How to disable Private Chats in Zoom? Participants in the meeting can communicate privately, via these private chat channels, with other participants in the meeting. The host will be unable to view any private messages between the participants. Private chat is disabled when no private messages are allowed but it doesn’t prevent participants from publicly messaging each other! Private messages are still permitted for both participants and the host. As well, the host has the option to disable chat for everybody within the meeting.

This article covers:

• How to enable or disable direct messages for all meetings
  • Account
  • Group
  • User
• How to control private chat access during a meeting

Prerequisites

• Meeting privileges as a host
• A desktop Zoom client for Windows, OS X, or macOS version 4.x is available as a chat access control tool for the host and participants
• You can control chat access for users and hosts in Zoom by using the Zoom mobile app for iOS or Android, version 4.x

How to enable or disable direct messages for all meetings

You will not be able to use the private chat feature if the chat feature is disabled. Chat must be enabled before private chat can be used.

Account

For all users in your account to have access to private chat, follow these steps:

1. By logging into the Zoom web portal as an administrator with full access to the account settings, you can edit the account settings.
2. Simply click Account Management in the navigation panel, then click Account Settings in the bottom right corner.
3. Next, click on the Meetings tab.
4. If you are in In Meeting (Basic), then you should make sure that Chat and Private chat are selected.
5. You need to enable these options by clicking on the toggles located to the left of the settings. You will see a verification window which will ask you to turn the setting on.
6. Click the lock icon and then click Lock to confirm the setting if you want this setting to be mandatory for all users in your account.

Group

For a group of users to be able to chat privately, please follow these steps:

1. Then, you will need to log into your Zoom account’s web portal as an administrator with the group editing privilege.
2. Select User Management and then Group Management from the navigation panel.
3. From the list of groups, select the group you want to modify, and then click its tab.
4. From the Meeting tab, you can access the settings of the meeting.
5. Make sure that Private chat and Conversation are enabled under In Meeting (Basic).
6. Make sure they are enabled if they are disabled. Select Turn On from the verification dialog if one appears.
7. It is a good idea to change the options if you see the accounts feature greyed out, as this has been locked at the account level.
8. The following option is available if you wish to make this a mandatory setting for all other group members. To make this setting mandatory click on the lock icon and then click Lock in order to confirm the setting.

User

The following instructions will assist you in enabling Private chatting for your own use:

1. Enter your Zoom user name and password if you haven’t already done so.
2. You can access the settings by clicking on the Settings button in the navigation panel.
3. Next, select Meetings from the drop-down list.
4. Check to see whether you have enabled Chat and Private Chat under the In Meeting (Basic) tab.
5. You can enable either feature by clicking the toggles next to the settings. Once you have verified the change by clicking Turn On, the feature will be enIt is likely that the options are grayed out since the account level or the group level have locked them.account level. It is recommended that you contact your Zoom administrator.

How to control private chat access during a meeting

The person in charge of the meeting can choose whether or not participants will be able to chat with other participants, with everyone or with the presenter. Click the following link for more information.

1. Become the host of the meeting.
2. Go to Meeting Controls and click on Chat.
   
3. At the bottom of the in-meeting Zoom Group Chat window, click More , and then choose to allow participants to chat with each other as follows:
   • No one: This disables in-meeting chat for everyone.
   • Admin only: By enabling this setting, only the admin will be allowed to send messages to everyone. Members of the public can still send private messages to the admin.
   • For all participants: Participants are only able to send public messages. All participants have access to publicly sent messages. Users can still communicate with the host in private messages.
   • There is public information as well as private information: Everyone can send public messages to the host. All participants will be able to see public messages. Messages sent to individual participants are treated as private.

All private chats in meetings will be disabled

For all your meetings, you can turn off the private chat feature. In order to prevent participants from contacting other participants in a meeting through private messages, you must disable in-meeting private chat.

1. Log in to the Zoom web portal from the web browser you are using.
2. Click the Settings link in the navigation panel.
3. Select the Private chat option from the list of features under In Meeting (Basic).
4. You can disable the Private chat option by clicking the toggle button.
5. When you are done, click Save Changes.