How to Butter: A Participant's Guide

How to Butter: A Participant's Guide

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Hi there! This is a quick guide on how to get set up right and make sure you have a great time as a participant on Butter.

1. Get started right

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We recommend to join using our Desktop app, from a Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser to experience the best version of Butter.

🌐 Join from Browser

If you're joining a session through your browser, all you need to do is click on the link and join! 🔗

🖥️ Join using the Desktop app

If you want to join in using the Desktop app, then you can download it here. 💻

📱 Join in from Mobile If you’re on Mobile, you can download our Android or iOS apps here 📱

1.1 Troubleshoot: Get set up right!

The best thing you can do before your session, for you and everyone else, is to make sure you’re set up and ready to join. This means that you’ve tested your setup to make sure that both your camera and microphone are working - so that everyone can see your beautiful smile ✨

We’ve built a tool to help you do just that! Head over to: https://www.app.butter.us/troubleshoot

Follow the steps outlined in the guide and you’ll be ready to go in no time!

The Butter Troubleshooting Guide will help you get set up in time for your first session!
The Butter Troubleshooting Guide will help you get set up in time for your first session!

1.2 Joining your first session on Butter

Joining a session on Butter is very straightforward.

Joining from Browser

Click the link that you’ve been sent. You will automatically be directed to the waiting room where you can enter your name and ask to join.

Joining from Desktop or Mobile app

If you’re on the Desktop or Mobile app, copy the link sent to you and insert it into the “Join” field.

1.3 Permissions: Allow access to your mic and camera (IMPORTANT!)

Make sure you give Butter permission to access your camera and microphone. Mr. Bolt is there to guide you! 😉

If you're using a browser: Make sure to have permissions enabled for camera and microphone in your browser. Here's how to do it on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Firefox.

Firstly click Request Permissions and then click Allow in the upper left hand side to make sure you allow the browser to access your camera and microphone. If you accidentally click block, you can reallow by clicking the 🔒 next to the URL in the upper left hand side.

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When you see Usain, make sure to click ‘Allow’!
When you see Usain, make sure to click ‘Allow’!

1.4 The Waiting Room: Adjusting your settings

When you given permissions, you will land in the waiting room that the facilitator has created!

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Use headphones to avoid the pesky echoes that you hear in some calls!

Once you’re in the waiting room, start by selecting the:

  • Camera
  • Microphone
  • Speakers

that you would like to use for your session. Use the drop downs right below the video feed on the right hand side.

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If you are experiencing any issues with your microphone or camera here, we recommend you to go through the troubleshooting guide again before starting. Find it here: https://app.butter.us/troubleshoot
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Enter your name: When you have made the changes needed, you will need to enter your name in the input field below. You need to enter your name to be able to join the session. When entered, click the Ask to join button.

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You can choose whether you want to join the session with video and/or microphone on/off by clicking the red/green video or microphone buttons in the bottom middle of the video tile.

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Click the ‘Add effects’ button in the left of the video tile to set a custom background, change your avatar (or snap a selfie to use as avatar!)

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Once you’re ready to join, click the Ask to join button to send a request to the host of the session to let you in.

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Please note: You will not be able to ask to join before the facilitator has started the session.

1.5 Joining the session

Once you’ve been allowed into the session, you will join in directly with the settings that you chose in your waiting room (video and audio on/off, your avatar, etc.).

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Use keyboard shortcut 'V' to toggle video on/off, ‘M’ to mute and unmute and ‘H’ to hide yourself from the view.

Changing settings: If you need to change the settings in your session, you can always click the little ⚙️ icon in the upper right hand side of your screen.

Some of the things you can change:

  • Audio and video preferences
  • General preferences (motion, sound effects, etc.)
  • Enable closed captions, noise cancellation
  • Display name, profile picture, virtual background,
Click the gear icon in the top right to open the settings menu.
Click the gear icon in the top right to open the settings menu.

2. Butter features

Here are the key features in Butter that help make your online sessions super smooth!

2.1 Sharing your screen 🖥️

Just like in any other tool you know, you can of course share your screen in Butter as well.

To share your screen:

  1. Click the Share button in left sidebar.
  2. Select if you want to share full screen, a specific window or just a tab in your browser
    1. A facilitator will need to approve your request to share, before you can start sharing.
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Important: To be able to share your screen, you will need to have given permissions both for Butter and the browser you are sharing from. Test your setup here: https://app.butter.us/troubleshoot
You can share full screen, a window or a single tab!
You can share full screen, a window or a single tab!

