[Host Only] Managing Breakout Rooms

Breakout rooms allow you to split your Zoom meeting in up to 50 separate sessions. The meeting host and any co-hosts can choose to split the participants of the meeting into these separate sessions automatically or manually, or they can allow participants to select and enter breakout sessions as they please (participants must be on version 5.4.6 or higher to choose their own room). The host and co-hosts can switch between sessions at any time.

By default, only the host or co-host can assign participants to breakout rooms. They can choose to allow participants to choose their own room, but this must be done in the meeting when launching the breakout rooms.

If the meeting is being cloud recorded, it will only record the main room, regardless of what room the meeting host is in. If local recording is being used, it will record the room the participant who is recording is in. Multiple participants can record locally.

Creating breakout rooms

Note: You can also pre-assign participants to breakout rooms when you schedule the meeting instead of managing them during the meeting.

Start an instant or scheduled meeting.
Click Breakout Rooms.
Select the number of rooms you would like to create, and how you would like to assign your participants to those rooms:
- Automatically: Let Zoom split your participants up evenly into each of the rooms.
- Manually: Choose which participants you would like in each room.
- Let participants choose room: Participants can select and enter rooms on their own.
Click Create Breakout Rooms.
Your rooms will be created, but will not start automatically. You can manage the rooms prior to starting them by following the instructions below.

Options for breakout rooms

After creating the breakout rooms, click Options (on Windows) or the gear icon (on macOS) to view additional breakout rooms options.
Check any options that you would like to use for your breakout rooms.
- Allow participants to choose room: Participants can select and enter rooms on their own once rooms are launched.
- Allow participants to return to the main session at any time: If this option is checked, the participants can move back to the main session from their meeting controls. If this is disabled, they need to wait for the host or co-host to end the breakout rooms.
- Automatically move all assigned participants into breakout rooms: Checking this option will move all participants into the breakout rooms automatically. If this option is unchecked, the participants will need to click Join to be added to the breakout room.
- Auto close breakout rooms after () minutes: If this option is checked, the breakout rooms will automatically end after the configured time.
- Notify me when the time is up: If this option is checked, the host and co-hosts will be notified when the breakout room time is up.
- Set Countdown timer: If this option is checked, the participants will be given a countdown of how much time they have left before being returned to the main room.
Follow the steps below to assign participants to rooms or click Open All Rooms to start the breakout rooms.

Assigning participants to rooms

To assign participants to your rooms, select Assign next to the room you wish to assign participants to and select the participants you want to assign to that room. Repeat this for each room. Once a participant has been assigned (manually or automatically), the number of participants will show in place of the Assign button.

Preparing breakout rooms

After manually or automatically assigning participants to rooms, you can rearrange the participants. Participants who are not assigned to breakout sessions will remain in the main meeting when the rooms are started. Hover over the participant or room for these options:

Move to (participant): Select a room to move the participant to.
Exchange (participant): Select a participant in another room to swap the selected participant with.
Delete Room: Delete the selected room.
Recreate:
- Recreate all Rooms: Deletes existing breakout rooms and allows the host/co-host to create new ones.
- Recover to pre-assigned rooms: Recreate the breakout rooms with the pre-assigned arrangement. This is only available if using the pre-assign breakout rooms feature.
Add a Room: Add another breakout room.
Open All Rooms: Start the rooms. All assigned participants will be moved to their respective rooms after confirming the prompt to join the breakout room. If allowing participants to choose their own room, they can open the list of rooms and choose which to join. The host, or co-host that launched the breakouts and the original host, will be left in the main meeting until manually joining one of the rooms. The participants (and the host/co-host when manually joining a room) will see the following message shown when joining the breakout room.

Managing breakout rooms in progress

Once the breakout rooms have been started, the assigned participants will be asked to join the Breakout Session. The host, or co-host that launched the breakouts and the original host, will stay in the main meeting until joining a session manually. If a participant has not joined the session yet, it will be noted by (not joined) next to their name. You can click these options in the breakout rooms window:

Join: Join the breakout room.
Leave: Leave the room and return to the main meeting (only shows when in a breakout room).
Close All Rooms: Stops all rooms after a 60 second countdown, which is shown to the host, co-hosts, and participants, and returns all participants back to the main meeting.

Responding to requests for help

Participants in breakout rooms can request that the meeting host join their meeting by clicking Ask for Help.

You will be prompted to join the room where the request originated from. Click Join Breakout Room to join the room.

Broadcasting a message to all breakout rooms

The host or co-hosts can broadcast a message to all breakout rooms to share information with all participants. This can be done from the main session or from within a breakout room.

Click Breakout Rooms in the meeting controls.
Click Broadcast message to all, enter your message, and click Broadcast.
The message will now appear for all participants in breakout rooms.