Can Zoom hosts see your private chat?

There has been some debate about whether Zoom meeting hosts can see your private chat messages in a meeting. The Zoom website states that private messages between participants are not viewable by the host. But it’s good to know there are a couple of ways your private chat could be shared.

Private messages between participants

Private messages work just like you’d expect them to. If you send a message to another participant, only you and that person can see the message. If you or that other person saves the meeting chat to your own computer, your private message will be included. If you or the other person shares the chat .txt file with someone else, your private message will be included.

At the end of the meeting when the meeting chat is automatically saved to the host computer, your private message to that other participant will not be included.

Private messages between host and participants

The host can only see private messages that are sent to them. When the chat is saved, any private messages that were exchanged directly with the host will be included in the transcript. If the host shares the saved chat with others, any private chat messages with the host will be included.

Cloud Recordings

For Zoom meetings, the chat transcript saved in a cloud recording will only include chat messages sent to everyone. For Zoom webinars, the saved chat will only include messages from the host and panelists to all participants. Messages sent between individuals are not saved on the cloud.

Local Recordings

If a person with recording privileges chooses to record a Zoom meeting locally (to their computer), the folder will include a chat .txt document with messages sent to everyone as well as any private chat that person recording participated in during the meeting. It will not include chat transcripts from private conversations that they did not participate in. If they share the chat transcript with others, their own private chat messages may be included.

Saving chat

Meeting hosts

Chat is automatically saved to the meeting host computer to Documents > Zoom > folder with meeting name, date and time

Participants

1. When in a meeting, click Chat > Save chat
2. It will save to your Documents > Zoom > folder with meeting name, date and time

Takeaways

• If you keep recordings and chat transcripts to yourself, they stay private.
• If you share the chat transcript, review and edit out any private messages you don’t want others to see.
• Don’t private chat anything sensitive you wouldn’t want others to see.