2.2 React with emojis 🎉

It's so easy to feel bored and distant in virtual workshops. To get the energy up in the room, use the Reactions while others are speaking — it gives them instant feedback and encouragement when you let them know that you 😍 the topic or are 🤷‍♂️ about the presentation.

There are two ways to trigger reactions:

  1. Click React on the left hand sidebar to open the emoji menu. Select the one you want!
  2. Click on R on your keyboard to open the emoji menu. Use any number between 0 - 9 . This is how the pro’s do it 😉
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BIG reactions: When multiple reactions are sent at the same time, the emojis merge into a bigger exploding emoji 🔥

2.3 Raising your hand using Queue 🙋‍♀️

In virtual workshops, things can get messy when people talk on top of each other during discussions or when they don't know how to get a question in during Q&As.

There are two ways to use the Queue:

  1. Click Queue on the left hand sidebar to open the queue menu. Select whether you have a Comment, Question or Idea to help the facilitator/instructor!
  2. Click on Q on your keyboard to open the queue menu. Use the number keys to choose either Comment 1, Question 2, Idea 3 .

You can remove yourself from the queue again either by hovering the queue menu and clicking ‘Leave queue’ or clicking Q followed by X.

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2.4 Chat: Interact with facilitators and participants 💬

Using the Chat during sessions allows you to share your thoughts or questions without interrupting the flow.

Access the chat from the left hand panel or by clicking C on your keyboard.

In the chat, you can:

  • write, edit and delete chat messages
  • react to messages with emojis
  • reply directly to specific messages using threads
  • send GIFs, images and share/attach files
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You can send a direct message to the facilitator or any participant in the session. To send a direct message in session: 1. Click the bar in the top of the chat window 2. Select the person you want to send your message to.

2.5 Notes: Capture thoughts directly in the session ✏️

Butter has a built in Notepad that you can use during the session. We’ve got two types of notes:

  1. Shared notes (that everyone in the session can add to and see)
  2. Private notes (that only you can see)

To access notes, click the Notes button on the left hand side. In the note window you will see the Shared notes first. Switch to your Private notes in the top of the note window.

Switch between the Shared and Private notes using the dropdown at the top of the note window
Switch between the Shared and Private notes using the dropdown at the top of the note window

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Can I save my notes? Yes you can! And there are few ways to do so: 1. If you don’t have a Butter account (or if you’re not logged in to your account) you can receive your notes by leaving your email at the bottom of the private notepad. 2. Sign up and create a free account on Butter ( Sign up here ). When you’re a registered Butter user, your Notes (+ access to resources, chat history and more) will automatically get saved to your Session Recaps.
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2.6 Using Miro, Mural or Google Docs 👯

Butter is built to easily let you collaborate on multiple tools like Miro or Mural whiteboards and write together on Google Docs.

The tools will be set up and launched by the facilitator, directly in Butter! No need to click any links or anything (yeah, easy right?!)

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Important: The embedded tools will not work if you are using an Adblocker or you are joining the Butter session from an incognito browser.
Smooth collaboration directly in the app! Without any tab switching!
Smooth collaboration directly in the app! Without any tab switching!

2.7 Resizing and Focus mode ✨

In the session, there are a number of ways you can adjust Butter to your own personal preferences.

↔️ Resizing apps

You can adjust the window size of any app or window shared in Butter.

To resize a window:

  1. Hover your cursor between the videos and the app window to reveal the resizing handle.
  2. Click and drag to adjust to your preferred layout.
Drag the handle to resize the window to your liking
Drag the handle to resize the window to your liking

🧘 Focus mode

Focus mode lets you tune everything out and zone in on the content being shared.

You can enable focus mode during screen shares, presentations, videos and more.

To enable focus mode:

  1. Click the three dots ... in the menu above the window.
  2. Select Enter Focus mode
  3. Click Close to exit focus mode again.
Enable focus mode for complete Zen 🧘
Enable focus mode for complete Zen 🧘

3. Frequently asked questions!

3.1 Video-related

"The video seems pixelated..."

If your video looks pixelated, it may be due to your connection. There are several things that can cause this:

  • Just a bad network signal
  • Being too far away from wifi
  • Restricted bandwidth (for example, cellular network)
  • VPN

You can check under the Settings menu on Butter to see if your network strength is good.

