Adobe Director can play several movies simultaneously by creating windows in which additional movies can play. A movie in a window (MIAW) is a distinct Director movie that retains all its interactivity.

You can use a MIAW to play another movie in a separate window while the main movie plays on the Stage. In addition, movies in windows and the main movie can communicate and interact with each other. This lets you create a variety of interactive features, such as an interactive portfolio, a control panel for a second movie or digital video, or a status display window.

The following list shows the typical workflow for creating and using a movie in a window:

1. Set up the movie’s Display Template with default window properties.
2. Create and set up the window.
3. Assign a movie to the window.
4. Open the window.
5. Delete the window when the reason for playing the movie no longer applies.

When you create a MIAW, decide how you want to display it, how users should be able to move the window around the screen and dismiss it, and how the window should appear. You can specify the window’s size and whether the window is visible, has a frame and title, or is in front of or behind other windows on the screen.

MIAWs cannot be docked with each other if they are document MIAWs. However, if the original MIAWs display template is set to Tools / Dialog, then it can be docked to the docking channels. As a result, the Docking checkbox in the Display template tab gets disabled when the "Document" type is selected in the combo box.

MIAWs cannot be added as tabs in the maximized tab view mode. If you click the stage when a MIAW is playing, the MIAW is reordered to the back of the stage. You must click the Open MIAW button to bring it to the front.

You can create and control movies in windows by using behaviors from the Behavior library or by writing your own scripts.

Shockwave Player does not support MIAWs. Use MIAWs only with movies that you intend to distribute as projectors (see About Distribution formats and About projectors). However, you can use script to have Shockwave Player content target a URL in a browser window (see Jumping to a URL).