Pre-Assigning Breakout Rooms in Zoom

Learn how to pre-assign participants to breakout rooms in Zoom both in Canvas and outside of Canvas using Create Rooms or Import from CSV.

Before you start

Must be a Stevens student, faculty or staff member.
If you scheduled recurring meetings, the pre-assigned breakout rooms will only work if it's applied to all meetings in the recurrence. You can't edit a single meeting in the recurrence and apply a unique pre-assignment.
To prepare to use Zoom, activate your Stevens Zoom account and install the Zoom desktop client, which offers the best available Zoom experience.

Pre-Assigning Breakout Rooms Using Zoom in Canvas

Step 1: Open the course in Canvas.

Step 2: Select Zoom.

Step 3: Select Schedule a New Meeting and enter the meeting information, such as Topic, When, Duration, etc.

Step 4: In Meeting Options, select Breakout Room pre-assign.

Zoom canvas tab, meeting options show multiple check boxes. The Breakout Room pre-assign check box should be checked

There are two ways to create pre-assigned breakout rooms:

Create Rooms: Assign participants to breakout rooms by adding their email addresses
Import from CSV: Assign participants to breakout rooms by uploading a CSV file with breakout room name and email address for each participant. To pre-assign participants that are external (non-Stevens) Zoom users such as guest speakers, use the Import from CSV option.

Pre-assigning Breakout Rooms Using Create Rooms

Step 1: Select Create Rooms.

Step 2: To add a room, select the + button.

Breakout Room Assignments Tab, There are two columns, one column says rooms and the other is for adding participants. There is a plus button in the rooms column

Step 3: Breakout rooms are named Breakout Room 1, Breakout Room 2, etc. by default. To change breakout room names, select the breakout room name in the Rooms column, then select the room name in the right column. Delete the original name and replace with the new name.

Text box to rename the meeting rooms

Step 4: To add participants to a breakout room click on the breakout room name in the Rooms column

Step 5: Paste the participant email address in the Add Participantfield and use the enter key on your keyboard

when you click on a room, a column pops up to add participants to the room selected

Step 6: Repeat until all participant emails are added to all of the rooms.

Step 7: Once you have created all the breakout rooms and added all participants, select Save.

Blue save button bottom of window

Step 8: The number of pre-assigned Breakout Rooms you have created will display below Breakout Room pre-assign. To edit these rooms, select Edit.

The number of breakout rooms created appears under the breakout room pre-assign check box. There is a blue text edit button

Step 9: Complete the setup of your Zoom meeting and select Save to save the meeting information.

For additional information about pre-assigning breakout rooms, please see this article.

Pre-assigning Breakout Rooms Using Import from CSV

Step 1: Select Import from CSV.

under the breakout room pre-assign there is blue text that says "import from CSV"

Step 2: Select download to download the template.

Above the drag & drop box, there is a blue text download option

Step 3: In the template, create one row for each participant, with the appropriate breakout room name in column A and the participant’s email in column B.

Do not rename the template file.

Excel file reflecting breakout rooms and participant emails

Step 4: Drag and drop the CSV file into the Import from CSV file window.

A file being dragged into the drag & drop box

Step 5: The breakout room assignments will be created with the appropriate room names and participants. Select Save.

Blue save button at the bottom of the window

Step 6: Select Save to save the meeting.

Blue save button at the bottom of the meeting options

For additional information about pre-assigning breakout rooms, please see this article.

Pre-Assigning Breakout Rooms Using Zoom Outside of Canvas

Step 1: Sign into my.stevens.edu.

Step 2: Select Zoom.

Step 3: Select Schedule a Meeting and enter the meeting information, such as Topic, When, Duration, etc.

Step 4: In Options, select Show.

Zoom meeting options. Next to options there is a blue texted button reading "show"

Step 5: Select Breakout Room pre-assign.

Meeting options there is a breakout room pre-assign check box

There are two ways to create pre-assigned breakout rooms:

Create Rooms: Assign participants to breakout rooms by adding their email addresses.
Import from CSV: Assign participants to breakout rooms by uploading a CSV file with breakout room name and email address for each participant.

Pre-assigning Breakout Rooms Using Create Rooms

Step 1: Select Create Rooms.

Step 2: To add a room, select the + button.

Next to rooms there is a plus button.

Step 3: Breakout rooms are named Room 1, Room 2, etc. by default. To change breakout room names, select the breakout room name in the Rooms column, then select the room name in the right column. Delete the original name and replace with the new name.

There is a text bar where you can rename the breakout rooms

Step 4: To add participants to a breakout room click on the breakout room name in the Rooms column.

Step 5: Paste the participant email address in the Add Participant field and use the enter key on your keyboard.

When a room is selected, there is an option where you can paste emails. Add any emails you would like to be in the room and they will appear

Step 6: Repeat until all participant emails are added to all of the rooms.

Step 7: Once you have created all the breakout rooms and added all participants, select Save.

Blue save button at the bottom right of the window

Step 8: The number of pre-assigned Breakout Rooms you have created will display below Breakout Room pre-assign. To edit these rooms, select Edit.

Under the breakout room pre-assign option, it shows the number of breakout rooms created. next to this is a blue texted edit button

Step 9: Complete the setup of your Zoom meeting and select Save to save the meeting information.

For additional information about pre-assigning breakout rooms, please see this article.

Pre-assigning Breakout Rooms Using Import from CSV

Step 1: Select Import from CSV.

Meeting options, Under breakout rooms pre-assign check box, there is a blue text options to import from CSV

Step 2: Select download to download the template.

Above the drag & drop box, is a blue download button

Step 3: In the template, create one row for each participant, with the appropriate breakout room name in column A and the participant’s email in column B.

Do not rename the template file.

Excel file reflecting pre-assigned rooms and participants added

Step 4: Drag and drop the CSV file into the Import from CSV file window.

Shows a file being dropped into the drag & drop box

Step 5: The breakout room assignments will be created with the appropriate room names and participants. Select Save.

The created rooms and participants appear on the rooms screen. Blue save button on the bottom right

Step 6: Select Save to save the meeting.

blue save button bottom left of the screen

For additional information about pre-assigning breakout rooms, please see this article.

Placing Participants into Pre-Assigned Breakout Rooms During a Zoom Meeting

Step 1: Start the Zoom meeting.

Step 2: Click Breakout Rooms in the meeting controls to access the breakout rooms you created.

Step 3: Click Open All Rooms to start the breakout rooms.

For additional information about using Zoom breakout rooms, please see this article.

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