Enabling and disabling Team Chat settings to control external users in group chats and channels

Team Chat external settings provide admins better control and visibility over external users within their accounts. These settings are available at the account level and can also be configured at the external company/account level, allowing for customized interactions with different companies and accounts.

This article covers:

• Limitations of Team Chat settings to control external users in group chats and channels
• How to enable or disable Team Chat settings to control external users in group chats and channels
  • Account
  • Specific company or account
• How to view external connections on your account
  • View all external users
  • View all external companies and accounts
• How to review approval requests
• How to change your account name

Prerequisites for managing external connection settings for Team Chat

• Account owner or admin privileges to edit account settings.
• View permission for the Team Chat Management external connections role to access the External Connection section and the Connections tab.
• Edit permission for the Team Chat Management external connections role to access the External Connection section and all tabs, approve/decline requests, and edit settings for a specified company/account.

  Note: At release of these new settings and new role, all existing admins with view or edit permission for the existing Chat Channels role will have view permission for the new external connections role.

Limitations of Team Chat settings to control external users in group chats and channels

• Approval settings don't apply to direct messages or continuous meeting chats (CMCs).
• End-user experience is best on version 6.0.10, but settings work with any app version.

How to enable or disable Team Chat settings to control external users in group chats and channels

With external collaboration settings, account owners and admins can choose if users on their account can add external users into Team Chat group chats and channels and if users on their account can join external group chats and channels. You can configure these settings at the account level, or for a specific external account you want to connect with.

Account

To enable or disable settings for external users in group chats and channels at the account level:

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Account Settings.
3. Click the Team Chat tab.
4. In the External Permissions section, change these settings as needed:
   • Add external users into group chats and channels: This setting controls the options available for channel creation in the app. If disabled, your account cannot add any external users to group chats and channels. When enabled, there are three options for who can add external users:
     • Everyone (internal and external)
     • Only members in your organization, plus specified external accounts
     • Only the account owner and admins
   • Require admin approval for adding external users into group chats and channels: This setting controls if external requests require admin approval. If disabled, no approval is necessary. If enabled, you can choose how approval requests are sent:
     • Send requests directly to all approvers: Admins with External Connections permissions will receive requests through Zoom’s Invite Approval bot.
     • Send requests to a specified channel: Search for a channel name where approval requests will be sent. Admins are responsible for managing membership, and all channel members will be able to see the requests, but only admins with permission can accept or decline them.
   • Allow members of your organization to join external group chats and channels: This setting controls whether members of your organization can join externally-owned group chats and channels. If enabled, users on your account can join. If disabled, they cannot. 
   • Require admin approval for joining external group chats and channels: This setting controls if joining external group chats and channels requires admin approval. If disabled, no approval is necessary for your members to join externally-owned group chats and channels. If enabled, you can choose how approval requests are sent:
     • Send requests directly to all approvers: Admins with External Connections permissions will receive requests through Zoom’s Invite Approval bot, which will be sent directly to all admins with approval permissions.
     • Send requests to a specified channel: Search for a channel name where approval requests will be sent. Admins are responsible for managing membership, and all channel members will be able to see the requests, but only admins with permission can accept or decline them.
5. If a verification dialog displays, click Enable or Disable to verify the change.

*External Connections permission is required to approve requests.

*Note: These settings apply to group chats and channels.

Specific company or account

To configure settings for a specific company/account:

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click Team Chat Management then External Connections.
3. On the Connections tab, click Accounts.
4. To the right of the account you want to configure settings for, click the ellipses icon <insert icon>, then click Edit account settings.
5. Change these settings as needed:
   • Members from this account can add external users
   • Require admin approval to add users from this account to chats and channels
   • Members of your organization can join chats and channels owned by this account
   • Require admin approval to join external chats and channels owned by this account
6. Click Save.

Note: You can only configure the Add external users into group chats and channels setting for a specified account if it's enabled at the account level. However, you can configure all other settings for a specified account regardless of their account-level setting.

How to view external connections on your account

View all external users

To view all external users connected with your account:

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an account owner or admin.
2. In the navigation menu, click Team Chat Management then External Connections.
3. On the Connections tab, click Users.
   From here, you can view a high-level overview of external users.
4. (Optional) Search for a user by name or click on a user to see a list of all chats and channels they are in.

View all external companies and accounts

To view all external accounts connected to your account:

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an account owner or admin.
2. In the navigation menu, click Team Chat Management then External Connections.
3. On the Connections tab, click Accounts.
   From here, you can view a high-level overview of external accounts.
4. (Optional) Search for an account by name or click on an account to view more details.
5. (Optional) To customize settings for a specific account, click the ellipses icon [insert icon] then click Edit account settings to choose granular controls for this account connection. Learn more about configuring settings for a specific account.

How to review approval requests

If you enabled the setting to require admin approval for external requests, approval requests are either sent directly to admins with approval permission through Zoom’s Invite Approval bot or they are sent to a specified channel (depending on your settings). Additionally, admins can view all add and join requests in the Zoom web portal, where they can approve or deny requests individually or in bulk. 30 days of historical data is displayed.

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an admin with permission to approve requests.
2. In the navigation menu, click Team Chat Management then External Connections.
3. (Optional) To view pending add or join requests, click Approvals.

How to change your account name

Account names are shown once an external user starts chatting in your account.

To view or edit your account name:

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an account owner or admin.
2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Account Profile.
3. Under Basic Information, click Edit.
4. In the Account Name field, enter an account name that will be visible when external users chat in your account.
5. Click Save.