How do I set up online office hours in Zoom?
You can use the Zoom Scheduler feature (opens new window) to create a schedule, a set of meeting time slots for online office hours. When a student signs up for a time slot, a unique Zoom meeting link is created and made available to you and the student. Having a link specific to each office hours time slot keeps the conversation private between you and the student meeting with you.
Select the Appointments tab.
Near the top of the page, select the Appointments tab.
Select Create Schedule.
Under the My Schedules tab, select the Create Schedule button.
Select the day(s) for your office hours.
In the New Bookable Schedule window, select each day when you will hold office hours. In the example pictured above, Mon and Wed have been selected.
Follow the same schedule each day. (Optional)
If your office hours will be at the same time each day when you offer them, select the Follow the same schedule each day checkbox to make it easier to enter the times.
Enter the start and end time for each day's office hours.
Enter the start time and end time for each set of office hours. Times can be entered either:
- By typing a time in the field provided, in the format hh:mm AM or PM, for example 10:00 AM.
- Or by placing your cursor in a time field and choosing the hour, e.g., 02, minutes, e.g., 00, and AM or PM from the lists that appear. You can choose a time by scrolling in a list and clicking with a mouse, or by using the Tab key on your keyboard to navigate to a time and pressing Enter to select it.
Note: Start and end times are set in 15-minute intervals from the start of an hour. For example, 2:00, 2:15, 2:30, or 2:45.
Enter an End repeat on date. (Optional)
If your office hours will only be scheduled for the specified days and times until a certain date, you can set the date by:
- Selecting the End repeat on checkbox.
- Entering the date. Dates can be entered by:
- Typing a date in the field provided in the format mm-dd-yyyy, for example, 05-31-2024 for May 31, 2024.
- Or by clicking in the date field, then using the calendar that appears to navigate to and click on the desired date.
Select the duration for each time slot.
From the Duration menu, select the duration in minutes of each time slot. The default setting is 15 minutes.
Enter an Event Name (Required) and Description (Optional).
- Enter an Event Name, e.g., Prof. X's Office Hours, in the field provided.
- You may also enter an Event Description (Optional), if you would like to add details to display on the page with the event.
Tip: It is recommended to include your name in the Event Name because it will clearly identify whose office hours are associated with each meeting link. This can be helpful for students who have more than one instructor using Zoom office hours.
Apply schedule to all courses. (Optional)
To make the same office hours time slots available to students in all courses you are teaching, select the Apply schedule to all courses checkbox.
Note: This setting cannot be changed while editing a schedule after it has been created. If you try to set up the same office hours time slots for different courses without using the Apply schedule to all courses option, students may create conflicting meetings.
Select Create.
Select the Create button to confirm creating the schedule.
View and edit schedule.
The schedule will display under the My Schedules tab. You can edit its settings by selecting the Edit button.
Note: All settings can be edited except whether the schedule is made available to one course or all courses.
Join a meeting.
Once a student has booked a meeting, you can find steps to start the meeting in How do I join Zoom office hours?
Get additional help.
Questions about scheduling or joining meetings through Online Meetings in UVACanvas can be addressed to the Learning Technology Services (LTS) Team.
For online tutorials and help with features in Zoom, visit the Zoom Help Center (opens new window).