Enabling or disabling meeting chat

The Meeting chat feature allows participants to chat with others while in a meeting. Hosts can control who participants can chat with within the meeting, including disabling private chat so participants cannot send private messages to other participants or disabling in-meeting chat entirely.

Account owners and admins can enable or disable in-meeting chat for all users on the account or specific groups, while meetings hosts can control in-meeting chat availability for their own meetings.

Requirements for enabling or disabling in-meeting chat

• Account owner or admin privileges
• Host privileges for a meeting

How to enable or disable in-meeting chat for all meetings

Account owners, admins, and users can enable or disable the Meeting chat feature depending on their permissions. You can configure this setting for all users on the account, a specific group of users, or your personal account.

Disabling in-meeting chat prevents the host, co-hosts, and participants from chatting in any meetings. The Chat option will no longer appear in the participant controls.

If you don't want to disable in-meeting chat for everyone, you can still disable private chat, which prevents participants from sending private messages to other participants in the meeting. Participants will still be able to privately message with the host.

Enable or disable in-meeting chat for all meetings for the entire account

This setting allows account owners or admins to enable or disable the Meeting chat feature for all users in the account.

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an account owner or admin with the privilege to edit account settings.
2. In the top-right corner, click your profile picture or initials, then click Admin Center.
3. In the side menu, click Settings .
4. Click Meeting.
5. Under In Meeting (Basic), click the Meeting chat toggle to enable or disable it.
   Note: If you disable Meeting chat, other features related to in-meeting chat will also be disabled.
6. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable or Disable to verify the change.
7. If you're enabling Meeting chat, in the By default, allow participants to chat with drop-down, specify who meeting participants are allowed to chat with. This setting determines the default chat permissions when the meeting starts:
   • No one: Disables in-meeting chat for everyone.
   • Host and co-hosts: Only the host and co-host can send messages to everyone. Participants can still send private messages to the host.
   • Everyone: Participants can only send public messages. Public messages are visible to all participants. Participants can still send private messages to the host.
   • Everyone and anyone directly: Participants can send public or private messages. Public messages are visible to all participants. Private messages are sent to a specific participant and are not visible to the host.
8. (Optional) Select the Allow users to copy or save chats from the meeting check box to allow users to save the meeting chat transcript. If you enable this option, select which users can save the chats:
   • Host and co-hosts: Only the host and co-hosts can save the chat transcript.
   • Everyone: Allows anyone in the meeting to save chats, including external users.
   • Only users in your account: Prevents external users from saving meeting chats.
9. (Optional) Select the Only users in your account can chat check box to allow only internal users in your account to use in-meeting chat. This applies regardless of whether the meeting is hosted by a regulated user's organization or an external organization.
10. (Optional) After enabling Meeting chat, you can also enable or disable the following settings:
    • Allow participants to delete messages in meeting chat: Allows participants to delete messages they have sent during the meeting.
    • Allow participants to edit messages in meeting chat: Allows participants to edit their own messages after sending them during the meeting.
    • Enable the Screenshot feature in meeting chat: Allows participants to send screenshots during the meeting.
    • Allow participants to use emojis in meeting chat: Allows participants to use the emoji library or only pre-selected emojis during the meeting.
    • Meeting chat - Direct messages: Allows meeting participants to send direct messages to other participants.
    • Meeting chat - Auto-save: Allows in-meeting chat messages to automatically save to a local file on the host's computer when the meeting ends.
11. (Optional) To prevent all users in your account from changing this setting, click the lock icon to the right of the toggle, then click Lock to confirm the setting.

Enable or disable in-meeting chat for all meetings for a group of users

This setting allows account owners or admins to enable or disable the Meeting chat feature for a specific group of users. Changes apply only to users in the selected group.

