Visual Space manual, Meetings, Keep Working During A Meeting

Use this walkthrough when you want to stay in a meeting while reading, editing, or moving elsewhere in Visual Space. You will open the full stage once, keep a useful feed nearby in picture-in-picture, and return to the stage without starting or joining the call again. **Closing the stage and leaving the meeting are different actions.** The stage close control returns you to the workspace while the call continues. The red `Leave meeting` control disconnects you, removes the stage or picture-in-pi

Closing the stage and leaving the meeting are different actions. The stage close control returns you to the workspace while the call continues. The red Leave meeting control disconnects you, removes the stage or picture-in-picture preview, and may open a feedback prompt. Use the stage close control whenever your goal is simply to make room for other work.

!Meeting stage with the close-stage and Leave meeting controls identified

Close the stage to keep working while connected; use Leave meeting only when you intend to disconnect.

Prepare The Meeting View

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Join the intended room - Enter the activity meeting or direct-message call and wait for the full stage to open. Check the room or conversation name before continuing, especially if several activities have active meetings.

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Confirm the connection - Find the microphone, camera, screen-share, connection, and Leave meeting controls. Make sure the connection is healthy and that your media states match what you intend to send to the room.

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Open the stage at least once - Picture-in-picture is available only after you have viewed the full stage for the current meeting. Merely joining a room or seeing its presence entry is not enough to create the preview.

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Choose a useful feed - Select the participant, screen share, or live app that you want to follow while working elsewhere. A selected feed can remain associated with picture-in-picture, so make this choice before closing the stage rather than leaving an unselected Grid view.

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Choose the working layout - Keep the selected feed in Stage or Focus when it deserves most of your attention. Visual Space remembers the selected feed and layout for this meeting, helping you return to the same working view later.

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Check the selection - Confirm that the intended participant, share, or live app occupies the selected stage position. This is the feed picture-in-picture should carry into the workspace while it remains available in the room.

Selecting a feed changes only your view. It does not force other participants to watch it, interrupt the source, or change what you are sending.

Close The Stage Without Hanging Up

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Use the stage close control - Close the full meeting stage without selecting the red Leave meeting control. Your microphone, camera, and active screen share keep their current meeting states until you change them with their own controls.

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Recognize the activity return - For an activity meeting, the stage clears away to reveal the Visual Space space or activity context underneath it. You remain joined to the activity's room and can continue through the surrounding workspace.

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Recognize the direct-message return - For a direct-message call, closing the stage returns you to Messages and the owning conversation rather than to a space activity.

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Confirm picture-in-picture - Look for the compact meeting preview over the returned workspace. It should represent the feed you selected and provide microphone, camera, screen-share, and hang-up controls.

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Confirm that the call continues - Check that the room still shows your presence and that the picture-in-picture controls reflect your current media states. The preview appearing is a strong checkpoint that you closed only the stage and did not leave the call.

The expanded preview confirms that the call is still active while the workspace is available again.

If no preview appears, first ask whether the full stage was actually opened for this meeting. Reopen the stage from the room's meeting entry, view it once, select a feed, and close it again with the stage close control.

Put Picture-In-Picture Where It Helps

The expanded preview starts near a corner and stays above the workspace. Move it when it covers text, editing controls, navigation, or another part of the page you need.

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Drag the expanded preview - Press and drag the preview itself, avoiding its media controls when you only want to reposition it.

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Release near a corner - Let go while the preview remains within the workspace. It snaps to the nearest corner instead of remaining loosely between edges.

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Check the new position - Confirm that the preview is fully visible, the selected feed is still represented, and the controls remain reachable. Moving it changes neither the call nor the feed selection.

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Collapse it toward a side - Drag the preview partly beyond the left or right edge when you need nearly all of the workspace. The full card folds away and leaves a small edge tag visible.

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Move the collapsed tag if needed - Drag the edge tag vertically to keep it away from the content you are using. It stays attached to the same side while collapsed.

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Restore the preview - Select the visible edge tag once. The expanded picture-in-picture card returns; this first selection restores the card rather than opening the full stage.

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Check the restore - Confirm that the expanded card and its essential controls are visible again. Select the expanded preview afterward only when you are ready to reopen the stage.

Collapsing the card is a space-saving view change. It does not mute you, stop a share, or disconnect you.

The edge tag means the call is still nearby; select it once to restore the expanded preview.

Continue Reading, Editing, And Navigating

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Resume the work underneath - Read an activity, edit supported content, or continue the direct-message conversation while the preview keeps the active meeting nearby.

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Navigate within Visual Space - Move to another activity or supported workspace when the task calls for it. The meeting remains connected while picture-in-picture stays present, even when the page underneath is not the room where the call began.

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Watch the retained feed - Use the preview to keep track of the participant, screen share, or live app you selected. If that source ends or leaves the room, do not treat an old selection as proof that the feed is still active; reopen the stage to choose from the current feeds.

