Keep a chosen app window visible while working elsewhere

Keep a live reference or status window in view while you work in another app. Select that one window, place its live stream above your other work, and give the copy a readable size. Continue editing or operating the original app. The floating copy is a view of its content.

Before you begin

• Open a harmless reference or status window with a distinctive title. Start with content you are comfortable showing in the copy. The original window must be available to macOS capture. Not every app or protected surface can be shown.
• Keep BetterDisplay running and a usable physical desktop available. This workflow uses a single application window on your existing desktop. No display rearrangement or monitor adjustments are required.
• Create an additional stream configuration so you can keep existing sources and preferences.
• Follow the macOS content-sharing picker and any actual access request. If screen capture is denied, review System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen & System Audio Recording for BetterDisplay, using the options on your installed macOS. Audio-only access does not allow screen capture. See Apple’s screen-access instructions.

Create a separate single-window view

1. Open App Menu > Tools > Stream Selected Content. Expand Tools and its more-options chevron if necessary. An existing selection may instead be named Stream [application name] or Stream Multiple Selections, with a number when similar configurations coexist.
2. Find the default selected-content entry that offers Add Stream Configuration, then choose it. This command appears only in the default entry, even if that entry has been renamed after its source. Additional entries offer Remove Stream Configuration instead. Do not replace or clear an existing source just to recover the original menu title.
3. Wait for the new additional entry, open it and choose Source Selection…. In the macOS picker select only your uniquely titled reference window and accept the selection using the system’s actual sharing interface. BetterDisplay’s own windows are excluded. Cancelling retains the previous selection.
4. A nonempty accepted selection starts the stream. Check the source list’s application and window title, and identify the new Stream [application name] entry for later changes. If Enable Stream is already active, selecting it again stops the stream.
5. Leave Start Automatically off while testing. It is off by default. The copy’s size, position, source and preferences are remembered independently in this configuration.

The source list identifies the selected window, while this configuration keeps its own presentation settings.

An attached App Menu hides while the system picker is open and returns when selection finishes. Exact picker labels and permission presentation belong to macOS and can vary. Use a single window for this view. A multiple-window selection has different framing, as explained in the selected-content reference.

Make the copy readable and visible

1. In the new entry, keep Keep Above Other Windows, the default priority. This keeps the copy above ordinary windows while you work. Normal Window Priority lets other ordinary windows cover it.
2. Leave Title Bar & Window Controls on initially. Drag the copy to an unobtrusive place and resize it using its native edges. Leave Lock Window Position and Prohibit Resizing off while arranging it. Both are off by default.
3. Keep Free Aspect Ratio off to preserve the source’s proportions. Start with no filters or transforms, Magnification and Alpha at 100%, and Show Mouse Pointer off, its selected-content default.
4. For a modest moving status view, try Target FPS at 30, then assess the actual updates and resource use. The default is Unlimited (∞). You can choose 1–200 or Unlimited. This is a capture target, not a guarantee of achieved frame rate.

Target FPS limits the capture request. It does not measure the frame rate the source actually delivers.

If you want the copy to remain across Spaces and above the menu and Dock, optionally select Above Menu, Dock, Spaces and check its behavior in your actual workspace. It is a different presentation from ordinary topmost priority. Leave the newly exposed Show on Lock Screen off unless you deliberately want that separate behavior. It is off by default.

Resize or update the original reference and check the copy again. Source dimension changes can adjust the stream window’s geometry. The stream’s scale, opacity and filters change this presentation, not the original app’s document.

Optionally make a compact view

1. While the copy is in ordinary windowed mode, turn Title Bar & Window Controls off. This restarts capture and also turns on Hide Stream Window Background and Window Shadow, while turning off Source Content Shadow.
2. Keep that combination for a simple content-only copy with its own window shadow. Hide Stream Window Background is shown only with the title bar off. Changing it restarts capture. It removes the stream’s surrounding background, not the selected app’s own painted background.
3. If you instead want the captured source’s shadow, keep Hide Stream Window Background on and turn Window Shadow off. Only then is Source Content Shadow available. Enabling source shadow hides the ordinary Window Shadow option. Turn source shadow off to reveal it again.
4. Use Show and Bring to Front in the App Menu to recover an active hidden copy. With the title bar hidden, the menu also supplies Window Controls. Avoid full-screen mode while arranging the copy. It disables some ordinary window actions and prevents title-bar changes.

