What's new for Microsoft Whiteboard - November 2022
Published Nov 15 2022 09:30 AM 379K Views
Microsoft

*Updated on December 6, 2022

**Updated on January 30, 2022

 

In the world of hybrid work, ensuring all participants feel included and can contribute their ideas in an effective and visual way is incredibly important. A successful meeting not only invites all participants but provides everyone with the tools to contribute to the conversation. For your next Microsoft Teams meeting, you can lead more visually engaging discussions that hit your objectives before, during, and after the meeting by using Microsoft Whiteboard. With new innovations in Whiteboard, you can feel empowered to create a strong and productive meeting – together.

 

Before the meeting

 

Quickly set up your whiteboard with discussion objectives using one of the 60+ Whiteboard templates. Whether you’re leading a discussion for brainstorming, problem solving, or team bonding, you can easily use template search in the create panel. Template search will be generally available for Microsoft 365 commercial users in December 2022.

 

An animated image demonstrating how to search for templates in the create panel of the Whiteboard app in Teams meeting, web and desktop.

 

*Easily visualize your ideas, prepare for your next meeting, or follow-up on your last meeting, using the Whiteboard integration in Teams 1:1 calls. When on a Teams 1:1 call with your colleague, simply tap the Teams share tray, click the Whiteboard button, and drive a focused discussion in a smaller setting. Whiteboard in Teams 1:1 calls is now generally available for Microsoft 365 commercial users. 

 

An image demonstrating how to start collaborating in Microsoft Whiteboard in a Teams meeting.

 

Looking to enhance your meeting whiteboard? Embedded online videos and links can add visual richness and make your meeting more dynamic. Avoid fussing with tab and window switching that interrupts the flow of a meeting by including supplemental videos directly on the whiteboard with embedded online videos. Embedded online videos and links is now generally available for Microsoft 365 commercial users.

 

An image of a user embedding a YouTube video and website link onto the whiteboard from the create panel in Whiteboard.An image of a user embedding a YouTube video and website link onto the whiteboard from the create panel in Whiteboard.

During the meeting

 

Engaging your participants from the moment they join the meeting is easy. Pull up the whiteboard you prepared earlier by using open existing board in Teams meetings, and your meeting is already off to a great start. Open existing board in Teams meetings is now generally available for Microsoft 365 commercial users.

 

An animated image showing a facilitator opening an existing whiteboard in a Teams meeting by going to the Share button, and all participants can access the whiteboard asynchronously in the Teams chat.

 

Provide time for individual participants to brainstorm for inclusive discussions with timer in Whiteboard. Create focus, stay on-task, and keep your meeting moving by setting a timer for agenda activities. Timer will be generally available for Microsoft 365 commercial users early next calendar year.

 

An animated image demonstrating a user setting a timer on Whiteboard by clicking the timer icon at the top of the whiteboard.

 

Invite users on a whiteboard to follow your viewpoint as you navigate through the board for a more visually guided discussion. The facilitator originally locates the follow feature by selecting their profile picture in the Whiteboard roster. When follow is activated, a participant can pause following the facilitator to continue to move through and contribute to the board on their own. With just one click, the participant can resume follow to get back to where the facilitator is at any time. Microsoft Teams Rooms devices will also be enhanced with automatic follow sessions, bringing greater flexibility for you in the conference room for hybrid work. Follow will start rolling out to Microsoft 365 users with a work account by the end of the calendar year.[1]

 

An animated image demonstrating a participant following the meeting facilitator's view in Whiteboard.

 

Enhance the look and legibility of your whiteboard with automatic resizing of text inside sticky notes so you can add more lines of text without needing to scroll. Text inside sticky notes now also automatically scales in text size as you resize the sticky note, increasing legibility, even at lower zoom levels. Finally, text formatting features like bold, italics and underlining, as well as a new, more professional default font, help emphasize your fresh ideas across notes, text boxes, and shapes. For Microsoft 365 commercial users, auto-resize text in notes is now generally available and text formatting will be rolling out to general availability by the end of the calendar year.

 

An image displaying sticky notes that automatically resize the font with amount of text and text formatting options on Whiteboard.An image displaying sticky notes that automatically resize the font with amount of text and text formatting options on Whiteboard.

Want to start afresh? Just wipe down the board quicky with the new partial eraser. It understands your intent - the faster you erase the bigger it gets, letting you wipe out large portion of the board in just few strokes. And for the times when you just want to erase that word you misspelled - the same eraser will offer the precision you would need. Partial eraser will start rolling out to Microsoft 365 commercial users by the end of the calendar year.

 

An animated image demonstrating the new partial eraser, which gets bigger the faster you erase on a whiteboard.

 

Create collaborative relationships by knowing who is contributing notes and feedback with sticky note attribution. Sticky note attribution will start rolling out to Microsoft 365 commercial users early next calendar year.

 

An animated image demonstrating sticky notes that include the author's name with the option to toggle this feature off on Whiteboard.

 

Whiteboard is a new Microsoft Loop endpoint, enabling you to copy and paste Loop components into Whiteboard from Teams chat and soon from Outlook mail and Word for the web. Loop components in Whiteboard help your team continue adding information to lists, tables and more while they brainstorm in Whiteboard. Changes made in Loop components in Whiteboard will stay in sync across all the places the component has been shared, ensuring everyone has the latest info. Copy and paste Loop components in Whiteboard will start rolling out to be generally available for Microsoft 365 commercial users in the coming months.

 

An animated image demonstrating a task list Microsoft Loop component copy and pasted into various apps, including Outlook for the web, Teams chat, Whiteboard for the web, and Word for the web.

 

After the meeting

 

The collaboration doesn’t have to end after a synchronous meeting! The whiteboard you and your participants collaborated on can be accessed in the Teams chat under the Whiteboard tab. With the ease of Whiteboard integration in Teams, you and your participants can continue collaborating on the same whiteboard asynchronously. For your next synchronous meeting, start again with open existing Whiteboard in Teams Meetings and show the progress of iterative collaboration in between meetings.

 

An image demonstrating a magnifier window showcasing the Whiteboard tab in a Teams chat.An image demonstrating a magnifier window showcasing the Whiteboard tab in a Teams chat.

With comments you can share your thoughts, celebrate with your teammates, or just have a conversation. You can create an anchored comment that will stay connected to the content being shared, keeping things simple and effective, while comment bubbles help you understand the sentiment and find areas where there is more discussion on the content. Commenting will start rolling out to Microsoft 365 commercial users **in April 2023.

 

An animated image showing Teams meeting participants viewing and making anchored comments on the side of the whiteboard.

 

We hear from customers every day that while the future of work may be evolving, one thing remains clear—it's never been more important for people to be able to collaborate effectively wherever and whenever. We continue to be committed and focused to meet this need, so both remote and in-person attendees can visually collaborate across the same digital canvas. To get started, try Whiteboard today.

 

To learn more, visit the Whiteboard product page or the Whiteboard support site.

 

Did you know? The Microsoft 365 Roadmap is where you can get the latest updates on productivity apps and intelligent cloud services. Check out what features are in development or coming soon on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, or view Microsoft Whiteboard roadmap items here.

 

Footnotes

[1] Follow will not be generally available for school accounts. 

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‎Jan 30 2023 11:42 AM
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