Microsoft shakes up Teams meetings with new breakout rooms feature

You can now randomly assign participants to breakout rooms in Teams.

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What you need to know

Breakout rooms in Microsoft Teams allow meeting participants to have their own mini meetings. They’re a handy way to break up a classroom for group work or split people into groups to get to know each other. But sometimes you don’t want to plan the exact attendees of each breakout room. Microsoft has a new Shuffle feature that lets you randomly assign participants to rooms.

The Shuffle feature is in testing now among Insiders. It can be used to either randomly assign participants to rooms or shuffle people who are already in rooms. Meeting organizers and co-organizers can do the following, aslisted by Microsoft:

Microsoft breaks down how the shuffle feature works:

To use the shuffle feature, you need to be a member of the Teams Public Preview and on the Windows or macOS version of Teams. You can use the feature even if other members of a meeting are not Public Preview users.

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Sean Endicott is a tech journalist at Windows Central, specializing in Windows, Microsoft software, AI, and PCs. He’s covered major launches, from Windows 10 and 11 to the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT. Sean’s journey began with the Lumia 740, leading to strong ties with app developers. Outside writing, he coaches American football, utilizing Microsoft services to manage his team. He studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University and is active on X @SeanEndicott_ and Threads @sean_endicott_.