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an admin with the privilege to edit groups.
2. In the top-right corner, click your profile picture or initials, then click Admin Center.
3. In the side menu, click Users .
4. Click Groups.
5. Click the applicable group name from the list.
6. In the General configuration section, click Edit product settings.
7. Click the Meeting tab.
8. Under In Meeting (Basic), click the Meeting chat toggle to enable or disable it.
   Note: If you disable Meeting chat, other features related to in-meeting chat will also be disabled.
9. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable or Disable to verify the change.
   Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at the account level and needs to be changed at that level.
10. If you're enabling Meeting chat, in the By default, allow participants to chat with drop-down, specify who meeting participants are allowed to chat with. This setting determines the default chat permissions when the meeting starts:
    • No one: Disables in-meeting chat for everyone.
    • Host and co-hosts: Only the host and co-host can send messages to everyone. Participants can still send private messages to the host.
    • Everyone: Participants can only send public messages. Public messages are visible to all participants. Participants can still send private messages to the host.
    • Everyone and anyone directly: Participants can send public or private messages. Public messages are visible to all participants. Private messages are sent to a specific participant and are not visible to the host.
11. (Optional) Select the Allow users to copy or save chats from the meeting check box to allow users to save the meeting chat transcript. If you enable this option, select which users can save the chats:
    • Host and co-hosts: Only the host and co-hosts can save the chat transcript.
    • Everyone: Allows anyone in the meeting to save chats, including external users.
    • Only users in your account: Prevents external users from saving meeting chats.
12. (Optional) Select the Only users in your account can chat check box to allow only internal users in your account to use in-meeting chat. This applies regardless of whether the meeting is hosted by a regulated user's organization or an external organization.
13. (Optional) After enabling Meeting chat, you can also enable or disable the following settings:
    • Allow participants to delete messages in meeting chat: Allows participants to delete messages they have sent during the meeting.
    • Allow participants to edit messages in meeting chat: Allows participants to edit their own messages after sending them during the meeting.
    • Enable the Screenshot feature in meeting chat: Allows participants to send screenshots during the meeting.
    • Allow participants to use emojis in meeting chat: Allows participants to use the emoji library or only pre-selected emojis during the meeting.
    • Meeting chat - Direct messages: Allows meeting participants to send direct messages to other participants.
    • Meeting chat - Auto-save: Allows in-meeting chat messages to automatically save to a local file on the host's computer when the meeting ends.
14. (Optional) To prevent all users in the group from changing this setting, click the lock icon to the right of the toggle, then click Lock to confirm the setting.

Enable or disable in-meeting chat for all meetings for your personal account

This setting allows individual users to enable or disable the Meeting chat feature for their personal account. You do not need admin permissions to change the setting unless it has been locked by an account owner or admin for the entire account or a group of users.

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the top-right corner, click your profile picture or initials, then click My account.
3. In the side menu, click Settings .
4. Click Meeting.
5. Under In Meeting (Basic), click the Meeting chat toggle to enable or disable it.
   Note: If you disable Meeting chat, other features related to in-meeting chat will also be disabled.
6. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable or Disable to verify the change.
   Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at either the group or account level. You cannot change it yourself and must contact your Zoom admin.
7. If you're enabling Meeting chat, in the By default, allow participants to chat with drop-down, specify who meeting participants are allowed to chat with. This setting determines the default chat permissions when the meeting starts:
   • No one: Disables in-meeting chat for everyone.
   • Host and co-hosts: Only the host and co-host can send messages to everyone. Participants can still send private messages to the host.
   • Everyone: Participants can only send public messages. Public messages are visible to all participants. Participants can still send private messages to the host.
   • Everyone and anyone directly: Participants can send public or private messages. Public messages are visible to all participants. Private messages are sent to a specific participant and are not visible to the host.
8. (Optional) Select the Allow users to copy or save chats from the meeting check box to enable the ability to save the meeting chat transcript. If you enable this option, select which users can save the chats:
   • Host and co-hosts: Only the host and co-hosts can save the chat transcript.
   • Everyone: Allows anyone in the meeting to save chats, including external users.
   • Only users in your account: Prevents external users from saving meeting chats.
9. (Optional) Select the Only users in your account can chat check box to allow only internal users in your account to use in-meeting chat. This applies regardless of whether the meeting is hosted by a regulated user's organization or an external organization.
10. (Optional) After enabling Meeting chat, you can also enable or disable the following settings:
    • Allow participants to delete messages in meeting chat: Allows participants to delete messages they have sent during the meeting.
    • Allow participants to edit messages in meeting chat: Allows participants to edit their own messages after sending them during the meeting.
    • Enable the Screenshot feature in meeting chat: Allows participants to send screenshots during the meeting.
    • Allow participants to use emojis in meeting chat: Allows participants to use the emoji library or only pre-selected emojis during the meeting.
    • Meeting chat - Direct messages: Allows meeting participants to send direct messages to other participants.
    • Meeting chat - Auto-save: Allows in-meeting chat messages to automatically save to a local file on the host's computer when the meeting ends.

How to control chat access during a meeting

During a specific meeting, the host can control who participants can chat with without changing the account's default Meeting chat settings.

1. Start a meeting as the host.
2. In the meeting controls toolbar, click the Chat icon .
3. In the chat panel, click the More icon .
4. Under Participant can chat with, choose one of the following options:
   • No one: Disables in-meeting chat for everyone.
   • Host and co-hosts: Only the host and co-host can send messages to everyone. Participants can still send private messages to the host.
   • Meeting group chat: Participants can only send public messages. Public messages are visible to all participants. Participants can still send private messages to the host.
   • Meeting group chat & anyone directly: Participants can send public or private messages. Public messages are visible to all participants. Private messages are sent to a specific participant.

Learn more about using in-meeting chat.

How to prevent users from sharing unwanted messages

Account owners and admins can use the Chat Etiquette Tool to help prevent users from sharing unwanted messages while chatting in Zoom Meetings, Zoom Webinars, and Zoom Chat.

The tool creates policies that identify defined keywords and regular expressions to either block the message when it triggers a policy or prompt the user to confirm that they want to send it, depending on how the admin has configured the policy.

Learn more about managing Chat Etiquette policies to help secure Zoom for your users.