A retrospective is more than the cards currently on screen. Every board is paired with a draft Article and its Comments, giving the team a durable place for background and discussion. The same board can also become a temporary live-app feed during an activity meeting without turning into a separate meeting-only copy.
Keep Reflection and Discussion Together
The board remains the working surface for Went Well, To Improve, and Action Items. Its paired Article is better suited to connected material that would be awkward to repeat across cards, such as:
Comments keeps a discussion attached to that same paired content. Participants can use it for questions and conversation that belong with the retrospective but do not need to become reflection cards or action items.
Creating a board does not publish its Article. The Article begins as a draft, and board creation does not create a post. Adding cards, reactions, or Comments does not publish it either. Publication is a separate content decision, not an automatic result of starting or completing a retrospective.
Open Context Beside the Board
Use Article or Comments from the retrospective tools to open the corresponding side panel without leaving the board. On desktop, these actions can appear in the right-hand tools rail while the retrospective is active. The selected panel slides over the workspace; on narrower screens it can use the full width so the content remains readable.
The panel has a deliberately simple rhythm:
Opening, switching, or closing a panel does not discard the board beneath it. The panel actions also leave the tools rail when you exit the retrospective or select an unrelated meeting feed, so an old Article or Comments selection does not follow you into other work.
The linked Article remains part of the board's normal content location. Opening it from the side panel does not move it, publish it, or widen access to the surrounding space area. A board in a private area still depends on that area's normal access, whether someone reaches it from Documents, Retros, or a meeting.
Bring the Same Board Into an Activity Meeting
The meeting adds a shared stage around a Retrospective; it does not create a separate temporary board type.
Retrospectives can appear as live apps in meetings attached to a space activity. From Live Apps, choose Retrospectives, then create a board in the meeting activity or open an existing retrospective that participants can normally access. The result is the same persistent board, with its cards, participant context, reactions, Article, and Comments available inside a shared meeting feed.
The meeting changes the frame, not the content. It supplies the surrounding stage, top bar, layout controls, and call controls. The embedded retrospective therefore hides its standalone exit action and fits its board into the available meeting surface instead of placing a second app shell inside the room.
Changing between Grid, Stage, and Focus does not create another board or clear the selected one. Visual Space keeps the matching retrospective available while the meeting rearranges its feeds. Each participant still controls their own selected feed and layout, so one person can keep the board large while another watches the wider room.
Meeting presence does not grant extra content access. Opening existing work follows its usual area and file access, while creating a new retrospective still requires Retrospectives app access in addition to access to the target area. For the complete meeting sequence, follow Collaborate with Live Apps in a Meeting.
Leave the Surface Without Losing the Board
A standalone retrospective can show a Back to activity action when it has a source activity. That action returns to the activity's posts; it does not close, lock, or delete the board. If the board has no activity return context, leave through the surrounding Visual Space navigation instead.
Inside a meeting, use the meeting's own feed and stage controls. Selecting another feed changes only your view. When an available Close app action is used, the retrospective feed is removed from the room for everyone, but the board and its paired draft Article remain in their owning area and can be reopened later. Closing the feed does not hang up the call.
Likewise, one participant leaving the meeting does not necessarily remove the feed for everyone still in the room. When the meeting finishes, its remaining live-app feeds end with it, while the underlying retrospective continues to exist.
Current Boundaries
Common Questions
Is the meeting retrospective a copy of the original board?
No. The meeting feed opens the same persistent retrospective. Changes made there remain with the board after the feed or meeting ends.
Does everyone in the meeting automatically gain access?
No. The board and its linked content keep their normal space-area access. The meeting does not make private content public.
What is the difference between leaving the board and closing the meeting app?
Leaving a standalone board changes your location. Closing the meeting app removes its shared feed from the room. Neither action deletes the retrospective.
Can the Article be published automatically when the session ends?
No. There is no automatic publication or board-completion action. The paired Article remains a draft, and any publication decision is separate from the retrospective session.
Where should the team's main discussion go?
Use cards for concise reflection and action points, the Article for longer shared context or a summary, and Comments for discussion attached to that context. See Cards and Participation for card authorship and collaboration behavior.