear?

Thanks in advance.

It's not Zoom. I have two Bluetooth headsets that I use with it.

Steelcase Arctis 3 Bluetooth headset



Samsung Buds+ (bluetooth ear buds)

Thank you. Your reply caused me to look again and the BT speaker was there all the time. The reason I didn't see it the first time was due to my colour scheme. In your pictures the list is very clear but on my system the listing is difficult to see. Have a look: -

I am glad you got it sorted out.

I know you made no mention about a microphone but I will mention this for your future reference.

Most computers except those made recently only support Bluetooth 4.x. This version does not have enough bandwidth to handle stereo speakers and a microphone at the same. To handle this they came up with a new mode where you pair a mono speaker with a microphone.

This is a summary of how this works out.

Speakers with no microphone
* Speaker: Headphones (Bluetooth Stereo)
* Microphone: n/a

Speakers with microphone
* Speaker: Headset (Bluetooth Hands-Free AG Audio)
* Microphone: Headset (Bluetooth Hands-Free AG Audio)

Normally I use a headset with Zoom. To simply things I have made the "Bluetooth Hands-Free AG Audio" the default for both my speakers and microphone in the Windows audio setup. That way my headset is the selected audio configuration when Zoom is launched. Also, in Zoom whatever is configured in Windows beforehand is also called "Same as system" in Zoom.

Making the Bluetooth speaker as the default causes Windows to automatically switch to it when the Bluetooth speaker connects with Windows. That is OK because that saves me the trouble of having to change to it manually. Note, when the Bluetooth speaker is not turned on the computer will just use its own speakers.