As the host, you are able to restrict who is able to chat with whom during the meeting. To access these permissions, click the Chat icon during a meeting. In the chat box that pops up, select the ellipses. You can then choose if participants can chat with no one (completely turn off chat), host only, everyone publicly, or everyone publicly and directly.

• Save Chat to the Cloud -- If it is not already enabled, you can set chats to automatically save to the Cloud after a recorded meeting. In your Zoom account settings at virginia.zoom.us, go to Settings > Recording Check the option for Save chat messages from the meeting/webinar. Click Save.

• Option 1 -- Manually: In the chat window during the meeting, select the 3 dots in the right-hand corner. Select Save Chat.
  When you see the Chat Saved message, select Show in Folder to locate the chat file.

• Option 2 -- Turn on automatic save: In your Zoom account settings at virginia.zoom.us, go to Settings, and select the Meeting tab at the top of the screen. Scroll down to In Meeting (Basic) and check the box next to Auto saving chats.

Zoom's chat feature does allow you to share files, but with some important limitations. 

• Since anything posted in the zoom chat is only visible to people who are currently in the meeting, if a student joins a meeting late, material posted in the chat before they arrive will not be visible to them.
•  Students must first download any shared files before they can view or use them. 
• The maximum file size supported is 512MB. If the file is too large or students will not need to edit, links to resources are simple alternatives to file transfer.