How to Use Whiteboard in Microsoft Teams

In response to Slack’s growing popularity, Microsoft finally announced Microsoft Teams for organizations. In addition, the software giant continues to add new functionality to the teams. Although it competes closely with Slack, Zoom and others, Microsoft highlights collaboration as a specific component of the Teams application. When it comes to collaboration, teams allow users to create a whiteboard, share it and chat while collaborating.

Microsoft added background blurring for video calls, pop-ups and meeting windows, the Outlook plug-in, and more in Teams. Among them, the whiteboard is one of the best features for collaborating effectively with team members.

Microsoft Teams already allows the administrator to share the screen with team members. But if you want to exchange ideas with the participants, you can opt for the Whiteboard function during the videos.

The Whiteboard feature is only available on desktop applications. In this article, we’ll explain how to access the whiteboard in Microsoft Teams, what features it offers, and other tips and tricks for video calling in Teams software. Let’s start.

Download Microsoft Teams

How to access the whiteboard in Microsoft teams

As I mentioned earlier, the whiteboard in Microsoft Teams is only available for desktop apps and not for mobile apps. When using Microsoft Teams on Windows or Mac, you also cannot use the whiteboard in direct conversation with a team member. It is only available in team channels. Follow the steps below to use it.

Step 1: In the Microsoft Teams app, click the Teams tab in the sidebar. From there, choose a team and go to the appropriate channel.

2nd step: To add a new channel, tap the three-dot menu next to the team names and create a channel. Add members to it.

Step 3: In the lower menu of the channel, you will see the Meet Now option. Tap it and it will launch a group video call among team members. Before starting the video call, you can also add a relevant topic.

Step 4: On the video call screen, you will notice a toolbar that allows you to access functions such as mute, background effects, chat function and screen sharing.

Step 5: Select the screen sharing option and it will ask you to select from the current desktop, open windows, PowerPoint slides, browse files from PC / Mac, another Teams channel or OneDrive.

Step 6: At the end, you will see the Whiteboard section, which offers two options – Microsoft Whiteboard and Freehand by Invision. Choose Microsoft Whiteboard, and it will open the whiteboard for you.

InVision is a dedicated UI / UX design tool that designers use to design the user interface, and their Freehand tool is similar to Microsoft Whiteboard.

Whiteboard drawing functions

Microsoft offers a bunch of drawing options when using the whiteboard. You can use the standard Pen tool in red, black, blue and green to illustrate the strategy.

You can also use the Eraser tool, which allows you to remove the irrelevant part of the whiteboard. The move tool is my favorite. You can use it to move the whiteboard or a fixed section.

Since the trackpads on Windows laptops can be a mixed bag, I recommend using a mouse to draw or scribble using the Pen tool.

After you finish brainstorming, you may want to save the rough image and ideas as an image on PC or Mac. To do this, tap the Settings icon in the upper right corner and select Export image to SVG format.

Share whiteboard and chat

During screen sharing, you can also ask others to join the stream. Press the Share button above, and it will generate a share link. Share it with others to let them join the session.

You can also use chat, mute audio, and invite other group members to the whiteboard. Microsoft has added all the practical options of the Teams whiteboard to ensure that the administrator does not have to leave the feed to activate it.

Mute allows you to mute the sound on your side. The chat feature is my favorite. It opens the side window inside the whiteboard and allows you to chat with team members. It’s a better way to communicate live with team members and they can talk to each other while sharing the whiteboard screen. When the call is finished, you can see the entire chat history with the name of the meeting in the channel.

In the member tab, you can see the current meeting users, the suggested users, and it even allows you to invite members from other channels.

Gaps

The Microsoft whiteboard isn’t perfect either. There is no way to add predefined text and shapes like circles, arrows, lines, squares or more to the whiteboard. Image insertion media is also missing. I hope future updates will bring these options.

Use Microsoft teams like a pro

Most screen sharing tools have a whiteboard function for exchanging ideas with team members. Microsoft Teams does not want to stay behind. You can use it to discuss ideas, share ideas with participants, and export it as an image for future reference.