Environment
Zoom
Issue
- How do I make my Zoom Meeting or Webinar more secure by preventing participants from sending chats that are visible to other participants?
- How do I prevent participants from saving the Zoom Meeting or Zoom Webinar chat?
Resolution
One common method of disrupting Zoom Meetings or Webinars is for disruptors to post disturbing/offensive things in the In-Meeting/In-Webinar Chat. To avoid this, turn off or limit In-Meeting or In-Webinar Chat, and optionally prevent participants from saving chat.
Limit In-Meeting/In-Webinar Chat
Once the Meeting or Webinar is live (or, for a Webinar, this can also be done during a Practice Session):
- Click Chat
- Click the 3 dots in the lower right corner of the chat window
- Review the Participant Can Chat With / Allow attendees to chat with options and select one of the following:
- No one: the host, co-hosts, and panelists can send chats, but participants/attendees cannot send chats at all
- Host Only (for Meetings) or Panelists Only (for Webinars): participants/attendees can send chats, but the chats will only be visible by the host, co-hosts, and panelists. If desired, a member of the hosting team can then copy the chat and paste it for everyone to see, if it is determined to be appropriate, as a method of moderating the chat
Prevent Saving Chat
If you prevent saving chat, this also prevents you as the host from saving the chat. This must be done at a user's settings level, and applies to all Meetings and Webinars that you host from this point forward.
- Navigate to https://umich.zoom.us/profile/setting and login with U-M Weblogin, if prompted
- Under In-Meeting (Basic), find the Chat option
- Check the box next to Prevent participants from saving chat
- Click Save
If you use this setting, Auto-saving chat will automatically be turned off.
Additional Information