Breakout rooms removing people from assignments issue

Hello @K Gilfoy, 

Good day! I hope you are doing well. 

Based on your description, I understand that your students are being removed from or losing access to their Assignment work whenever they are moved into or out of breakout rooms during your online class sessions in Microsoft Teams. You mentioned that this does not happen to you as the organizer but consistently affects students, causing them to lose time and struggle to reopen their work. 

Please let me know if I misunderstood any part of your issue or if there are additional details you’d like to share. 

To help us provide the most accurate and effective solution, could you share a bit more detail: 

• How are students joining the meeting (Teams desktop app / web browser / mobile app)? 
• Which browsers or devices are the affected students using (Windows, Mac, Chromebook, iPad, mobile)? 
• How do students open their Assignment (Inside the Teams Assignments tab, in a browser tab, ...)? 
• Is “Automatically move people into opened rooms” enabled in your breakout room settings? 
• Does this happen during the first breakout room, or only after several open/close cycles? 
• Does it affect all students or only certain devices/users? 
• What type of assignment file are students working on (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, uploaded document)? 

This additional context will help us understand your environment and the steps already taken so we can tailor the guidance to resolve the issue effectively. 

I apologize if I could not jump straight to a solution. I want to avoid suggesting anything that might be inaccurate or unhelpful. Once we have the details above, we’ll be able to assist you more effectively and guide you toward the right resolution. 

Looking forward to your response so we can get this sorted out together. 

If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". 

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Students are being moved between the main meeting and breakout rooms, which can interrupt what they are doing in other Teams contexts (like Assignments) because the meeting join/leave action takes focus. This behavior is tied to how breakout rooms move participants, not to the Assignments feature itself.

Key points from current breakout room behavior and limitations:

1. Device and client type matter
   • Participants joining from unsupported devices or older Teams versions can behave differently in breakout rooms and may not move smoothly or consistently.
   • Official guidance notes that some participants cannot be moved or managed normally if they are on unsupported devices or older versions of Teams.
   • Ensuring students use a supported Teams client for Windows or macOS (for full meeting features) and that their Teams app is up to date reduces unexpected behavior when moving in and out of rooms.
2. How movement between rooms works
   • When breakout rooms are opened, participants are moved from the main meeting into a room; when rooms are closed, they are moved back to the main meeting.
   • These transitions can cause the meeting window to refocus or reload, which can pull attention away from whatever else is open in Teams (such as the Assignments tab).
   • Organizers and breakout room managers have more stable control and are less likely to be forcibly moved in ways that interrupt their own work, which may explain why teachers do not see the same disruption.
3. Known limitations and workarounds
   • Some participants (for example, on older clients or certain device types) are specifically called out as having limitations with being moved to rooms.
   • For participants who cannot be reliably moved or who are disrupted by room transitions, guidance suggests using the main meeting as their “breakout” space instead of assigning them to a breakout room. This avoids repeated join/leave cycles that can pull them out of what they are doing.

Practical mitigation steps based on current behavior:

1. Standardize and update clients
   • Require students to use the same, supported Teams client (preferably desktop on Windows/macOS where possible) and ensure it is updated before lessons. This reduces inconsistent behavior when moving in and out of rooms.
2. Use the main meeting as a stable workspace for some students
   • For students who struggle with IT or whose devices behave poorly with breakout rooms, keep them in the main meeting and provide support there instead of moving them into rooms. This aligns with the recommendation that the main meeting can serve as a breakout room for participants who cannot be assigned or moved reliably.
3. Minimize room transitions during active work
   • Plan breakout room usage so that students are moved before they start intensive work in the Assignments tab, and avoid repeatedly opening/closing rooms while they are actively editing.
4. Report the behavior with logs if it remains disruptive
   • If the disruption continues even on supported, updated clients, collect logs from affected student devices and from the organizer and open a support case. The breakout room troubleshooting guidance explicitly recommends having log files from both the meeting organizer and participant machines when escalating to Microsoft Support.

References:

• Breakout rooms troubleshooting guide in Microsoft Teams
• Manage breakout rooms in Microsoft Teams