The Breakout rooms allow a meeting organizer to divide the meeting into sub-groups to facilitate discussions and brainstorming sessions. The organizer can start the Breakout rooms in a Teams meeting or a Teams channel meeting. The meeting organizer can create, rename, and delete rooms as needed. Once the Breakout rooms are open, the meeting organizer can join any of the Breakout sessions. The organizer can send announcements to the breakout rooms and recall all participants back to the main meeting at any time.

 

Note:

  • It is only for Microsoft Teams Desktop App (PC & Mac.) It is not available for Mobile or Web versions. You need to be a meeting organizer and be present in the meeting.
  • You can only organize the participants into Breakout rooms once the meeting has started.
  • Participants can join a Breakout room via Desktop, Mobile, or Web version. In the Breakout room, participants can record the meeting or use Whiteboard to collaborate on work.

 

Part I: Create Breakout Rooms:

 

  1. If you haven't done so already, turn on the "New Teams Meeting experience" and restart Teams. See the tutorial.
  2. When students have joined your meeting, in Meeting Controls, select Breakout rooms
  3. In the "Room settings" section, select how many rooms you would like to create from the drop-down list. 
    Note: The maximum number of breakout rooms is 50.
  4. In the "Participants" section, select Automatically or Manually to assign participants. 
    Note: This is the only time you can choose to assign students automatically to a room. You won't be able to choose this option later.
  5. Select Create Rooms

 

Breakout rooms setup showing steps 2-5 for creating rooms

 

Part II: Assign Participants to Rooms:

 

If you chose Automatically, participants will already be assigned to different breakout rooms. Use the following instructions to manually add participants to rooms:

 

  1. Expand the list of participants, click the arrow next to the Assign participants.
  2. Choose students by selecting the checkbox.
  3. Click the Assign button.
  4. Choose a room from the list.
  5. Repeat this process until all students have been assigned to rooms. 
    Note: To view the participants assigned to a Breakout Room, expand the arrow next to the room's name.

 

Breakout rooms panel showing steps 1-5 for assigning participants to rooms

 

Part III: Rename, Delete, or Add a Room:

 

  1. By default, the Breakout rooms are named Room 1, Room 2, ..etc. To rename the room, click the room's 3 dots (… more options,) then select Rename room.
  2. Enter the new name for the room, then select Rename room.
  3. To delete a Breakout room, click the room's 3 dots (… more options,) then select Delete room.
  4. To add an additional room, in the "Manage rooms" section, click Add room.
  5. A new room is added to the end of the room list.

 

Breakout rooms panel showing rename and delete room options with more options menu

 

Breakout rooms panel showing Add room button and newly added room

 

Part IV: Start Breakout Rooms and Join a Breakout Room:

 

  1. When you are ready to split participants into Breakout rooms, click Start room. 
    Note: When participants join their breakout room, they have all the functionality of a presenter, such as recording meeting.
  2. When the status of rooms changes to Open, you will know rooms have opened successfully.
  3. To start rooms individually, click the room's 3 dots (… more options) next to the room, then select Open room.
  4. To join a Breakout room, click the room's 3 dots (… more options) and select Join room. 
    Note: Participants do not receive any notification of the organizer's joining.
  5. To leave the Breakout room and return to the main meeting room, select Return from the Meeting Control.

 

Breakout rooms panel showing Start room button and Open status for rooms

 

Breakout room showing Join room option and Return button in Meeting Control

 

Part V: Send an Announcement to Breakout Rooms:

 

  1. To broadcast an announcement message via meeting chat to all Breakout rooms, in the "Breakout rooms" pane, click 3 dots (… more options) and select Make an announcement. 
    Note: Participants can see this announcement message and respond to it in the Breakout room chat. Organizer also can access each Breakout room chat.
  2. Type in your message, then select Send.
  3. Students will receive a notification in their meeting chat to check for your announcement.

 

Breakout rooms panel showing Make an announcement option and Send button

 

Part VI: Reassign Participants:

 

You can swap participants into different rooms individually. Currently, you can only move participants when breakout rooms are closed. To move participants individually:

 

  1. To expand the list of participants, click the arrow next to the Assign participants.
  2. Choose a student by selecting the checkbox. Then click Assign.
  3. Select a Breakout room you'd like to move the student to.

 

Breakout rooms panel showing participant reassignment with checkbox and Assign button

 

Your screens and processes may vary slightly from this document.