How to Use Microsoft Teams Split Screen in Meetings

To use Microsoft Teams split screen in a meeting, select View > Gallery to see several participants together. To keep people visible beside a presentation, use the shared-content layout or open the content in a separate window. If you are presenting, Side-by-side presenter mode places your camera video beside your content.

These options serve different purposes; there is no single setting named “Split screen.” The instructions below focus on Teams for work or school on desktop. Menu wording can vary between Teams experiences.

Show multiple participants with Gallery

1. Switch to Gallery. Join your meeting and select View > Gallery in the meeting controls. If View is not directly visible, look under More actions > View. Gallery is normally the default, but selecting it restores the participant grid when another view is active.

   

2. Choose a gallery size. Open View again and hover over Gallery size. Some versions label this Select max gallery size. Choose an available participant count. A smaller grid gives each person more space; a larger grid lets you follow more faces at once.

   

Microsoft lists 4, 9, 16, or 49 people for desktop Gallery and 4 or 9 for the web. The maximum depends on your device and meeting conditions. A selected size is a ceiling, not a guarantee that every tile will contain live video. See Microsoft’s video and gallery guidance.

Choose which people you see

3. Prioritize participants with cameras on. With Gallery selected, open View > Show videos first. This prioritizes camera feeds over profile pictures and initials. It does not turn on anyone’s camera or remove people from the meeting.

   

4. Pin a person for your own view. Hover over their video, select More options beside their name, and choose Pin for me. Use Unpin for me in the same menu to undo it. Pinning keeps that person visible regardless of who is speaking; it is optional, not required to enable Gallery.

   

Pin for me changes your view. Spotlight for everyone, available to organizers and presenters, highlights a video for the meeting audience. Microsoft explains these controls in Customize your meeting view.

Changing someone to an attendee does not automatically hide their video. Camera access is controlled separately through attendee audio and video permissions.

See people and shared content together

5. Keep the gallery beside the presentation. When someone shares content, Teams normally places it centrally and moves participant videos to the side or top. You can select the participant gallery to bring people into the main area, then select the shared content to bring it back. This changes your viewing arrangement.

   

6. Open shared content in another window. In the desktop app, while another presenter is sharing, select Open in new window from the meeting toolbar. Arrange the content window beside the meeting, or move it to a second monitor. This gives you independent space for the presentation and participants.

   

The separate-window option is documented in Microsoft’s content-sharing instructions. On a small display, keeping everything in the main meeting window may leave slides easier to read than squeezing two windows side by side.

Present your video beside your content

7. Select Side-by-side presenter mode. In the desktop app, turn your Camera on and select Share. Under Presenter mode, select Side-by-side. This controls how your video accompanies what you share, rather than how you arrange other participants.

   

8. Choose the content and adjust the layout. Select the screen or window you want to present. In the minimized presentation preview, choose Edit your view if you want to adjust your video’s position or relative size. Your audience sees those changes as you make them.

   

Interactive presenter modes require Teams for desktop. People attending through web or mobile see the shared screen or window and the presenter’s video separately. See Microsoft’s presenter-mode instructions for the supported layouts.

Why fewer videos or options may appear

• Only one person is prominent: return to Gallery and unpin a video if you no longer need it fixed in place.
• 16 or 49 is unavailable: confirm you are using the desktop app. Hardware, bandwidth, and available memory can reduce the number of videos displayed.
• The gallery shrinks after opening another window: Microsoft documents a limit of up to nine video participants when Gallery is opened in a new window.
• Some tiles show initials: those participants have not enabled video. A larger grid cannot create additional camera feeds.