Managing meeting breakout rooms

Meeting breakout rooms allow you to split your Zoom meeting in up to 100 separate sessions. The meeting host or co-host 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. You can also pre-assign participants to breakout rooms when you schedule the meeting instead of managing them during the meeting. The host or co-host can switch between sessions at any time, and monitor the level of activity in each room. Breakout room participants will have the same audio, video, and screen share capabilities as allowed in the main session. 

Webinars can also use breakout rooms. Learn how to enable webinar breakout rooms

Requirements for managing meeting breakout rooms

Meeting breakout rooms

Notes:

Saving breakout rooms for future use

Limitations of meeting breakout rooms

*The maximum capacities listed require a Large Meeting add-on. If you do not have a Large Meeting add-on, the maximum number of participants is limited by your meeting capacity.

Table of Contents

Host and co-host permissions for managing breakout rooms

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. 

 HostCo-Host
Assigning*, starting, and ending breakout rooms
Move between breakout rooms
Broadcast message to all 
Notified of Requests for Help 
View activity statuses of participants

* While both the host and any co-hosts have the ability to assign participants to breakout rooms, only the first submitted set of assignments will be accepted upon clicking Open All Rooms

How to manage breakout rooms in a meeting

Windows | macOS

Create meeting breakout rooms

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

  1. Start an instant or scheduled meeting.
  2. Click Breakout Rooms .
  3. Select the number of rooms you would like to create, and how you would like to assign your participants to those rooms:
    • Assign automatically: Let Zoom split your participants up evenly into each of the rooms.
      • Include co-host(s) to breakout rooms: Disabled by default, you can include any co-host(s) in the automatic assignment of breakout rooms.
    • Assign manually: Choose which participants you would like in each room.
    • Let participants choose room: Participants can select and enter rooms on their own.
    • Load pre-assigned rooms: Choose from pre-assignments or previously saved assignments.
  4. Click Create.
  5. 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

  1. After creating the breakout rooms, click Options (on Windows) or the gear icon (on macOS) to view additional breakout rooms options.
  2. 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.
    • Automatically move all selected participants in breakout rooms to main meeting: Checking this option will move participants to the main meeting session when breakouts are closed, rather than giving participants 60 seconds to wrap up their discussion and prompting the users to leave 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.
  3. Follow the steps below to assign participants to rooms or click Open All Rooms to start the breakout rooms.

Assign 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.

Prepare 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:

Manage 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 room manually.

The Breakout Rooms window will split into two tabs, one listing the open breakout rooms and their participants and the other listing all total participants. If there are 7 or more participants, a search tool will appear. If an assigned participant has not joined a breakout room yet, it will be noted by (not joined) next to their name. Unassigned participants will be listed under the Unassigned category.

The following options can shown in the breakout rooms window:

Note: Adjusting Breakout Rooms while they are open must be enabled for your account by Zoom and then enabled in your Breakout Room settings.

Upon hover, each participant will have the following options available:

Save current breakout room assignments for future use

If you want to save these assignments, either done automatically or manually, for use in a future meeting in this series. Up to 10 different saved assignments are supported for each user.

Note: The recurring meeting must have a fixed recurrence pattern. No-fixed time meetings are not supported.

  1. After breakout rooms have been assigned, but are not currently open, click the button and then click Save Breakout Rooms.
  2. Provide a name for this set of assignments.
  3. Click Save.

Respond 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.

Share your screen to all breakout rooms

Once breakout rooms are open, the host or co-host can share their screen from the main session directly into all open breakout rooms. This allows the presenter to share visual information to all breakout rooms at once, guiding them on the next steps or tasks.

  1. Click Share Screen in the meeting controls.
  2. Enable the Share to breakout rooms option along the bottom of the share window.
  3. Choose what you would like to share, including an entire screen, a specific open program, or others.
  4. (Optional) Click the Share Sound option as well to include audio with the shared content.
  5. Click Share.
    The selected content will be shared to all breakout rooms. Any active shares in any breakout rooms will be interrupted for the host's/co-host's shared screen. Annotation or whiteboarding is saved before the host's shared content is viewed.

You can also use the Video option, found under Advanced sharing tab, to share playback of a locally stored file, which will also share the audio.

View activity statuses of participants in breakout rooms

Once breakout rooms are open, hosts and co-hosts can view the level of activity in each breakout room to get an idea of how active the participants are. On the Rooms tab in the Breakout Rooms panel, you can view which participants are in each room, along with icons that designate if their audio or video is on, if they're sharing their screen, and if they have any active reactions or nonverbal feedback. This feature can be particularly useful for instructors looking for student engagement in breakout room sessions.

