Organizers have the option to pre-arrange meeting attendees into breakout rooms when scheduling a meeting when converting the meeting to an open format. You may find this useful if you are already aware of the way your participants will be grouped.

The meetings can also be managed by managing your breakout rooms while they are in use.

Prerequisites for pre-assigning participants

• There is a pre-assignment option available for breakout rooms with breakout sessions
• turned off When the meeting is in place, ends-to-end encryption will be enabled
• Host:
  • Zoom desktop client
    • For Windows: version 5.3.0 or higher
    • For macOS: version 5.3.0 or higher
    • For Linux: version 5.3.0 or higher
  • Web client
• Participants:
  • Zoom desktop client
    • For Windows: version 5.3.0 or higher
    • For macOS: version 5.3.0 or higher
    • For Linux: version 5.3.0 or higher
  • Zoom mobile app
    • For Android: version 5.3.0 or higher
    • For iOS: version 5.3.0 or higher
  • Web client
    Note:
  •  It is necessary for participants who join a meeting that has pre-assignments to be signed into the Zoom account associated with the email address used to create pre-assignments so that the pre-assignments can be applied. The pre-assignment won’t be applied to them if they are not logged in or if they are not logged in with the same account they used to sign in.

Limitations

• The company can pre-assign rooms for up to 50 participants and 200 rooms for up to 200 attendees. Using Breakout Rooms 100, if you have enabled this feature on your account, you can pre-assign as many rooms and participants as you wish.
• Pre-assignments can be configured for meetings but only one set of pre-assignments can be added. There is the option of altering and changing pre-assignments but unfortunately it is impossible to store more than one set for one meeting or meeting series.
• Pre-assigning participants will only work if they have an internal or external Zoom account (internal or external users of Zoom).
• In order to assign external participants in a meeting who are not Zoom users, you can import a CSV file.
• In order to allow your account’s breakout rooms to grow up to a maximum capacity of 100 breakout rooms, with a capacity of 1,000 per breakout room (depending on the account limits), Zoom Support can increase the capacity. If all or even most participants are participating in a meeting hosted by your account who do not have Zoom client version 5.2 or higher, they will be required to update their Zoom client before joining the meeting. They can also join with the web client if they have it. In the event that your users do not have access to their computers, updating the client on their computers would require that your IT Department assist you with this task.
• You should make sure that you apply the predetermined breakout rooms to all meetings in a recurring meeting if you scheduled recurring meetings. In order to apply a unique pre-assignment to every meeting in a recurrence, you cannot edit the individual meetings in the recurrence.

 Pre-assigning participants to breakout rooms using the web portal

1. Login to the Zoom web portal by using your email address and password.
2. You will be able to schedule a meeting once you click the Meetings button.
3. Choose the Breakout Room pre-assignment option in the Meeting Options section and click Create Rooms.
4. You can add as many breakout rooms as you need by clicking the plus sign beside Rooms.
5. By hovering your cursor over the default breakout room’s name beneath the right panel, you will be able to rename it using the pencil icon.
6. To add external users to the breakout room, enter their email address in the Add participants text box and then press Enter. You can also search by name or email address in the Add participants text box, or manually enter the email address of external users.
7. Optionally, you can edit the breakout rooms and participants by following these instructions:
   • The order of the breakout rooms can be changed by clicking and dragging the email addresses of the participants.
   • In order to remove a participant from the current room, you need to hover over their name in order to see an option to move them to another room.
   • It is simple. Hover your mouse over the name of the breakout room on the left panel, then click the trash icon, which deletes the room.
8. Click on the Save button.

 Pre-assigning participants to breakouts rooms using a CSV file

1. Log into the Zoom web portal by entering your email address and password.
2. You will then be able to schedule a meeting through the Meetings tab.
3. Then you should select Breakout Room pre-assignment under Meeting Options and click Import from CSV on the next screen.
4. Download a sample CSV file that you can fill out by clicking Download.
5. Once you have downloaded the file, you should open it with a spreadsheet program, such as Microsoft Excel.
   Note: In addition to specifying internal users within Zoom’s account, you can also specify external users outside Zoom’s account where appropriate.
6. Specify the particular breakout room name in the Pre-assign Room Name column, and enter the email address of the participant who is in charge of the breakout room.
7. Then save your files.
8. Using the web portal, drag and drop your files into the space provided.
   If the email address that you enter does not have a Zoom account, Zoom will notify you.

 Editing breakout room assignments

You can edit the assignments for participants who have been pre-assigned to breakout rooms before you start the meeting, if you have already done so.

 Starting a meeting with pre-assigned breakout rooms

1. Pre-assign breakout rooms to participants at the beginning of the meeting.
2. For more information on using the breakout rooms you created, you can click on the Breakout Rooms link located in the meeting controls.
   
   Note : 

   • You may need to re-assign participants to pre-assigned breakout rooms in order to make sure they are assigned to their pre-assigned breakout rooms, if they are not assigned to the breakout room you specified when scheduling the meeting.
   • It is possible to manually assign participants to a breakout room during a meeting by using the controls for the breakout room.
3. The breakout rooms are automatically started after you click on Open All Rooms.

 Recovering pre-assigned breakout rooms

It is possible to switch back to the breakout rooms assignment that you previously specified once the breakout rooms have been successfully launched. When using this function, you may find it useful if you leave a meeting before you have finished the breakout sessions, or if pre-assigned participants join the meeting after you have entered the meeting or started the breakout sessions.

1. Pre-assign participants to breakout rooms at the beginning of the meeting.
2. To end all breakout sessions, click Close All Rooms at the bottom of the screen.
3. Recreate, followed by Recover, is the best way to return to the previously assigned rooms.
4. When scheduling the meeting, you had the option of specifying the breakout rooms in which you would like the participants to be seated.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do you randomly assign participants to breakout rooms in zoom?

The meeting will be conducted randomly (automatically)

A “Breakout Room” button can be found in the Meeting control bar. You can access it during a meeting by clicking the “Breakout Room” button. Toward the bottom of the screen, there is a button called Create Rooms which you can click on if you wish to automatically create rooms at the bottom of the screen. You can select the number of breakout rooms you would like to split into and this will automatically begin to assign participants to those rooms, equally.

Can co host create breakout rooms in zoom?

As the name implies, breakout rooms are separate rooms within Zoom meetings that are separate from the main Zoom meeting and that are used for separate sessions. During a Zoom meeting, participants have the option to be placed in breakout rooms manually by the meeting host (or co-host), or Zoom can automatically assign participants to breakout rooms based on the meeting hosts’ selection.

How do you make a Zoom breakout room in advance?

The Zoom web portal can be accessed by logging into the Zoom account. Schedule a meeting by clicking the Meetings tab. The Breakout Room pre-assignment option can be found in the Meeting Options section. In order to create the breakout rooms, click on the Create Rooms button in the Meeting Options section. Click the plus button beside the Rooms heading on the left side of the screen if you want to add more breakout rooms to the event.

Can multiple people assign breakout rooms in Zoom?

With the use of breakout rooms within Zoom, you can divide your Zoom meeting into as many as 50 separate sessions that can be conducted in parallel. As meeting hosts, you can decide whether or not you would like attendees to be able to select and enter breakout sessions on their own in accordance with your wishes, or if you would like to split attendees automatically or manually into these breakout sessions.

Can you pre assign breakout rooms in Zoom After meeting is scheduled?

You can find the Meetings menu under the Main Menu. Select the meeting title that you would like to pre-assign breakout rooms for, then click on the title of the meeting that you would like to pre-assign breakout rooms for. There will be the option to make changes by clicking on the Edit button at the bottom of the page.

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