For Hosts: How do I manage pre-assigned breakout rooms during my Zoom meeting?

In a Zoom meeting, the host and co-hosts have access to the breakout room panel, and can manage the breakout rooms.

NOTE: We highly recommend that only one person manage the breakout rooms in any given Zoom meeting — do not pass control back and forth if you can avoid it.

NOTE: Updating to the latest version of the Zoom app on your computer or mobile device is important for having access to the latest tools and security features.

To learn how to update, visit: Upgrade / update to the latest version

In your Zoom meeting, click "Breakout Rooms" in the Zoom toolbar to open the Breakout Rooms window

NOTE: You may need to click the "More" button in the toolbar to access the "Breakout Rooms" button.

Click "Recreate" at the bottom of the breakout room window, and  choose "Recover to Pre-assigned rooms" from the pop-up menu

This will retrieve the breakout room assignments you set up before the Zoom meeting, and apply them to participants in the meeting.

NOTE: Be sure to do the "Recover to pre-assigned rooms" step JUST BEFORE you do the "Open All Rooms" step.

We recommend this because Zoom only checks the current participants against the pre-assigned list when you do the "Recover" step. Students who join the meeting after that will not be placed in their breakout room.

Also, students who did not log into their Tufts Zoom account will not be recognized by Zoom and  not placed in their room. When that happens you will have to place those participants in breakout rooms manually.

Click "Open All Rooms" to send participants to their respective breakout rooms

If need be, manually assign remaining participants by clicking "Assign To" next to their names in the Breakout Rooms window

The pre-assignment process often leaves a few participants out of the breakout rooms. You will need to assign them to the correct breakout rooms manually in the breakout room window. It is a best practice to have a list of participants and their breakout rooms on hand to make this process easier.  

As host, you can join any breakout room from the main meeting room at any time. Open the Breakout Rooms window, mouse over the number of participants in the room (to the right of the room name) and click "Join"

You can send an announcement to participants in all rooms by  clicking "Broadcast Message to All" at the bottom of the Breakout Rooms window

When breakout room activities are done, click "Close All Rooms" to return all participants to the main room. Participants will be notified that the rooms will be closed.

Later you can click "Open All Rooms" to resend participants to those same breakout rooms

For more information on managing Zoom breakout rooms visit: Managing Breakout Rooms

For information you can send to your students about using self-assigned breakout rooms visit: How do I access self-assigned breakout rooms in Zoom?