Google Meet has been one of the most popular apps to have video meetings ever since this whole chaos started. And ever since Google made the service available to everyone, even people with a free Google account, instead of just G Suite users, its popularity soared even higher.

Hordes of people use Google Meet every day to connect with friends, family, and co-workers. But it’s particularly a favorite with schools and colleges, especially since many schools were already using G Suite services for their classrooms before this fiasco.

But that’s not to say that the transition for schools to this new virtual environment has been any easier. If anything, it has been the complete opposite. It’s not easy for kids, especially younger ones, to adapt to a completely new infrastructure. There are many challenges they face every day.

One of the biggest challenges is figuring out the screen layout that works for you. Google Meet now offers a tiled view with up to 49 video feeds visible simultaneously. It’s highly useful when you need to see all the participants in the meeting. But the tiny little screens can also become impractical in situations when you need to focus on one person’s video.

That’s when the pinning feature comes in handy. There’s also the Spotlight or Sidebar layout that shows the video of the active speaker. But when other participants in the meeting aren’t on mute, even a little background noise will make them the active speaker. And the videos will keep changing; it can turn into a nuisance rather quickly.

But many participants shy away from using the pinning feature because there are many questions associated with it. The most common being: “Can others in the meeting, or more specifically the host or the teacher, see when you pin a video?” And another equally common: “Does it affect the meeting view for others?”

The answer to both the questions is negative. Pinning a video happens only at your end. No one else in the meeting, not even the host, will know that you have pinned a video, let alone whose. Neither will it affect anyone else’s layout in the meeting. And it won’t affect the meeting recording either.

To pin someone’s video, just go to their video feed and hover. A few options will appear. Click the ‘Pin’ icon. Unlike some other apps, the pin option is available whether or not the participant’s video is on. Their video will take over your screen, no matter which layout option was active. When you unpin the video, the same layout will resume.

So, now you can pin anyone’s video in a meeting without worrying about anyone else. Neither will it disrupt the meeting in any way, nor will anyone know that you have pinned a video.