Overlays Panel

The Overlays section of your Panel lets you monitor and manage the overlays connected to your active streaming software or browser while you stream. It shows which overlays are currently connected and gives you per-overlay actions to keep them running smoothly during a session. This is different from Settings > Overlay, where you create, build, and customize overlays — see Overlay Settings for creating and configuring them.

Reading the connected overlays

Each overlay that is connected to an open browser or streaming software appears as its own row in the Overlays section. Together they show you, at a glance, which of your overlays are live while you stream.

The following information and settings are available for each overlay listed in the Overlays Panel:

Setting	What it does
Overlay Title	Shows the title given to the connected overlay.
Instances	Shows the number of connected browsers or streaming software using the URL of the connected overlay.
Overlay Layers	Displays which features are configured for the connected overlay, such as Voice Tips, Text Tips, Image Tips, Polls, Goals, Contributors, and the QR Code.
Expand / Collapse additional settings	Shows or hides the additional per-instance settings for the connected overlay — Identify the instance, Refresh the instance, and Disconnect the instance.

The Instances count tells you how many browsers or streaming sources are currently using that overlay’s URL.

Use the Expand / Collapse additional settings control on an overlay row to show or hide its per-instance actions.

Managing a connected instance

When you expand an overlay’s additional settings, you can act on each connected instance directly from the Panel without leaving your stream.

Setting	What it does
Identify the instance	Displays the name of the overlay in the connected browser or streaming software. For example, selecting Identify the instance for an overlay titled “Default” shows that name in the connected browser or streaming software, so you can tell which source is which.
Refresh the instance	Attempts to reconnect to any browser or streaming software that is configured to use the overlay URL.
Disconnect the instance	Disconnects any browser or streaming software that is configured to use the overlay URL.

The Identify action helps you confirm which connected source maps to which overlay.

The Refresh action attempts to reconnect a browser or streaming source that uses the overlay URL.

The Disconnect action drops any browser or streaming software configured to use the overlay URL.