The wait is over. You can now create Breakout Rooms similar to the ones you may be used to in Zoom to create smaller groups of participants within a single meeting. Up to 50 Breakout Rooms can be created for a single meeting. Follow the instructions on this page to set them up and use them for class sessions and meetings.

Enable New Meeting Experience

Click on your profile image in Teams at the top right

Click Settings

On the General tab in the Application section, check Turn on new meeting experience

Open

Restart Teams (restart of the computer might be required)

You can double-check that the setting is working correctly by starting a meeting and verifying that the meeting opens in its own window

Video Tutorial

Check out this Breakout Rooms YouTube tutorial.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Before the meeting

You must be the meeting organizer and use the Teams desktop app (as opposed to the web version) to access the breakout rooms option and to manage breakout rooms and participants. Meeting attendees and presenters will not see the breakout rooms option. It is not possible to transfer or share organizer capabilities.

Breakout rooms cannot be set up before a meeting and must be created after the meeting has started. 

During the meeting – as meeting organizer

Breakout rooms are available if you join a private scheduled meeting (including recurring), or private meet now meeting from a Teams desktop client. The breakout room icon is located on the meeting menu between the raise hand control and the ellipsis that reveals additional actions.

Setting up and managing breakout rooms

1. Join your meeting from the Teams desktop client.

2. Once the meeting has started, select the breakout room icon.

3. In the pop-up settings 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 into equal-sized rooms. Participants who join the meeting after automatic allocation will need to be assigned manually.

   • Manually – allows you to assign participants to rooms as you choose.

Select Create rooms. A menu will appear to the right of your Teams meeting window displaying room management options, room titles, participants, and status of your breakout rooms and participants.

• To manually create additional rooms, select Add room.

• To assign or move a participant manually, select the closed room or section where the participant is currently assigned. Tick the box(es) next to the name(s) of the participant(s) you want to move. Select Assign and choose any room you want to place them in. Participants who have not yet been assigned to a room will appear under the Assign participants section. 
  Note that participants joining via desk phone or Teams mobile app cannot be assigned and will remain in the main meeting.

• To edit the title of a room or delete it, hover over the status icon next to the room title:

  • Rename room – change the title of the selected room. It is recommended to create a specific title as the chat log remains accessible for participants after the meeting, and a distinctive name will help with discoverability.

  • Delete room – remove the selected room. Any assigned participants will be moved to the list of unassigned participants. To delete all rooms and settings at once, see Recreate rooms in the next step.

• To open additional overarching room settings, select the three dots next to the Breakout rooms heading, and chose Rooms settings while all rooms are closed:

  • Automatically move people into opened rooms – select to move participants automatically in and out of their assigned rooms when you open or close the breakout rooms. Participants will receive a notification that they will be moved automatically with 10 seconds notice. If this option is not selected, participants will be prompted to choose whether they want to move in or out of the breakout room.

  • Let people go back to the main meeting – select to allow participants to move between the main meeting and their assigned breakout room when the breakout rooms are open. If this option is not selected, participants will be able to move back into the main meeting by selecting Return, or back to the breakout room by selecting Join room.

  • ‘Recreate rooms’ – delete all current rooms and settings to start from the beginning.

Starting breakout rooms

When you are happy with the breakout rooms allocations and settings, you need to open the rooms to allow participants to access them.

• To open all of the rooms at once, select Start rooms. The status icon next to the rooms will change from Closed to Open.

• To open individual rooms, hover over the Closed status icon of the room and select the three dots icon. Select Open.

• When participants are in the breakout room, In meeting displays beside their name. If this status is not shown beside a name, you can prompt the participant to enter the breakout room by selecting their name and Ask to join.

Managing open breakout rooms

Announcements

1. To send an announcement message to all open breakout rooms simultaneously, select the three dots icon next to the breakout rooms menu title.

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

Joining breakout rooms

1. Hover over the Open status icon of the breakout room you want to enter.

2. Select Join room.

3. You will be added to the breakout room and can interact with all features of the meeting. While you are in a breakout room, you will be On Hold in the main meeting and will not be able to see if participants have entered the main meeting until you return to the main meeting.

4. Select the Leave button to leave the breakout room and return to the main meeting.

Add rooms

Select Add room to create another breakout room at any time. Note that participants from open rooms cannot be moved to a different room until their current room is closed.

Close breakout rooms

• To close all of the open rooms at once, select Close rooms.

• To close individual rooms, hover over the Open status icon of the room and select the thre icon. Select ‘Close’.

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 to 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.

During the meeting – as meeting participant

Entering a breakout room

If the meeting organizer chosen not to move participants automatically, participants will see a pop up message with options when the breakout sessions begin and end.

• When the breakout rooms open – participants can select Join room to go into the breakout room or Later to remain in the main meeting. If a participant selects Later, the breakout room can be accessed while it is still open by selecting Join room on the main meeting menu.

• When the breakout rooms close – participants can select Join to go back into the main meeting, or ‘Leave meeting’ to completely exit the meeting.

Switching between main meeting and assigned breakout room

If this feature is enabled by the meeting organizer, participants can return to the main meeting at any time while the room is still open by selecting Return. Participants can return to their assigned breakout room from the main meeting while the room is open by selecting Join room.

Need More Help?

Check out these pages from Microsoft’s support site:

• MS Teams Breakout Room feature overview

• Use breakout rooms in Teams meetings