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How to Add Video Conferencing to Joomla with the Plug-N-Meet Extension

This guide covers the plugNmeet component for Joomla. It brings the same full feature set as the WordPress and Moodle plugins to Joomla: full room control, recordings with merge, artifacts with analytics export, and Joomla permission-based access — all inside your Joomla site.

1. Key Features of the Joomla Integration​

  • Full Room Control: Create rooms with all plugNmeet features — waiting room, breakout rooms, polls, whiteboard, E2EE, SIP dial-in, and Insights AI (transcription, chat translation, AI summary).
  • Backend Management: Manage rooms, recordings, and artifacts without leaving Components > Plug N Meet.
  • Recordings with Merge: List, play, download, delete, and merge multiple segments into one MP4 from the Recordings screen.
  • Artifacts & Analytics: View analytics reports, transcriptions, and AI summaries per room. Download analytics as Excel.
  • Joomla-Native Publishing: Rooms are Joomla articles-like items with categories, plus Single room and List rooms menu item types.
  • Permission-Based Access: Control who can join without password, join as moderator, and view/play/download/delete recordings per room via Joomla ACL.

2. Installation & Initial Setup​

Step 2.1: Install the Extension​

  • From your Joomla administrator panel, navigate to System > Install > Extensions.
  • Select the Install from Web tab and search for plugnmeet.
  • Find the official Plug-N-Meet extension and click Install.

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  • After a moment, you should see a confirmation that the installation was successful.

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Alternatively, download the package from the plugNMeet-Joomla GitHub releases and install via Upload Package File.

Step 2.2: Connect to Your Server (API Settings)​

This is the most important step. You must connect the extension to a working plugNmeet server.

  • From your Joomla administrator panel, navigate to System > Global Configuration.
  • In the left-hand menu, select plugNmeet.

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  • You will see: Server URL, API Key, API Secret, and Client load (Remote or Redirect).
  • After installation, these fields are pre-filled with demo credentials. You must replace these with the API details from your own self-hosted or plugNmeet Cloud server. The demo server is for temporary testing only and has limitations.
  • Client load: Remote (default) keeps the meeting embedded inside your Joomla site. Redirect sends users straight to your plugNmeet server interface (server-url/?access_token=...) and takes them off your site layout. Joomla does not offer a Local client option like WordPress.

Joomla-plugnmeet-config.png

  • After entering your own credentials, click Save.
  • Global defaults also live here: Copyright (footer branding), Design (logo, colors, background, custom CSS), and Advanced (simulcast, dynacast, resolutions, audio preset, codec). Rooms inherit these unless overridden per room.

3. Creating & Publishing Your First Meeting​

Step 3.1: Organize with Categories (Optional)​

Rooms can be grouped with Joomla categories:

  • Go to Components > Plug N Meet > Rooms Categories and create categories (e.g., Classes, Meetings).
  • Assign a category in the Category field when creating a room.
  • The frontend List rooms menu type can filter by one category.

Step 3.2: Create a Meeting Room​

  • From the Joomla administrator panel, go to Components > Plug N Meet > Manage Rooms.
  • Click + New to create a new meeting room.

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The room form has the following tabs:

Basic

  • Title, Category & Description: Title shown on the site; description shown on the room page.
  • Passwords: Separate Moderator and Attendee passwords. They must be different.
  • Welcome Message: Shown in chat on join.
  • Max Participants: 0 for unlimited.

Room Features Core in-room options: webcams, mute on start, screen share, view other webcams/users list, admin-only webcams, analytics, virtual background, raise hand, reactions, auto-generate user ID, and room duration (minutes, 0 = no limit). Moderator join first: when enabled, attendees see "meeting has not started yet" until a moderator joins — different from Waiting Room, where users can already wait inside.

Recording Features Master switch plus cloud recording, auto-start cloud recording, and local recording.

Chat / Shared Notepad / Whiteboard / External Media Player / Display External Link Toggle each tool. Whiteboard supports a Preload File URL (PDF/presentation).

Waiting Room Enable to screen participants, plus a custom waiting room message.

Breakout Room Enable and set max rooms (up to 10).

Ingress / External Broadcasting Allow RTMP ingress and external broadcasting (with separate RTMP toggle).

End-to-End Encryption Enable E2EE plus options for self-insert key, chat, and whiteboard inclusion. Note: E2EE disables some server-side features such as cloud recording and transcription.

Polls / SIP Dial-In Enable polls. SIP dial-in adds options to enable on create and hide phone number (requires SIP configured on the server).

Insights Features Master switch plus transcription (with translation and speech synthesis), chat translation, AI text chat, and AI meeting summarization. These require Insights/AI enabled on your plugNmeet server.

Default Lock Settings Initial locked state for microphone, webcam, screen sharing, whiteboard, shared notepad, chat, private chat, chat send message, chat file share, and reactions. Moderators can unlock live.

Design Customisation Per-room logo, background image, primary/secondary/background/header/footer/side-panel colors, and custom CSS URL (HTTPS). Empty = inherit the global Design values from Global Configuration.