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If it’s good and you still encountered issues, leave us some feedback after the session so we can look into it.

"The camera froze while I was talking!"

This is common when your network has issues uploading your video packet. Try turning your video on and off in the left hand menu bar to refresh it.

Also, if you are facing issues with video transmission, we recommend turning off video and just using audio.

"I can't see the videos of other people in the call, I just see black tiles."

The black boxes or avatars appear (instead of videos) when you have a bad connection. You can check under the Settings menu on Butter to see if you network strength is good.

If it is, then try turning your video on and off in the left hand menu bar to refresh it.

3.2 Audio-related

"I hear echo, what can I do?"

Not having headphones on during a session usually causes an echo — using one should solve it.

“Why can’t I hear some of the people in the call?”

This can be either due to your network connection strength or the permissions you’ve enabled for your sessions.

To see if it is a network issue, you can check under the Settings menu on Butter to see if your connection is good.

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If your network strength is good but the issue still persists, then it might be due to the hardware or permissions. You can do the following to check:

  • If you’re using the desktop app: Click Audio / Video settings, check to see if you have any devices listed in the dropdown menu.
  • If you’re using a browser:
    • Check the right-most of the address bar. Does the camera/mic icon have a red circle with a cross inside it? If it does, that means the browser has denied permission. Make sure to have permissions enabled for camera and microphone in your browser. Here's how to do it on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Firefox.
    • Check the left-most of the address bar. Click on the lock and see if the permissions are set to Allow.

If you still encounter issues after following these steps, leave us some feedback after the session so we can look into it.

“I can hear other people, but they can’t hear me!”

This can be either due to your network connection strength or the permissions you’ve enabled for your sessions.

To see if it is a network issue, you can check under the Settings menu on Butter to see if your connection is good.

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If your network strength is good but the issue still persists, then it might be due to the hardware or permissions. You can do the following to check:

  • If you’re using the desktop app: Click Audio / Video settings, check to see if you have any devices listed in the dropdown menu.
  • If you’re using a browser:
    • Check the right-most of the address bar. Does the camera/mic icon have a red circle with a cross inside it? If it does, that means the browser has denied permission. Make sure to have permissions enabled for camera and microphone in your browser. Here's how to do it on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Firefox.
    • Check the left-most of the address bar. Click on the lock and see if the permissions are set to Allow.

If you still encounter issues after following these steps, leave us some feedback after the session so we can look into it.

3.3 Camera- or microphone settings

"My audio & video didn't work once I joined the call!"

Here are a list of things you can try to solve it:

  • If you’re using the desktop app: Click Audio / Video settings, check to see if you have any devices listed in the dropdown menu. If it’s not listed, then you might not have granted permission to access your mic and camera during setup.
  • If you’re using a browser: Make sure to have permissions enabled for camera and microphone in your browser. Here's how to do it on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Firefox.

If it still doesn’t work, then check your devices to see if it works on OS apps like Camera app on Windows or PhotoBooth in MacOS. If it doesn't work, you might need to restart your computer.

3.4 CPU and performance

"The app is slowing my computer down."

It may either be a network or CPU-related issue.

To see if it is a network issue, you can check under the Settings menu on Butter to see if your connection is good.

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If it is good but you are still having issues, then do check if your device are within our supported minimum system requirements.

3.5 Browser- or firewall

"I used Firefox/Brave/Mighty and it wasn't working well."

Butter works best on Google Chrome at the moment. We'd recommend using that or using our desktop app instead!

"I couldn't see the Miro or Google presentation the host was showing..."

There are a few things which cause these integrations to not work:

  • Having third party cookies blocked on the browser (via adblockers) or having incognito mode on will cause Miro/Google Drive to not work on Butter. We suggest turning both off while in a session that requires you to work on Miro or Google.
  • Check if you are authorised to access the documents.
  • Click on the refresh button on the integration and see if it works (top-right beside on the X button).
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3.6 Other FAQs

"Do you have a Desktop app?"

We now have a Desktop app! 💃 Download it here: https://butter.us/download.

"I want to use virtual filters! Is this something you have?"

This is something we're looking into for the future but in the meantime, we can recommend to use Snapcam to add virtual filters in Butter.

“Do you have mobile or tablet support?

You can download our mobile app for iOS and Android on https://butter.us/mobile