As a host or facilitator you have a set of controls for keeping a session running smoothly — muting the room, repositioning people, and clearing raised hands. Most of these live in the Participants panel and the space settings menu.
Open the Participants panel
Click the Participants button in the bottom video-control bar to open the panel on the right. It lists everyone in the space with their mic and camera state and a raised-hand indicator. The header has a search box, a raised-hands counter, and a three-dot (⋯) menu with bulk actions.
Mute everyone (mute all)
To mute the whole room at once:
- Open the Participants panel.
- Click the three-dot (⋯) menu in the panel header.
- Choose Mute participants.
This mutes everyone except hosts and facilitators. It's reversible — each participant keeps control of their own microphone and can unmute themselves when they want to speak. Use it to settle the room before you talk.
There is no "force-keep-muted" — Kolab mutes participants but doesn't lock their mic, so people can always unmute to contribute.
Heads up: Whoever gets muted (or has their camera turned off) sees a toast telling them a facilitator did it. Mic mutes used to happen silently, so this is new — worth knowing before participants start asking who touched their mic.
Move participants around the canvas
In Interactive (Spatial) mode you can reposition participants' avatars yourself — handy for seating people into audio zones, breakout areas, or activity stations.
- Open the space settings menu (the three-dot ⋯ button near the mode / audio controls in the bottom-left).
- Turn on Move participants.
- Drag any participant's avatar to where you want them on the canvas.
Turn the toggle back off when you're done so you don't move people by accident. (This control only appears in Interactive mode.)
Lower all raised hands
When hands pile up, you can clear them in one step:
- Open the Participants panel ⋯ menu.
- Choose Lower all hands.
This option only appears while at least one hand is raised. You can also toggle the sound notification for raised hands from the same menu.
Other per-participant actions
Hover or open the ⋯ menu on an individual participant's row in the Participants panel to:
- Mute them (also available as the quick inline button on their row),
- Turn off their camera,
- Change their role (e.g. promote to facilitator),
- Remove them from the space,
- Direct message them.
Note: Muting someone or turning off their camera shows them a toast naming the facilitator who did it.
Pop Out Panels
The Chat, Participants, and Agenda panels can each pop out into their own window — handy for keeping a panel visible on a second monitor while you present or facilitate. This is available to everyone in the space, not just facilitators.
Click the pop-out icon in a panel's header to open it in a separate window. If your browser blocks the pop-up, Kolab shows a message asking you to allow pop-ups and try again.
Popping a panel out doesn't disconnect it from the session — everything you see stays live.
Ask Kola
You can also just ask Kola, the in-product assistant: "mute everyone," "let me move people," or "how do I lower all the hands?" Kola can point you to the control or do it for you.