Advanced Settings Per-room override of the global Advanced defaults: simulcast, dynacast, stop mic track on mute, default webcam resolution (h90–h2160), screen share resolution, audio preset (telephone–musicHighQualityStereo), and video codec (vp8, h264, vp9, av1). Leave a field empty to keep the global value.

Click Save when done.

Step 3.3: Permissions​

Click the Permissions tab when editing a room to control Joomla group access per room:

  • Join passwordless (join.passwordless): allowed groups can join without entering a password (name only).
  • Join as admin (join.admin): allowed groups join as moderator even with the attendee password or no password.
  • Recording view / play / download / delete (recording.*): granular control over the frontend recordings list. Guests should never get delete permission.

room_permission.png

Use Components > Plug N Meet global Options > Permissions for site-wide defaults.

Step 3.4: Display the Room on Your Site​

You have two menu item types under Plug N Meet:

Single room — for one meeting:

  • Navigate to Menus > Main Menu and click + Add New Menu Item.
  • In Menu Item Type, click Select, then choose Plug N Meet > Single room.

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  • In the Select a room dropdown, choose the room you just created.
  • Give the menu item a Title (e.g., "Live Class") and click Save.

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List rooms — for a directory of rooms:

  • Choose Plug N Meet > List rooms as the menu item type.
  • Optionally set Choose a Category to filter to one category.

4. The Attendee Experience​

When a user clicks the menu item, they see the room title, description, and a join form.

  • They enter their name and the room password, then click Join. With Client load = Remote, the meeting opens in a new tab; closing it returns via ?returned=true. With Client load = Redirect, they leave Joomla and join directly on your plugNmeet server URL.
  • Groups with Join passwordless permission see no password field.
  • If Moderator join first is enabled and no moderator has started the room, attendees see "The meeting has not started yet" and cannot enter.
  • If the user has Recording view permission, a recordings table appears below the join form with Play / Download / Delete buttons according to their permissions.

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5. Post-Session Management (Admin)​

All assets are managed from Components > Plug N Meet without leaving Joomla.

Managing Recordings​

Go to Components > Plug N Meet > Recordings:

  1. Select a room from the dropdown and click Show.
  2. Use checkboxes to select segments and click Merge to combine them into one MP4 (confirmation shows the selected order).
  3. Use per-row Play / Download / Delete actions.

Accessing Artifacts​

Go to Components > Plug N Meet > Artifacts:

  1. Select a room and click Show.
  2. Click an artifact ID to open its details page: room analytics table, per-user table (join/leave times, talk time, connection quality), and meeting summary where available.
  3. Use Download for file artifacts, Download Excel for analytics reports, and Delete to remove.

6. Advanced Configuration​

Design Customization​

  • Global: System > Global Configuration > plugNmeet > Design (logo, colors, background, custom CSS) plus Copyright (footer branding). These are the defaults for every room.
  • Per-Room: Room edit form Design Customisation tab — any value set here overrides global for that room only; empty fields inherit global.

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Media Quality Defaults​

Set global defaults under System > Global Configuration > plugNmeet > Advanced: h720 webcam, h1080fps15 screen share, music audio preset, and vp8 codec suit most sites. Override per room in its Advanced Settings tab when needed. Raise only if your server and clients have bandwidth.

Client Load​

Under System > Global Configuration > plugNmeet, Client load controls where the conference renders:

  • Remote (default): embedded in Joomla (view=room&layout=conference). Branding comes from global + per-room Design. Use this unless you have a reason not to.
  • Redirect: users are sent to your-plugnmeet-server/?access_token=.... The Joomla layout, global/room Design, and ?returned=true handling no longer apply — branding is the server default.

Under System > Global Configuration > plugNmeet > Copyright, enable Display copyright text and set Copyright text (HTML allowed) to brand the client footer globally. This applies to every room created while enabled.

7. Security and Privacy​

  • Data Control: You control the server (self-hosted or private cloud), so you control your data.
  • On-Premises Hosting: The open-source plugNmeet server can run on your own hardware for GDPR/HIPAA-sensitive workloads.
  • Encryption: All media is encrypted via WebRTC standards. Enable E2EE per room for maximum security.
  • Least Privilege: Keep Join as admin and Recording delete restricted to Manager/Administrator/Super Users.

Common Questions & Troubleshooting​

Why do I see an 'Invalid API' error on my meeting page? You are still using the default demo credentials. Replace them under System > Global Configuration > plugNmeet with your own server details.

Join fails with "same password" error on save? Moderator and attendee passwords must differ. Change one and save again.

"Meeting has not started yet" for attendees? The room has Moderator join first enabled. A moderator must join first with the moderator password.

How do I find the global settings after installation? As an administrator, go to System > Global Configuration > plugNmeet.

Frontend shows no recordings? The user needs Recording view permission for that room (Permissions tab), and at least one cloud recording must exist for the room ID.