Hiding the title bar enables a content-only background and the copy’s own shadow. Source shadows remain off.

Check the result

The copy is a viewing surface. Switch to the original app to edit or operate it. Mouse Click-through, initially off and available in the App Menu, sends clicks to whatever window lies underneath the copy. It does not forward them to the selected source or make a second interactive instance of the app. Turn it off again through the App Menu if you need to move or use the copy’s own UI.

1. Make a harmless visible update in the original reference and confirm the copy updates. Check that the listed title belongs to the intended source, not another window in the same application.
2. Activate another ordinary work window and check that the copy stays visible at the selected priority, without hiding essential work. Test another Space only if you chose the cross-Spaces priority.
3. Check readability after moving/resizing either window. A static screenshot or active menu marker alone does not establish live updates or achieved FPS.
4. If the original closes or is replaced, reopen the intended reference and inspect the source list. Reopen Source Selection… when the saved choice cannot be resolved confidently. Do not assume a similarly named replacement is necessarily the original.

To freeze the picture temporarily, use Pause Streaming. Select it again to resume. The paused picture stays visible, and settings changes can restart capture. Stop the stream before opening private content in the selected app.

Troubleshooting

• No source or black picture: inspect the intended window, actual macOS sharing/access state and whether the app allows capture. Select a harmless ordinary window again. Do not infer permission success from a checkbox or expect protected video to work.
• MISSING after closing or reopening a window: BetterDisplay first seeks the same window, then a unique exact title within the application, and finally its sole candidate when that application has only one saved selection. Ambiguous candidates are not guessed. Reopen Source Selection… to choose the actual reference. Availability refreshes while the App Menu is open. Another available source in a multiple selection may continue.
• Copy appears lost: find its actual renamed/numbered entry and use Show and Bring to Front while active. Check priority and current Space, and turn Mouse Click-through off before manipulating the copy. Hiding it does not stop capture.
• Wrong framing or excessive load: begin with one window, preserve aspect ratio and reduce the FPS target to an appropriate observed level. See Stream Selected Content for the full sizing and filtering reference.

Stop, remove and restore

1. Turn Enable Stream off to stop the copy. Closing it normally or pressing Command-W while it is focused also stops capture. Command-H or Option-click on its close button only hides the copy. Saved sources and preferences remain.
2. Leave Start Automatically off if you do not want the copy at the next app launch. If a source picker or start operation is still pending, finish or cancel it, then check that the stream is stopped before opening private content.
3. To forget just a selected source, use its source-list cross. It removes that source without confirmation. Removing the last source stops capture and clears its selection. It does not delete the configuration or undo its other preferences.
4. To discard the fresh additional configuration entirely, use its App Menu Remove Stream Configuration. There is no confirmation. The menu closes before the removal completes, so wait until the entry is gone. Leave the default and all preexisting configurations intact.
5. If you kept the configuration but want its title bar back, enable Title Bar & Window Controls. Review background and shadow preferences separately. Re-enabling the title bar does not undo those companion changes.

Related pages

• Stream Selected Content
• Picture in Picture for viewing an entire display.
• Display-stream mouse interaction explains pointer navigation for display streams. Use the original app to interact with this selected-window view.

Additional information

This section explains licensing and platform requirements.

Features requiring Pro license

Selecting sources, starting or pausing the stream, enabling automatic start, adding configurations and Show and Bring to Front require Pro. The priority, title-bar/background/shadow, sizing/filter and FPS preferences used here also require Pro. Stopping existing output, removing its source or an additional configuration, disabling automatic start and the basic Window Controls strip remain available without Pro.

Platform compatibility

Selected-content streaming is available on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 26.3 or later. macOS supplies the picker and source access. Its interface can vary by system version. This ordinary reference-window workflow does not require DDC, an external monitor, a virtual desktop, Apple Intelligence or native-key permissions. It demonstrates visual viewing, not recording or audio routing.