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Keep private work out of a share - If you are sharing your whole screen, navigating away from the stage does not stop that share. Other participants may see the pages and notifications that appear on the shared display. Stop sharing before opening anything that should not be shown.

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Check continuity after a move - Confirm that the preview still belongs to the same meeting, its media indicators remain accurate, and the room can still hear or see only what you intend.

The workspace can change while the meeting continues, but only one meeting can be joined at a time. Successfully joining a replacement room removes the previous meeting's picture-in-picture. The replacement meeting gets its own preview only after its full stage has been viewed and then closed while you remain connected.

Use Essential Controls From The Preview

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Mute or unmute - Use Mute microphone or Unmute microphone in picture-in-picture. Check the resulting icon state before speaking; changing the preview control changes your real call microphone.

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Turn the camera on or off - Use Turn camera on or Turn camera off without reopening the stage. This changes your camera feed but does not affect your microphone or selected preview feed.

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Start or stop screen sharing - Use Share screen or Stop sharing screen. Starting may open the source choice provided by Visual Space, the browser, or the operating system. Closing or collapsing the preview does not stop an existing share.

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Avoid the call-end control while working - The red Leave meeting control is available in picture-in-picture for when you are truly finished. It is not a minimize or close-preview action.

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Verify each change - Use the control's new state as the immediate checkpoint, then reopen the stage if you need to confirm the resulting camera or screen-share feed among all room feeds.

Picture-in-picture keeps only the essential call controls close. Reactions, raised hands, invitations, device choices, connection detail, and layout changes are easier to handle on the full stage.

Reopen The Full Stage

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Expand a collapsed preview first - If only the edge tag is visible, select it once to restore the expanded card.

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Open the stage from the expanded preview - Select the preview surface away from its media and hang-up controls. The full meeting stage opens again.

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Confirm the return destination - An activity meeting opens with its owning activity context; a direct-message meeting opens with its conversation in Messages. This keeps the meeting tied to the place where it belongs even if you navigated elsewhere while the preview was open.

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Check feed continuity - Confirm that the previously selected participant, share, or live app returns as the selected feed and that the remembered layout still suits the task. If the source is no longer available, choose another current feed.

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Check call continuity - Your participant presence, microphone, camera, screen-share, and room participants should reflect the same ongoing call. Reopening the stage is a view change, not a second join.

You can repeat the cycle as often as needed: select the useful feed, close the stage without leaving, work beside picture-in-picture, then reopen the stage when the room needs your full attention.

Hang Up When The Work Is Finished

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Decide that you are leaving the room - Stop any screen share you no longer want to send and tell the room you are leaving when appropriate. Do not use stage closing as a substitute for ending participation.

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Choose Leave meeting - Use the red call-end control from either the full stage or the expanded picture-in-picture card. This disconnects you from the current meeting.

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Confirm picture-in-picture is gone - The preview is removed after hang-up. Your participant presence also clears from the room after its presence refreshes; other participants can continue if they remain connected.

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Handle optional feedback - Visual Space may ask how the meeting went. Submit a rating, add details, or dismiss the prompt. The feedback choice does not change the completed hang-up.

The final success checkpoint is unambiguous: no full stage or picture-in-picture remains for the call, and you are no longer shown as a current participant. If the preview is still present, you closed or moved a view but did not leave the meeting.

If Continuity Does Not Look Right

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Picture-in-picture never appears - Reopen the full stage, make sure the current meeting has been viewed there, select a useful feed, and use the stage close control rather than Leave meeting.

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The preview shows the wrong source - Reopen the stage, select the intended participant, screen share, or live app, confirm it is featured, and close the stage again. Returning to Grid clears the featured-feed view, so select the source again before minimizing.

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The preview seems to disappear at an edge - Look for the small edge tag. Select it once to restore the expanded preview, then select the expanded surface if you also want the full stage.

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Selecting the preview does not open the stage - A collapsed tag needs one selection to expand. The next selection on the expanded preview opens the stage; selecting a media control changes that control instead.

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A screen share continues over the workspace - This is expected because closing the stage does not stop media. Use Stop sharing screen immediately if the room should no longer see the source.

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The old preview disappears during a meeting switch - This is expected when another meeting replaces the joined room. Verify the new room before continuing; its picture-in-picture becomes available after you have viewed and closed its full stage.

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The preview disappears after Leave meeting - This is the expected result of hanging up. Return to the owning activity or conversation and join again only if you intended to remain in the room.

Related Meeting Guides

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Meetings - See how room continuity, presence, shared work, and the meeting lifecycle fit together.

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Stage and layouts - Learn how feeds, Grid, Stage, Focus, and remembered selections shape your view.

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Media and call controls - Review microphone, camera, screen sharing, connection, device, and hang-up behavior.