How to Set Up and Manage Breakout Rooms in Microsoft Teams

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Plus, how breakout rooms work & their benefits

Co-authored by Laura Rogers and Hunter Rising

Last Updated: January 28, 2026 Fact Checked

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• Creating Breakout Rooms
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• Changing Settings
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• Managing Breakout Rooms
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• Joining a Breakout Room
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• Breakout Room Benefits
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• Video

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Microsoft Teams is great for holding large meetings, but smaller breakout rooms make discussion and collaboration a lot easier. If you’re hosting a Teams meeting, it’s easy to create and manage breakout rooms with a few simple settings. Keep reading, and we’ll walk you through all there is to know about Teams breakout rooms so you can include them in your meetings right away!

Microsoft Teams Breakout Rooms at a Glance

To make a breakout room, select Breakout rooms from the Calendar or Rooms during a meeting. Select how many breakout rooms you want to form, and assign the participants to them automatically or manually. During a meeting, use the Rooms icon to open and close breakout rooms or adjust the settings.

Steps

Section 1 of 5:

How to Make Breakout Rooms in Teams

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1. 
   1
   Create breakout rooms before meetings from the Teams Calendar. Setting up breakout rooms before a meeting makes it easier to plan out the participants and saves you time once the meeting starts.

   • Open the Calendar tab on the left side of the window.
   • Double-click on the meeting you want to add breakout rooms to.
   • Select Breakout rooms from the top menu bar and click on Create rooms.
   • Change the number of rooms you want, up to 50.
   • Click on Add rooms.
2. 
   2
   Use the Rooms button to make breakout rooms during a meeting. If you don’t create breakout rooms before the meeting starts, Teams gives you the option to create them in the middle of your meeting.

   • Click on the Rooms icon that looks like 2 squares in the top-right corner.
   • Change the number of breakout rooms you want to add, up to 50
   • Open Rooms → Add Room if you need to add even more breakout rooms.
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3. 
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   Assign people to rooms automatically or manually. You can invite and assign up to 300 people to breakout rooms. If you don’t care how the participants are split between rooms, select the Automatic option to randomly assign rooms. Otherwise, select the Manual option and change the breakout room for each participant.

   • If any new users join the meeting after you assign rooms, the automatic option is no longer available, and you have to add them to a room manually.
   • You may also select the third option to let participants choose which breakout room they want to join.
4. 
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   Open the breakout rooms when you want users to join them. Once you start your main meeting, you can launch the breakout rooms at any time. Click on Rooms at the top of the meeting controls. Either pick Open rooms to start all the breakout rooms at the same time, or click on the More options ••• symbol next to an individual room and select Open to start it.

   • If users are assigned to a specific breakout room, they’ll automatically join it once the room is open.
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Section 2 of 5:

How to Change Settings in Breakout Rooms

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1. 
   1
   Open Rooms settings to make adjustments to the rooms. You can adjust the breakout room settings before or during your meeting. Whenever you’re done changing your settings, click on Save to confirm them.

   • Before the meeting
     • Open the Calendar tab on the left side of the window.
     • Double-click on the meeting you want to adjust.
     • Select Breakout rooms from the top menu.
     • Click on Room settings with the gear icon.
   • During the meeting
     • Click on the Rooms icon that looks like 2 squares in the top meeting controls.
     • Open Room Settings.
2. 
   2
   Select room managers to help run the meeting. Breakout room managers can help the meeting’s host change settings, manage participants, and jump between the different breakout rooms. Even though only 1 person can control breakout rooms at a time, you can assign multiple people as managers.

   • Before the meeting
     • Double-click on a meeting from the Teams Calendar.
     • Select Breakout rooms → Rooms settings.
     • Toggle on the Assign presenters to manage rooms option.
     • Select Search for presenters and choose the users you want as managers.
     • Click Save to confirm your settings.
   • During the meeting
     • Click the Rooms icon from the meeting controls.
     • Select Rooms settings with the gear icon.
     • Turn on the Assign presenters to manage rooms option.
     • Select the managers you want from the dropdown menu.
     • Select Save to confirm.
3. 
   3
   Rename breakout rooms to keep track of them easily. By default, rooms are numbered and may be difficult to tell apart. If you want to give a breakout room a more detailed name based on what users are discussing, you can rename it before or during your meeting.

   • Before the meeting
     • Double-click the meeting from the Teams Calendar.
     • Select Breakout rooms from the top menu.
     • Hover over the breakout room and select More Options ••• .
     • Click on Rename with the pencil icon.
     • Enter the new name and select Rename to confirm the setting.
   • During the meeting
     • Click on the Rooms icon from the meeting controls.
     • Move your cursor over the breakout room and click on More Options ••• .
     • Select Rename and enter the new name.
     • Click on Rename to confirm the setting.
4. 
   4
   Set time limits to keep your meeting running smoothly. Time limits change how long breakout rooms last before they automatically close. Once the time limit expires, all the users are brought back into the main meeting automatically.

