Enabling or disabling in-meeting chat


The meeting chat feature allows participants to chat with others while in a meeting. As the host, you can control who participants are allowed to chat with. You can also disable the chat feature for all participants, or disable private chat so participants cannot send private messages to other participants.

Account owners and admins can enable or disable chat for all users in the account or for specific groups in the account. Users can also enable or disable the feature for their own use when they host meetings.

This article covers: 

Prerequisites for enabling or disabling in-meeting chat

How to enable or disable in-meeting chat for all meetings

Disabling in-meeting chat prevents the host, co-hosts, and participants from chatting in any meetings. The Chat option will no longer appear in the participant controls.

If you don't want to disable chat for everyone, you can still disable private chat, which prevents participants from sending private messages to other participants in the meeting. Participants will still be able to privately message with the host. 

Account

To enable or disable Meeting chat for all users in the account:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an admin with the privilege to edit account settings.
  2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Account Settings.
  3. Click the Meeting tab.
  4. Under In Meeting (Basic), click the Meeting chat toggle to enable or disable it.
    Note: If you disable Meeting chat, the Meeting chat - Direct messages and Meeting chat - Auto-save features will also be disabled.
  5. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable or Disable to verify the change.
  6. In the By default, allow participants to chat with drop-down, specify if meeting participants are allowed to chat with No one, Host and co-host only, or Everyone in the meeting. This option saves the setting as the default when the meeting is started. This setting only works properly if the host is on client version 5.7.3 and above.
  7. (Optional) Select the Allow users to save chats from the meeting check box to enable the ability to save the chat transcript. If you enable this option, select which users can save the chats:
    • Host and co-hosts: Only the host and co-hosts can save the chat transcript. This option requires client version 5.7.3 or later.
    • Everyone: Allows anyone in the meeting to save chats, including external users.
    • Only users in your account: Prevents external users from saving meeting chats. This option requires client version 5.11.3 or later.
  8. (Optional) Select the Only users in your account can chat checkbox to allow only internal users in the account to use in-meeting chat. This applies regardless of whether the meeting is hosted by a regulated user’s organization or an external organization.
  9. Click Save.
  10. (Optional) To prevent all users in your account from changing this setting, click the lock icon , and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

Group

To enable or disable Meeting chat for a group of users:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an admin with the privilege to edit groups.
  2. In the navigation menu, click User Management then Groups.
  3. Click the applicable group name from the list.
  4. Click the Meeting tab.
  5. Under In Meeting (Basic), click the Meeting chat toggle to enable or disable it.
    Notes:
  6. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable or Disable to verify the change.
  7. In the By default, allow participants to chat with drop-down, specify if meeting participants are allowed to chat with No one, Host and co-host only, or Everyone in the meeting. This option saves the setting as the default when the meeting is started. This setting only works properly if the host is on client version 5.7.3 and above.
  8. (Optional) Select the Allow users to save chats from the meeting check box to enable the ability to save the chat transcript, then select which users can save the chats:
    • Host and co-hosts: Only the host and co-hosts can save the chat transcript. This option requires client version 5.7.3 or later.
    • Everyone: Allows anyone in the meeting to save chats, including external users.
    • Only users in your account: Prevents external users from saving meeting chats. This option requires client version 5.11.3 or later.
  9. (Optional) Select the Only users in your account can chat checkbox to allow only internal users in the account to use in-meeting chat. This applies regardless of whether the meeting is hosted by a regulated user’s organization or an external organization.
  10. Click Save.
  11. (Optional) To prevent all users in the group from changing this setting, click the lock icon , and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

User

To enable or disable Meeting chat for your own use:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
  2. In the navigation menu, click Settings.
  3. Click the Meeting tab.
  4. Under In Meeting (Basic), click the Meeting chat toggle to enable or disable it. 
    Notes:
  5. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable or Disable to verify the change.
  6. In the By default, allow participants to chat with drop-down, specify if meeting participants are allowed to chat with No one, Host and co-host only, or Everyone in the meeting. This option saves the setting as the default when the meeting is started. This setting only works properly if the host is on client version 5.7.3 and above.
  7. (Optional) Select the Allow users to save chats from the meeting check box to enable the ability to save the chat transcript, then select which users can save the chats:
    • Host and co-hosts: Only the host and co-hosts can save the chat transcript. This option requires client version 5.7.3 or later.
    • Everyone: Allows anyone in the meeting to save chats, including external users.
    • Only users in your account: Prevents external users from saving meeting chats. This option requires client version 5.11.3 or later.
  8. (Optional) Select the Only users in your account can chat checkbox to allow only internal users in the account to use in-meeting chat. This applies regardless of whether the meeting is hosted by a regulated user’s organization or an external organization.
  9. Click Save.

How to control chat access during a meeting

During a specific meeting, the host can control who participants can chat with. 

  1. Start a meeting as the host. 
  2. In the meeting controls toolbar, click Chat.
  3. Towards the bottom of the in-meeting Chat window, click more-button (More).
  4. Choose an option for Participant Can Chat With:
    • No One: Disables in-meeting chat for everyone.
    • Host and co-hosts: Only the host and co-hosts can send messages to everyone. Participants can still send private messages to the host.
    • Everyone: Participants can only send public messages. Public messages are visible to all participants. Participants can still send private messages to the host.
    • Everyone and anyone directly: Participants can send public or private messages. Public messages are visible to all participants. Private messages are sent to a specific participant. 

Learn more about using in-meeting chat.

How to prevent users from sharing unwanted messages

Account owners and admins can use the Chat Etiquette Tool to create policies that identify defined keywords and regular expressions to help prevent users from inadvertently sharing unwanted messages while chatting in meetings, webinars, and/or Zoom Chat. When a user sends a message that triggers a policy, the message will be blocked or a warning prompt will be displayed for the user to confirm that they want to send the message, depending on what the admin set. Learn more about managing Chat Etiquette policies as a way to secure Zoom for your users.