Notes:

Linux

Create meeting breakout rooms

  1. Start an instant or scheduled meeting.
  2. Click Breakout Rooms .
  3. Select the number of rooms you would like to create, and how you would like to assign your participants to those rooms:
    • Assign automatically: Let Zoom split your participants up evenly into each of the rooms.
      • Include co-host(s) to breakout rooms: Disabled by default, you can include any co-host(s) in the automatic assignment of breakout rooms.
    • Assign manually: Choose which participants you would like in each room.
    • Let participants choose room: Participants can select and enter rooms on their own.
  4. Click Create.
    Your rooms will be created, but will not start automatically. You can manage the rooms prior to starting them.

Options for breakout rooms

  1. After creating the breakout rooms, click the gear icon to view additional breakout rooms options.
  2. 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/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.
    • Automatically move all selected participants in breakout rooms to main meeting: Checking this option will move participants to the main meeting session when breakouts are closed, rather than giving participants 60 seconds to wrap up their discussion and prompting the users to leave 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.
  3. Follow the steps below to assign participants to rooms or click Open All Rooms to start the breakout rooms.

Assign participants to rooms

To assign participants to your rooms, select Assign next to the room you wish to assign participants to and select 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.

Prepare 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:

Manage 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 room manually.

The Breakout Rooms window will split into two tabs, one listing the open breakout rooms and their participants and the other listing all total participants. If there are 7 or more participants, a search tool will appear. If an assigned participant has not joined a breakout room yet, it will be noted by (not joined) next to their name. Unassigned participants will be listed under the Unassigned category.

The following options can shown in the breakout rooms window:

Note: Adjusting Breakout Rooms while they are open must be enabled for your account by Zoom and then enabled in your Breakout Room settings.

Upon hover, each participant will have the following options available:

Respond 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.

Share screen to breakout rooms

Once breakout rooms are open, the host or co-host can share their screen from the main session directly into all open breakout rooms. This allows the presenter to share visual information to all breakout rooms at once, guiding them on the next steps or tasks.

  1. Click Share Screen in the meeting controls.
  2. Enable the Share to breakout rooms option along the bottom of the share window.
  3. Choose what you would like to share, including an entire screen, a specific open program, or others.
  4. Click Share. The selected content will be shared to all breakout rooms. Any active shares in any breakout rooms will be interrupted for the host's/co-host's shared screen. Annotation or whiteboarding is saved before the host's shared content is viewed.

View activity statuses of participants in breakout rooms

Once breakout rooms are open, hosts and co-hosts can view the level of activity in each breakout room to get an idea of how active the participants are. On the Rooms tab of the Breakout Rooms panel, you can view which participants are in each room, along with icons that designate if their audio or video is on, if they're sharing their screen, and if they have any active reactions or nonverbal feedback. This feature can be particularly useful for instructors looking for student engagement in breakout room sessions.

Notes:

Web client

Follow this section if you're using the Zoom web client.

Create meeting breakout rooms

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

  1. Start an instant or scheduled meeting.
  2. Click Breakout Rooms .
  3. Select the number of rooms you would like to create, and how you would like to assign your participants to those rooms:
    • Assign automatically: Let Zoom split your participants up evenly into each of the rooms.
      • Include co-host(s) to breakout rooms: Disabled by default, you can include any co-host(s) in the automatic assignment of breakout rooms.
    • Assign manually: Choose which participants you would like in each room.
    • Let participants choose room: Participants can select and enter rooms on their own.
  4. Click Create.
    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

  1. After creating the breakout rooms, click Options to view additional breakout rooms options.
  2. Check any options that you would like to use for your breakout rooms:
    • Move all participants into Breakout Rooms automatically: 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.
    • 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.
    • Breakout rooms close automatically after x 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 will be notified when the breakout room time is up.
    • Countdown after closing breakout rooms: 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.
  3. Follow the steps below to assign participants to rooms or click Open All Rooms to start the breakout rooms.

Assign participants to rooms

To assign participants to your rooms, select Assign next to the room you wish to assign participants to and select 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.

Prepare 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:

Manage breakout rooms in progress

Once the breakout rooms have been started, the participants will be asked to join the Breakout Session. The 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:

Save current breakout room assignments for future use

If you want to save these assignments, either done automatically or manually, for use in a future meeting in this series. Up to 10 different saved assignments are supported for each user.

Note: The recurring meeting must have a fixed recurrence pattern. No-fixed time meetings are not supported.

  1. After breakout rooms have been assigned, but are not currently open, click the button and then click Save Breakout Rooms.
  2. Provide a name for this set of assignments.
  3. Click Save.

Respond 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.