   • Before the meeting
     • Double-click on the meeting from the Teams Calendar.
     • Click on Breakout Rooms → Rooms settings.
     • Toggle on the Set a time limit option.
     • Change the time limit with the dropdown menus.
     • Click on Save.
   • During the meeting
     • Click on the Rooms icon from the meeting controls.
     • Open Rooms settings.
     • Turn on Set a time limit.
     • Adjust the time limit using the dropdown menus.
     • Select Save to confirm your settings.
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Section 3 of 5:

Managing Breakout Rooms in Teams

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1. 
   1
   Reassign users to different breakout rooms. Swapping members between breakout rooms can help promote more conversation and let users see what others are working on. Only managers can reassign rooms for different members.

   • Before the meeting
     • Double-click on the meeting from the Teams Calendar.
     • Select Breakout rooms from the top menu.
     • Click on Assign participants → Manually → Next.
     • Select a new breakout room for a user from the Room column.
     • Click on Save to confirm the changes.
   • During the meeting
     • Click on the Rooms icon from the meeting controls.
     • Select Assign participants from the menu.
     • Choose the breakout room for each user under the Room column.
     • Click Save to save the settings.
   • You may also click on Shuffle from the Assign Participants menu to randomly shuffle users between different rooms.
2. 
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   Send announcements to communicate with all the breakout rooms. Announcements are great ways to communicate with all of the breakout rooms about urgent details. Your announcement will appear in the breakout room’s chat labeled as “Important” so it stands out from other messages.

   • Choose Rooms from the meeting controls.
   • Click on Make an announcement with the megaphone icon.
   • Type out your announcement and click Send.
3. 
   3
   Close rooms to send users back to the main meeting. Closing a room ends the breakout session and brings users back to the main meeting. If you ever want to open the rooms again, users will go back to the breakout room they were last assigned.

   • Select Rooms from the meeting controls at the top of the window.
   • Choose Close rooms to close all breakout rooms at the same time.
   • Hover over a room and choose More Options ••• → Close to end an individual breakout room.
   • If you set time limits for your breakout rooms, you do not have to close them unless you want to do it before time runs out.
4. 
   4
   Delete a breakout room to remove it completely. If you don’t need a breakout room during a future meeting, deleting it removes all the settings and users that were assigned to it. You can only delete a breakout room if it’s closed and has no users actively in it.

   • Before the meeting
     • Double-click on a meeting in the Teams Calendar.
     • Select Breakout rooms from the top menu.
     • Click on Remove rooms to get rid of all the breakout rooms.
     • Click on More Options ••• → Delete to remove an individual breakout room.
   • During the meeting
     • Click on Rooms from the meeting controls.
     • Choose Remove rooms to delete all the breakout rooms.
     • Select More Options ••• → Delete to remove a specific breakout room.
5. 
   5
   View attendance reports to see who was involved in a breakout room. Attendance reports are available to the organizer after a meeting, and they show which users were present, when they joined, and when they left.

   • Click on the meeting from your Teams Calendar.
   • Select Attendance from the menu.
   • Click on Participants to see the users from the meeting.
   • Select a user to see the breakout room they entered, as well as join- and leave-times.
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Section 4 of 5:

How to Join a Teams Breakout Room

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1. 
   1
   Join a breakout room automatically if you’re assigned to one. If you’re in a Teams meeting and you’ve already been assigned a breakout room, you’ll be pulled into it as soon as a manager opens the rooms.
2. 
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   Choose an open breakout room if you’re able to select your own. If you’re given the option to pick a breakout room or if you’re a room manager, you can choose which room to join. Once the rooms open, a list of rooms will appear and you can select the one you like. Otherwise, you can access the option in the settings.

   • Select Rooms from the meeting controls at the top of the screen.
   • Look for the room you want to join, and check the members by clicking the arrow next to the room name.
   • Click on Join to enter the breakout room.
3. 
   3
   Switch between rooms if you have access to them. Room managers can always switch between rooms, but users may have the option if they were able to pick their starting breakout room. Click on the Rooms icon in the meeting controls, and click on Join next to the new breakout room you want to switch to.
4. 
   4
   Select Leave room when you want to go back to the main meeting. Go to the meeting controls and click on the Leave button. Otherwise, you’ll return to the main meeting once the time limit runs out or when a manager closes the breakout room.

   • If you are not able to leave a breakout room, the manager or meeting organizer may have disabled the option.
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Section 5 of 5:

What are the benefits of breakout rooms?

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1. 
   1
   Breakout rooms encourage engaging discussions. Educational consultant Alexander Ruiz, M.Ed., notes that breakout rooms help students “figure out a problem or discuss a particular chapter together.” He also says discussions between students are “far more effective than the teacher telling them what they need to know because it allows students to challenge themselves and engage with another peer.”
2. 
   2
   Breakout rooms let you split tasks between different groups. If your team is working on a large project, assigning breakout teams to specific users or departments can help you collaborate at the same time. Breakout rooms also let you assign people who have similar duties to work together on a task that matches their expertise and interests.
3. 3
   Breakout rooms prevent long meetings from getting boring. If you’re hosting a long meeting or class, users might start to disengage as time goes on. By peppering in breakout rooms throughout the meeting, participants get a break from the main meeting and regain their focus.
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