How to Configure Zoom In-Meeting Chat Settings

Before you start

In-meeting chat settings are controlled from the Zoom web portal, not from the desktop or mobile app. You need a Zoom account with permission to change meeting settings, and the changes usually apply to meetings you schedule as the host. If an administrator manages your Zoom account, some chat options may be locked or unavailable. Meeting-level controls can be adjusted during a meeting, but the default chat behavior is set in advance.

Step-by-step instructions

Use these steps to set the default in-meeting chat behavior for your Zoom meetings. Keep a note of the original setting if you want to reverse the change later.

1) Sign in to the Zoom web portal with your host or administrator account.

2) Open Settings, then select the Meeting tab.

3) Locate the In Meeting section and find the Chat control.

4) Turn on Chat if it is disabled. When enabled, you can choose who participants are allowed to chat with: No one, Host only, Everyone publicly, or Everyone publicly and privately.

5) If available in your account, review the Save chat messages from the meeting option. This controls whether the host can save the meeting chat to the local recording location or the cloud.

6) Enable or disable the meeting chat follow-up option according to your preference. This affects the chat summary and transcript controls available after the meeting.

7) Save the changes. For a specific meeting, open the meeting in the Zoom web portal, edit the meeting options, and adjust chat settings only for that scheduled session.

Check the output

Schedule a test meeting or open an existing meeting and confirm that the chat button appears in the meeting toolbar for permitted participants. Send a test chat message and check whether it appears according to the selected policy. If chat is set to host only, a normal participant should not see an option to send a public message. For saved chat, verify after the meeting that the chat text is available in the location configured by your Zoom plan.

Common problems and next steps

If the Chat control is grayed out or shows a lock icon, your account may be managed by an organization, or the setting may be enforced by an administrator. In that case, contact the account administrator instead of trying to override it locally.

If a participant cannot see chat during a meeting, confirm that the meeting was scheduled after the default settings were changed and that the participant's Zoom client is updated. Meeting defaults do not always rewrite settings for meetings that were already scheduled.

If saved chat is missing after a meeting, check whether the meeting host actually saved the chat before ending the session and whether local recording or cloud storage is available on the account. Chat saving is not available on every plan and may be restricted by the administrator.

• Check that Chat is enabled under Settings, Meeting, In Meeting.
• Choose who participants can chat with using No one, Host only, Everyone publicly, or Everyone publicly and privately.
• Review Save chat messages from the meeting before relying on saved chat.
• Schedule a new test meeting if an old meeting does not show the updated default.