Create and manage breakout rooms to split participants into small groups for discussions, and group work. Each room created is private to only the assigned participants and the organiser and can be setup before the meeting starts.

The Breakout feature allows you to:

• Create and name rooms before and during the meeting
• Assign participants to rooms before and during the meeting
• Assign another person to manage breakout rooms in a meeting
• Open and close rooms during a meeting
• Move participants between rooms
• Save files, recordings and notes from breakout rooms

Teams allow you to have up to 300 people and create up to 50 breakout rooms. When you schedule recurring meetings, the same rooms will be available for the next meeting.

Only the person who scheduled the meeting has access to the breakout room features and can assign a presenter before or during the meeting to manage the rooms and participants.

Every breakout room has the same tools as the main meeting room. Participants can give presentations, use the chat and share files.

Important
To use the breakout rooms, you must be using the latest version of Teams Desktop app. This feature is not available in the Teams web browser.

Only the meeting person who scheduled the meeting will see the breakout room tool when they join the meeting.

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The Meeting Controls

First,
1. Schedule the meeting in your Calendar.
2. Invite person/s that will be managing the breakout rooms and participants if you want to assign them to rooms before the meeting begins.

Create breakout rooms during meeting (click to expand)

Once the meeting has started, on the meeting controls, select the breakout room icon.
In the breakout rooms window, select the number of breakout rooms you want to create and how participants will be assigned.

Automatically - participants who have already joined the meeting will be assigned between rooms in equal numbers. Participants who join the meeting after allocation will need to be assigned manually.
Manually – allows you to assign participants to Breakout rooms.

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Select Create rooms.
The Breakout rooms pane will appear to the right of your screen displaying more breakout options.

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Add and rename rooms

Add Rooms

Click on the plus sign icon to add more rooms. The new room will appear at the bottom of the list.

Rename Rooms

Place your mouse over the room name. Click on the three dots (…).
Select Rename room.

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Give the room a new name. Click Rename.

Assign presenter to manage rooms

The presenter will have to be invited to the meeting and added to Who can present using the Meeting options to be assigned the breakout rooms manager.

Go to your Teams calendar and open the scheduled meeting.
Click Breakout rooms and select Room settings .
Toggle on Assign presenters to manage rooms.
Select Search for presenters and select who you want to be breakout rooms manager.

Assign presenter to manage rooms during the meeting

The presenter will have to be invited to the meeting by email when you schedule the meeting and assigned presenter using the meeting options first, to manage the breakout rooms.

Open the meeting,
Click Breakout rooms from the meeting controls bar.
From the Create Breakout rooms pane select create rooms Automatically or Manually.

Click Create Rooms.

On the Breakout rooms pane, Click Settings
Click the toggle beside Assign presenters to manage rooms.

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Type or select the presenter's name that you want to assign to manage breakout rooms.
Click on the arrow next to Settings to return to the Breakout rooms pane.

Assign participants to rooms before meeting

Breakout rooms can be set up before the meeting has started and you can assign only the invited (emailed) participants when you scheduled the meeting to rooms. Participants that have not been sent an Email invite can still join the meeting and be assigned to a room. To assign people, you must be the meeting organiser or presenter that has been appointed a breakout rooms manager.

Open the scheduled meeting from your Teams calendar
Click on Breakout rooms at the top of the screen. and
Click Create rooms.
Select Assign participants.
Enter how many rooms you need, then click Add rooms.
You can select how you assign people to rooms Manually, or let Teams assign them for you Automatically. Select how you want to assign participants to rooms.

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If you choose Automatically, you will who has been assigned to which room.

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If you choose Manually, you will have to assign participants to rooms

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To add one participant: Place a tick in the check box next to their name. Then select the arrow next to Assign and choose a room to assign them to.
To add more than one participant to a room at once: Place a tick in the check box next to their name. Then select the arrow next to Assign and choose a room to assign them to.
Repeat steps 1 or 2 until the whole group has been assigned to a room.
Select Assign.
In each room you will see how many participants has been assigned to that room.

Assign participants to rooms during meeting

Select Assign participants from the breakout rooms pane.

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You can quickly add more than one participant to rooms by placing a tick in the check box next to their name. Then select the arrow next to Assign and choose a room to assign them to.
Repeat step 2 until the whole group has been assigned to a room.
Select Confirm.

Under each room you will now see who has been assigned to that room and If participants join the meeting late, you can still assign them to a room by selecting Assign participants.

Open breakout rooms

When you have finished setting up the breakout rooms and allocating participants.

To open all of the rooms at once.

Select Open. The status icon next to the room(s) will change from Closed to Open.

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To open individual rooms.

Place mouse over the Closed icon of the room and click the three dots (…). Select Open.

Move participants between rooms

Participants can be moved when breakout rooms are open or closed.

In the meeting controls, select Breakout rooms .
Select Assign participants and select the checkbox next to the person's name you want to move.

3. Select a room for the person/s, click Assign.

Send announcements

To send an announcement to all open breakout rooms at the same time,

1. Click on the three dots (…) next to Breakout rooms at the top of the pane.

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Select Make an announcement, enter your message. The announcement will display in all breakout rooms with a red Important label.

Close rooms

Close one room

Place mouse over the Open status icon of the room and select the three dots (…) . Select Close.

Close all rooms

2. Click on Close.

Recreate rooms

Select Recreate rooms

Click Recreate to confirm

The Create Breakout Rooms window will appear for you to create your rooms and how you want to assign participants to rooms.

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Select the number of breakout rooms and how you want to assign participants to rooms.
Click Create rooms.

Delete rooms

Place your mouse over the room name, click on the three dots (…).
Select Delete room.

Delete all rooms

Select Remove rooms

If you select Cancel all the rooms will remain. Or
If you select Remove. All the rooms will be deleted and you will be taken back to the main meeting room.

Set timing for rooms

Keep your meetings on schedule and participants will know how much time they have left by setting a timer. The time will visible in each breakout room. When time is up, breakout rooms will close automatically and participants will return to the main meeting.

Select Rooms settings.
Select Set a time limit, then select the down arrow to choose a how long you want the session to run.
Select the back button to save your changes.

Ending the meeting

At the end of the meeting, you can either leave your breakout rooms open or closed.

Open: allows participants to continue collaborating in the breakout room chat and re-open the breakout room meeting after the main meeting has ended. If the meeting is recurring, your breakout room settings and allocations are saved and maintained for subsequent meetings.
Closed: breakout room chats become read only for all participants after the meeting has ended and cannot be re-opened. Breakout room settings and allocations are not saved for subsequent meetings.

The link to a video below will show you how to use the Breakout room features.

Breakout Rooms video