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Loom is the easiest async-video tool to install — and the easiest to misconfigure if you skip the workspace + defaults step. This walks through the full first-time setup so you don't end up with 200 untitled videos scattered across 6 personal accounts.
Who this is forFounders, sales leads, or ops people rolling Loom out to a team of 2-30 people. If three teammates are recording Looms but each on their own personal account, this fixes it — workspace, defaults, library, sharing rules in one pass.
What you'll need
Step 1
loom.com → Sign up with your @company.com email. Loom auto-claims the workspace for that domain so future teammates join it instead of starting separate accounts.
Open loom.com. Click "Sign up" and use your work email — NOT a personal Gmail. The domain on your sign-up email becomes the workspace identity.
When prompted, name the workspace after the company (e.g., "Acme Inc.") not after a department. One workspace per company is the right pattern even if multiple departments use it.
On the Plan selection step, pick Business or Enterprise for any team of 4+ people. Starter is fine for solo founders or 1-3 person teams. Education / Personal Pro shouldn't be used for client-facing work.
Verify the workspace email domain in Settings → Workspace → Domain (sends a TXT record to add to DNS). This means anyone else signing up with @company.com auto-joins your workspace instead of starting their own.
If you skip domain verification, expect 3-5 teammates to accidentally create separate Loom accounts in the first quarter. Each new account = videos scattered, no team library, no consolidated billing.
Step 2
Loom Desktop (Mac/Windows) for full-quality recording with system audio. Chrome extension for quick screenshare-only recordings. Most users need both.
Download Loom Desktop from loom.com/desktop. The desktop app supports 4K recording, system-audio capture, and HDR webcam.
Install the Loom Chrome extension (loom.com/chrome-extension). The extension is faster for quick tab-only recordings but caps at 1080p and doesn't capture system audio on macOS reliably.
On Mac: when you first open Loom Desktop, macOS prompts for Screen Recording, Microphone, Camera, and (optionally) System Audio. Approve all four in System Settings → Privacy & Security.
Sign into both the desktop app and the extension with the same workspace account. Recordings auto-sync to one library.
Tip: pin the Loom extension to the Chrome toolbar so the record button is one click away. Friction at the start of recording is the #1 reason people stop using async video.
Step 3
Loom Desktop → Settings → Recording. Set resolution (1080p for most), control panel position, default mic/camera, mouse-click highlight, and emoji reactions on.
Open Loom Desktop → Preferences → Recording.
Resolution: 1080p is the sweet spot. 720p is fine for support replies. 4K is overkill for almost everything and produces 3-5× the file size, which slows uploads.
Default camera: pick your real webcam, not Continuity Camera or a virtual cam unless you intentionally use one. Camera position: bottom-right or bottom-left bubble, 200px diameter for most use cases.
Default microphone: your headset / external mic if you have one. Built-in laptop mics are noisy and audio quality is what makes Loom feel professional or amateur.
Toggle ON: Highlight mouse clicks (helps viewers follow), Show keyboard shortcuts on screen (great for tutorials), Allow viewer emoji reactions (drives engagement metric).
Toggle OFF: Auto-pause on tab switch unless you specifically want pauses captured. Most users want continuous capture.
Step 4
Workspace → Library → + New folder. Build by use case (Sales, Support, Eng, Onboarding) not by date. Set folder permissions so people see only what they need.
Open the Loom web app → My Library or Workspace Library (left sidebar).
Click + New folder. Build the structure BEFORE anyone records 20 videos that need re-foldering.
Recommended structure for 5-30 person teams: `01 — Sales (Outreach, Demos, Recaps)`, `02 — Customer Support`, `03 — Onboarding & Training`, `04 — Internal Updates`, `05 — Product Walkthroughs`, `06 — Archive`.
Use 2-digit prefixes (01, 02) for stable sort order — Loom sorts alphabetically by default.
Per-folder permissions: Workspace → Library → Folder → Share → set who can view/edit. Sales videos shouldn't be open to everyone if they include pricing or roadmap.
Default Folder for recordings: Workspace settings → Recording defaults → set "Save new videos to" → your active folder. Otherwise every recording dumps into My Videos and never gets organized.
Step 5
Settings → Members → Invite. Roles: Admin (workspace control), Creator (record + edit), Viewer (watch only). Default most people to Creator.
Settings → Members → + Invite member. Paste up to 50 emails at once.
Pick roles per invite: Admin for 1-2 ops/leadership people, Creator for anyone who will record, Viewer for stakeholders who only watch.
Viewer seats are cheaper on Loom Business plans — use them for execs/clients who only consume video.
Add a short welcome message in the invite that points to a starter video showing how to record their first Loom. The starter video is the single highest-leverage onboarding asset you can build.
After 14 days, audit Settings → Members. Anyone who hasn't recorded a single Loom is likely a stuck adopter — pair them with a 15-min walkthrough or downgrade their seat to Viewer.
Step 6
Workspace → Settings → Sharing. Default new videos to workspace-only, require password for external shares, allow viewer comments, and disable download unless intentional.
Settings → Workspace → Privacy.
Default video privacy: "Workspace" is right for most internal teams. "Public" is right only for marketing assets you intentionally publish.
