Zoom Huddles are video-enabled virtual coworking spaces designed to foster inclusive discussions, bringing the fluid interactions of in-person work to distributed, hybrid teams throughout their work day. This article guides users through joining a huddle, how to interact with others in a huddle, and how to create a smaller Conversation within a huddle.

This article covers:

• Limitations of Zoom Huddles
• How to use Zoom Huddles
  • View and join an available Huddle
  • Available Huddle controls
  • Create a new Conversation

Prerequisites for using Zoom Huddles

• Zoom Huddles enabled
• Zoom desktop client
  • Windows: 5.14.0 or higher
  • macOS: 5.14.0 or higher

Note: This feature must be enabled by Zoom. Please fill out this form to request early access. 

Limitations of Zoom Huddles

• Users can only be in one huddle at a time, and cannot be in a huddle and a Meeting simultaneously.
• Users with the main huddle space have access to Team Chat, but those in a Conversation do not have access to chat.
• A Zoom Huddle can only be active for a maximum of 30 consecutive hours, at which time it must be closed for a brief moment before it can be joined again.

How to use Zoom Huddles

View and join an available Huddle

Once admins have created Zoom Huddles for the account and have assigned you a Zoom Huddles license, you can view and join Huddles on your account.

1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop client.
2. Click the Huddles  tab.
   The available Huddles will be listed below.
   The Huddle’s name, image, and current members are listed for each Huddle.
3. Click the Huddle you wish to join.
   You will join that Huddle, unless you have the Always show video preview dialog when joining a video meeting client setting enabled, in which case you will see your video preview before clicking Join to join the Huddle.

While in a Huddle, you will see video tiles for all other present Huddle participants. Each participant’s tile functions the same as when in a meeting, displaying their initials, profile picture, avatar, or virtual background, but slightly cropped to allow more participant tiles on screen. Conversations, separate smaller groups of participants, are listed to the right of the participants in the main Huddle area.

When someone joins the huddle, an audio notification will be played, letting you know that someone else has joined the Huddle. This audio notification will only sound once a minute, regardless of how many new participants join the Huddle in that minute. 

Available Huddle controls

After joining a Huddle, each participant will have the following controls:

• Join Audio  or Unmute  / Mute : This allows you to connect to the huddle's audio, then once connected, mute or unmute your microphone.
  • Audio controls (click ^ next to Mute/Unmute): The audio controls allow you to change the microphone and speaker that Zoom is currently using on your computer, leave computer audio, and access the full audio options in the Zoom settings.
• Start Video  / Stop Video : This allows you to start or stop your own video.
  • Video controls (click ^ next to Start/Stop Video): If you have multiple cameras on your computer, you can select which Zoom is using, access the full video controls, and select a Virtual Background.
• Volume : Control if other participants’ audio is heard by you. This will disconnect you from computer audio and mutes your audio as well.
• Team Chat : Opens the dedicated Team Chat channel for this huddle. This allows participants to continue discussions outside of the Huddle, as well as review and reference these discussions later.
  Notes:
  • Each Huddle has a dedicated public chat channel created for it, and these channels can be joined manually and accessed through the Team Chat tab directly.
  • Team Chat can be accessed while in the main Huddle area, but is not available when in a Conversation.
• Share Screen : Opens the standard sharing window, allow you to choose which screen or open app to share with other participants in the current Huddle. 
  Note: The ability to screen share in a Huddle is currently only supported on the Zoom desktop client for macOS, version 5.15.5 or higher. Support for screen sharing on the Zoom desktop client for Windows will be available in an upcoming release. 
• Show Captions : If manual or automated captions are enabled on your account, click here to access the caption options.
• Whiteboards : Opens a window to select and share a Whiteboard in the current Huddle. 
  Note: The ability to share Whiteboards is currently only supported on the Zoom desktop client for macOS, version 5.16.0 or higher. Support for screen sharing on the Zoom desktop client for Windows will be available in an upcoming release. 

To leave a Huddle or Conversation, click the close window button in the top-right (Windows and Linux) or top-left (macOS) corner of the screen, and then select Leave Huddles.

Create a new Conversation

While in a Huddle, you may want to split off from the main group and have a more private conversation or working session with others in that Huddle. Creating a Conversation allows you and others to remain in that overall Huddle, but have your audio and video isolated to just that Conversation. A Conversation will remain active as long as one participant remains, even if the original creator is gone. When the last participant leaves the Conversation or Huddle entirely, the Conversation and associated invite link will no longer be active.

1. While in a Huddle, click New Conversation.
   Your Conversation will be created and have the same controls as the main Huddle, except for Team Chat.
2. (Optional) Click the text above the video tiles area and enter a custom name for this Conversation.
   This name is visible to everyone in this Conversation and overall Huddle.
3. (Optional) Click Copy Invite Link to share with others to join this Conversation directly.
   Note: All participants for each Conversation are visible by others in the main Huddle area, as well as included in the preview and number of other participants in the overall Huddle when viewed from the Huddles tab.