Manage Participants During a Meeting

Zoom Security Measures

Security measures can be taken during a meeting to manage participants and remove unwanted and disruptive behavior. 

To explore a few options for managing participants, click the tabs below.

Begin the Meeting

Start the meeting at least 5 minutes prior to its scheduled start time so you have time to manage participants. As participants join the meeting, they will be placed in a waiting room, and you will need to admit them to the main meeting room.

Manage the Waiting Room

As participants join the meeting, they will be placed in a waiting room. A meeting host or co-host must admit them into the main meeting room. 

1. To admit all participants who are waiting, click Admit All.
2. To individually manage participants who are waiting:
   • If you recognize a participant, click Admit next to their name.
   • If you do not recognize a participant who is waiting, you can either leave them in the waiting room or click Remove next to their name to completely remove them from the meeting.

Note that only hosts or co-hosts can move individuals from the waiting room to the main meeting room.

Mute Participants

To mute all participants in a Zoom meeting:

1. In the Zoom meeting controls menu, click Participants.

2. At the bottom of the Participants list, click Mute All. The "Mute all current and new participants window" will open.

3. If you do not want participants to be able to unmute themselves during the meeting, deselect the Allow Participants to Unmute Themselves checkbox. (It's selected by default.)
4. Click Mute All. All participants in your meeting will be muted, and the "Mute all current and new participants window" will close.

To mute an individual participant:

1. Hover over a participant's name in the Participants list to make the Mute and More buttons appear.
2. Click Mute.

Limit Chat

To limit chat functionality for participants:

1. In the Zoom meeting controls menu, click Chat. The Chat panel will open. 

2. At the lower right side of the Chat panel, click the More icon, which is an ellipsis (…). A pop-out menu will display options for managing chat during your meeting.

3. Select an option for limiting chat during your meeting:
   • To restrict chat completely, click No One.
   • To only allow participants to chat with the host and protect against unwanted chatter among the group, click Host and co-hosts.

Stop a Participant's Video

If you have a participant who starts their video and displays something inappropriate, you can quickly stop that participant's video or remove them from the meeting.

1. In the Zoom meeting controls menu, click Participants.

2. Hover over the participant's name in the participant window, then click the More icon, which looks like an ellipsis (…). A drop-down menu will open.

3. To stop the participant's video and restrict their ability to restart their video, select Stop Video. (The host can restart that participant’s video if desired.)
4. To remove the participant from the meeting, select Remove.

As a host, the best recommendation is to actively monitor participants in order to manage disruptive behavior. 

Zoom Security Control

In the Zoom meeting controls menu, you'll notice a Security option. Visible only to a Zoom meeting's hosts and co-hosts, it provides easy access to several existing Zoom security features to enable you to more easily protect your meetings.

Clicking the Security icon opens a panel in which hosts and co-hosts can quickly:

• Lock the meeting: Keeps new participants from joining the meeting.
• Enable the Waiting Room: To place all incoming new participants into the Waiting Room or to move current participants into the Waiting Room.
• Hide Profile Pictures: Hide all profile pictures.
• Restrict participants’ ability to:
  • Share their Screen
  • Chat in a meeting
  • Rename Themselves
  • Unmute Themselves
  • Start Video
  • Share Whiteboards
  • Collaborate with Zoom Apps
• Remove a Participant: The participant cannot rejoin unless Allow removed participants to rejoin is enabled in your account settings.
• Suspend Participant Activities: Turn off all participants' video, audio, Zoom Apps, and ability to share their screen. Also, lock the meeting to prevent participants from joining. 

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