Educational Technology User GuidesZoomUsing Breakout RoomsHow do I move in and out of breakout rooms when hosting in Zoom?

How do I move in and out of breakout rooms when hosting in Zoom?

Once breakout rooms have been set up in a Zoom meeting, if you are either host or co-host, you can move in and out of breakout rooms at will.

  • As host, you can join and leave any breakout room from the main meeting room.
  • As co-host, you can join and leave any breakout room beginning with the breakout room to which you are assigned.

Create and open the breakout rooms

Once the Zoom meeting has started, the Breakout Rooms option will be visible to the host on their Zoom toolbar (as long as it is enabled in their meeting settings).

The host will create the breakout rooms (or they will have been created ahead of time) and then "open" the rooms. Once opened, meeting participants will see a pop-up window inviting them to join a breakout room. If the co-host has been assigned to a breakout room, they will join that room just like any other participant.

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

To leave the breakout room and return to the main room, click "Leave Room" in the Zoom toolbar, in the lower right corner of the Zoom window

As host, once you are back in the main room, you can repeat the process to join a different breakout room.

As meeting co-host, you can join and leave any breakout room, starting with the breakout room to which you have been assigned

As co-host, once you have entered your assigned breakout room, you will see the Breakout Rooms icon appear on the Zoom toolbar.

Click the Breakout Rooms icon to see a list of rooms, and click "Join" to the right of the name of the room you wish to join

As co-host you can use the Breakout Rooms window to join any other room at any time, from the room you are currently assigned to.

As co-host you can leave a breakout room and return to the main room, by clicking "Leave Room" in the Zoom toolbar, in the lower right corner of the Zoom window

As a co-host moves through breakout rooms by using "Join" links as described above, the host will be able see what room they are currently in via the Breakout Room panel in the main meeting.

As host, you can send a message to all participants in all rooms, and you can close all the rooms

Closing the rooms will bring everyone back into the main room.

NOTE: The host will see the Breakout Rooms icon on their Zoom toolbar whether the rooms are open or closed. Co-hosts, however,  will not see the Breakout Rooms option on their toolbar once the rooms are closed.

To learn more about using breakout rooms, see: Zoom: Using Breakout Rooms