Create Breakout Rooms

For complete information and instructions related to the breakout room feature, visit Zoom's Managing Breakout Rooms (opens in a new tab) support page.

Breakout rooms allow you to split your Zoom meeting in up to 100 separate sessions. The meeting host or co-host can choose to split the participants of the meeting into these smaller groups automatically or manually, or they can allow participants to select and enter breakout sessions as they please. Breakout room participants have full audio, video and screen share capabilities. The host or co-host can switch between sessions at any time, and monitor the level of activity in each room. You can also pre-assign participants to breakout rooms when you schedule your meeting instead of doing it live during the meeting.

Create Breakout Rooms During a Meeting

Step 1

Start an instant or scheduled meeting as the host.

Step 2

Select the Breakout Rooms icon in the meeting toolbar.

Step 3

Select the number of rooms you would like to create, and how you would like to assign your participants to those rooms:

• Assign automatically: Let Zoom split your participants up evenly into each of the rooms.
  • Include co-host(s) to breakout rooms: Disable by default, you can include any co-host(s) in the automatic assignment of breakout rooms.
• Assign manually: Choose yourself which participants you would like in each room.
• Let participants choose room: Participants can select and enter rooms on their own.

Step 4

Select Create.

Pre-assign Breakout Rooms via D2L

As a meeting host, you can pre-arrange your meeting participants into breakout rooms when scheduling the meeting. This can be useful if you already know how you want to group your participants.

Step 1

Within a web browser, access Zoom via your D2L course. Instructions for doing so can be viewed at Access Zoom via D2L.

Step 2

Select Schedule a New Meeting.

Step 3

In the Meeting Options section, select the Breakout Room pre-assign checkbox, then select Create Rooms. A Breakout Room Assignment window will appear.

Step 4

In the window, to the right of Rooms, select the plus (+) button to add breakout rooms.

Step 5

(Optional) In the right panel, select the pencil (edit) button to rename the breakout room. This button will appear when you hover your mouse over the breakout room name.

Step 6

Select the Add participants text box, and your D2L course roster should appear so you can select a student's name to add to the breakout room. Once you have added a name it will disappear from the pop-up list. Repeat until all of your students have been placed in the rooms you desire. Alternatively you can search for internal participants by name or email address, or manually enter the email address of external users. Press Enter to add them to the breakout room.

Step 7

(Optional) Use these options to edit your breakout rooms and participants:

• Select and drag a participant's email address to change the order.
• Select or hover your mouse over a participant's name to see options to move them to another room or remove them from the current room.
• To delete a breakout room, select or hover your mouse over the room name in the left panel and select the trash icon. 

Step 8

Select Save.

Pre-assign Breakout Rooms via Web Portal

As a meeting host, you can pre-arrange your meeting participants into breakout rooms when scheduling the meeting. This can be useful if you already know how you want to group your participants.

Step 1

Within a web browser, navigate to and sign in to the UArizona Zoom Web Portal. Instructions for doing so can be viewed at Access UArizona Zoom Web Portal.

Step 2

Select Meetings within the navigation menu.

Step 3

Select Schedule a Meeting.

Step 4

In the Options section, select the Breakout Room pre-assign checkbox, then select Create Rooms. A Breakout Room Assignment window will appear.

Step 5

In the window, to the right of Rooms, select the plus (+) button to add breakout rooms.

Step 6

(Optional) In the right panel, select the pencil (edit) button to rename the breakout room. This button will appear when you hover your mouse over the breakout room name.

Step 7

In the Add participants text box, search for internal participants by name or email address and select the appropriate name that appears in search results, or manually enter the email address of external users, and then press Enter to add them to the breakout room.

Step 8

(Optional) Use these options to edit your breakout rooms and participants:

• Select and drag a participant's email address to change the order.
• Select or hover your mouse over a participant's name to see options to move them to another room or remove them from the current room.
• To delete a breakout room, select or hover your mouse over the room name in the left panel and select the trash icon. 

Step 9

Select Save.

Start a Meeting with Pre-assigned Breakout Rooms

It is extremely important that the participants join your meeting with their Zoom account, otherwise they won't get properly put in the room they were assigned. Zoom looks for the email address that was used for pre-assign. If the participant isn't signed in to Zoom with that email address Zoom will not place them in the assigned room because it doesn't see the appropriate email address. Participants can follow the Sign in to Zoom help page for proper sign in instructions.

Step 1

As the host, start the meeting with participants pre-assigned to breakout rooms.

Step 2

Select the Breakout Rooms icon in the meeting toolbar to access the breakout rooms you created.

Step 3

Select Open All Rooms to start the breakout rooms.

Back to Top