Chat window reconfigured so names are not visible or clickable; also error 10004 when updating

[Zoomteacher66]

I teach via Zoom, still, and today the appearance of chat was changed so that -- whether it was in popout mode or not -- the names of chat participants had slid to the left and could not be accessed, if someone directly messaged me.  I cannot teach effectively if I cannot chat to "Everyone", or see to whom I am directing a message.  When I told students I wanted to restart the Zoom, to see if that would help, upon restarting the meeting, it tried to update.  Not surprising.  Normally our district updates Zoom, but sometimes Zoom will update itself.  But the update stalled and gave me an error message (10004).  Does anyone know what I can do about this?  I put a help request into Zoom, but essentially they just gave me a set of links, including the one to this community.

[CarlaA]

Hi @Zoomteacher66, thank you for your contribution to the Zoom Community! 

Devices running macOS 13 Ventura beta 5 or higher with Zoom desktop client versions 5.11.6 - 5.12.0 may encounter the error 10004 when updating the desktop client. To resolve the issue, visit the Download Center and manually install the newest version of the desktop client.  Then please test the chat feature again and let me know how it goes 🙂

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/5719888320269-Zoom-error-code-10004

Carla,
Zoom Community Team

[Ben64]

I've written to zoom support twice about this issue and no fix.  The loss of the dropdown menu in Chat makes contacting individuals cumbersome.  The workaround is clicking the ... in their square and then clicking "chat," but then it's difficult to know exactly who is getting the message and the risk of sending to the wrong person feels pretty high.  This is a potential FERPA disaster (chat the wrong student with a note about a grade?).  

[CarlaA]

Hi @Ben64 , sorry it has taken me a bit to get back to you. I wanted to make sure you receive assistance. Were you able to resolve this? 

Keep me updated!

Carla,
Zoom Community Team