---
title: How do I keep the preview visible while I work?
question: float or maximize the preview
area: browser
order: 5
surface: desktop
audience: beginner
keywords: [picture in picture, pip, float preview, floating window, watch while typing, maximize, full window, fullscreen, bigger preview, green dot, all quadrants, move preview, resize preview]
related: [how-do-i-open-the-preview-to-see-my-app, the-built-in-browser, the-browser-is-covering-the-brain-panel]
updated: 2026-07-21
---

# How do I keep the preview visible while I work?

You have two ways to keep the page in view while you type: float it as a small window over your quadrant (picture-in-picture), or blow it up into its own large window (maximize). Float it with the **❐** button on the preview's toolbar. Maximize it with the **green dot** at the top-left of the preview.

## Float it over your work (picture-in-picture)

Picture-in-picture shrinks the preview into a small window that hovers over the quadrant's terminal, so you can watch the page and keep working underneath it.

1. Click the **❐** button on the preview's toolbar. On hover it reads "Picture-in-picture: float this preview over the quadrant, chromeless, terminal behind".
2. The preview becomes a small floating box in the top-right of the quadrant.
3. Drag its top strip to move it. Double-click that strip to snap it back to the corner.
4. Drag an edge or the bottom-left corner to resize it.
5. There is a mini address bar in the strip. Type a URL and press return to send the floating page somewhere new.

Two small buttons sit in the strip:

- **⤢** restores the full preview panel.
- **×** hides the preview. The page keeps running in the background.

codus remembers the size and position for each quadrant.

## Float every preview at once

There is a second **❐** button up in the codus title bar, at the very top of the app. It floats the preview for every switched-on quadrant at the same time, up to four, which the docked panels cannot do. On hover it reads "Picture-in-picture ALL quadrants: float every browser over its quadrant at once". Click it again to put them all away.

## Maximize it into a big window

To see the page large, click the **green dot** at the top-left of the preview. It reads "Maximize preview to full window". codus opens the same live page in its own large window, with developer tools and a Git panel beside it, and a row of tabs so you can flip between your quadrants. The window follows whichever terminal you click into. Its **×** drops the preview back into the grid.

## How do I know it worked?

For picture-in-picture, the full panel collapses into a small floating box you can drag around. For maximize, a new large codus window opens with the page filling most of it.

## Common problems

**I floated the preview and cannot find the full panel.** Click **⤢** in the floating box's strip to restore it, or **×** to hide it entirely.

**The floating preview is in the way.** Drag its top strip to move it, or click **×** to hide it. The page keeps running, so nothing is lost.

**The preview is covering the Brain panel.** They share the same space. See [The browser is covering the Brain panel](../troubleshooting/the-browser-is-covering-the-brain-panel.md).