External sharing: enable password protection for any video shared with prospects or clients (Business plan and up). Catches the accidental-forward scenario.
Download permission: keep OFF by default. Watchers can still view but can't pull the file. Re-enable per-video if a client asks for a download.
Captions and transcript: turn ON globally so every recording gets auto-transcribed. This is what powers the search-the-library superpower.
Email notifications: tune in Settings → Notifications. Default to "Comment received" + "First view from external" only. Anything more becomes noise.
Step 7
Record a 60-second test. Check audio levels, video quality, mouse highlight, transcript accuracy, and that the video lands in the right folder.
Open the desktop app, pick "Screen + cam," and record a 60-second walkthrough of any familiar tab.
When it auto-saves, open the video in Loom's web viewer.
Verify: (a) audio is clear with no robotic compression, (b) cursor highlights are visible, (c) webcam bubble is positioned correctly, (d) transcript appears within 60 seconds and reads cleanly.
Verify it landed in the right folder. If not, fix the Recording → Save To default.
Share the link with a teammate in incognito. Confirm they can view, comment, and react. If they can't, your workspace privacy is too tight.
Document the workflow in 5 bullets in a Notion/Slack pinned message: where new hires download the app, what defaults to use, which folder to record to. The doc prevents 80% of "how do I Loom?" questions.
Common mistakes
Letting teammates start separate personal Loom accounts
What goes wrong: Videos scatter across 4-8 personal libraries. No team search. No consolidated billing. When someone leaves, their videos leave with them. 30 hours of customer-support content lost per departure.
How to avoid: Verify the company domain in Settings → Workspace → Domain. Force new sign-ups on the company domain to join your workspace. Audit Settings → Members monthly for the first quarter.
Recording everything at 4K
What goes wrong: File sizes 3-5× larger. Upload times double on average home internet. Viewers on mobile burn through their data caps. Your $400/year Loom plan starts feeling like $1,200.
How to avoid: Default to 1080p for everything. Use 4K only for product-launch hero videos. 720p is fine for internal updates and quick support replies.
Skipping folder structure on day one
What goes wrong: After 60 days, 200 videos sit in My Videos with no folders. Nobody can find anything. The team stops using Loom because the search is broken.
How to avoid: Build the 6-folder structure before inviting anyone. Set the default Save-To folder so new recordings auto-organize. Run a 10-min cleanup every Friday for the first month.
Defaulting videos to Public for "ease of sharing"
What goes wrong: Internal demos surface on Google. Competitors find your roadmap walkthroughs. Pricing conversations leak. One Public sales demo I've seen had 3,400 unintended views.
How to avoid: Default to Workspace. Make Public a conscious upgrade per video. For client-shared videos, use Workspace + password.
Not setting a default mic
What goes wrong: Half your recordings use the laptop mic by accident — noisy, echoey, low volume. Watchers tune out at the 30-second mark. The other half use a clean external mic. Inconsistent quality kills trust.
How to avoid: Loom Desktop → Settings → Recording → Default microphone → your external mic. Set it once. Verify before each high-stakes recording (sales demos, customer-success calls).
No starter videos for new hires
What goes wrong: Each new hire takes 2-3 weeks to figure out what makes a good Loom. Some never start recording. The Loom investment underperforms because adoption stalls at 30%.
How to avoid: Record 5 starter templates: (a) sales intro, (b) demo recap, (c) support reply, (d) async standup, (e) bug report. Share with every new hire on day 1. Adoption hits 80% within 30 days.
Recap
Done — what's next
How to set up Loom for personalized sales outreach
Read the next tutorial
Hand it off
Setting up Loom is a 45-minute project. Running async video as a real channel — recording the 30 templates, editing the highlight reels, building the customer-success Loom library that scales — is ongoing work. A vetted video editor on EverestX takes this end-to-end starting at $14-16/hr — most engagements land at $400-1,000/mo.
See video editor rates
Starter is fine for 1-3 person teams recording <5 videos per week. Business unlocks unlimited recording length, advanced privacy controls, workspace-level sharing rules, password protection, and AI features that matter for sales. Any team of 4+ should be on Business — typically $12.50-15/user/month.
Three usual causes: (1) Bluetooth headset latency — switch to wired audio for recording, (2) heavy CPU load during recording (close Chrome tabs, video calls), (3) macOS Continuity Camera being used by accident — pick a real webcam in Loom settings. Fix the cause and re-record; you can't post-correct sync in Loom.
Loom has built-in editing: trim start/end, cut middle sections, blur sensitive on-screen info, add CTAs and chapters. For heavier editing (multi-clip, transitions, branded intros), export the MP4 and edit in Descript, CapCut, or Premiere. Many teams record raw in Loom then polish the top 10% in Descript.
On Starter, the free plan caps videos at 5 minutes and 25 videos per person. Business and Enterprise have unlimited length and unlimited storage. Videos never auto-expire unless you set a custom expiration. Deleted videos go to Trash and are recoverable for 30 days.
Auto-transcripts run on every recording (English + 50+ languages). Accuracy is 92-97% for clear audio with a good mic, drops to 75-85% for laptop-mic recordings in noisy rooms. Transcripts power library search and AI summaries — invest in the external mic if you record more than 5 Looms/week.
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