Microsoft Whiteboard now available for the web and integrated in Teams
Published Nov 04 2019 06:00 AM 252K Views
Microsoft

Today we are excited to announce the general availability of Whiteboard for the web and integration with Teams meetings, releases that continue our journey to enable people to ideate and create from any device, anywhere. 

 

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Easily collaborate with others or access your boards from any device

Today we’re making Microsoft Whiteboard for the web available for all commercial Office customers. It is available on the all apps list under office.com or directly at whiteboard.microsoft.com. We believe that the best results come when everyone participates and this release makes Whiteboard available on all your organization, school or employee devices including PCs, tablets and phones running Windows, MacOS, iOS and Android. Whiteboard for the web provides the ability to collaborate in real-time with others as well as access your existing boards. Whiteboard for the web is an important part of the Whiteboard family of clients as it makes Whiteboard available on all devices and in Teams. We are starting from an experience that is focused on real-time inking but are committed to bringing additional functionality from our native apps over time.


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Run effective Teams meetings with Whiteboard

We are excited to bring Whiteboard to Teams meetings. Customers can now easily add a whiteboard to any Teams meeting by clicking on Whiteboard under the Share option. The newly created whiteboard will be automatically shared with all meeting participants and available for them to start collaborating without leaving the Teams experience. A new Whiteboard tab will also be added to the meeting to make is easy to access the board after the meeting.
Adding a Whiteboard to a Teams meeting is useful for a variety of scenarios such as diagramming collaboratively, expressing ideas, capturing agenda items and follow ups, remote training, and more. We can’t wait to learn how your organization will be using Whiteboard in meetings. Please share your stories below.

 

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88 Comments
Bronze Contributor

Super !

But few questions:

- You have not enabled the whiteboard with the newer version? The one where are multiple pens and "ink to shape" etc.. features? Will that be available in future (close?) ? :)

 

 

@Petri X 

Thank you for your feedback. These features are available in our Win10 and iOS apps. We will bring them to the web app and Teams over time.

(edit. removed the comment about Win7)

I also hope that Whiteboard will have more features, for writing text or table etc. something like powerpoint which can be easly modified and scatched to discuss while in meeting. Not all users want draw letters/words :p

 

@hkusulja Thank you for your feedback! These features are available in our Win10 and iOS apps. We will bring them to the web app and Teams over time.

 

Copper Contributor

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Brass Contributor

Missing basic functionality like shapes, texts, etc. or am I missing something?... This is useless otherwise

 

 
@Awatatah - Thank you for your feedback. Whiteboard does have these features available across our Win10 and iOS apps. We will bring them to the Web app and Teams over time.

 

Copper Contributor

This is fantastic ! ... I am happy the way MS has been aggressively innovative with Office365. In today's world collaboration is the key and Office365 make life much better. 

 

Thanks 

Sushanth 

 

 

Thank you @sushanthamin for the feedback! – we are always happy to read how Whiteboard as a collaboration tool can make life that much easier :)

Iron Contributor
  1. When you create a whiteboard, who can see it? How do you share it? Is it like MS Forms?
  2. How do the ppl who can see it access it after the initial collaboration? Eg where is it stored on the O365 environment? 

Trying to understand for adoption purposes so we can explain simply to our wide ranging user group who will use on 121 basis, in groups and Teams :)

 

@Georgeina Baker  – thank you for your questions.

When you create a Whiteboard you are able to share it by inviting any of your colleagues to the whiteboard session. While signed in, you can tap start a collaborative session by tapping the Invite button next to your name, and then writing or typing the name of the person with whom you want to collaborate. This will send that person an email and they will see your board automatically appear in their list of available boards.

A Whiteboard is automatically saved on to the cloud and can be accessed by all participants after a session has ended. Whiteboard content is stored in Azure. Hope this helps!

Iron Contributor

Thank you. That’s very helpful. 

  • Does that mean that all whiteboards created disappear when an account is closed?
  • can a whiteboard be owned by or saved in an O365 group, SharePoint or Team?

:crossed_fingers:

 

@Georgeina Baker Whiteboards are deleted when an account is deleted, but any shared boards will remain. We recommend using the PSH cmdlets to transfer boards to a new owner, such as the person’s manager, when their account is deleted. A whiteboard cannot be owned by a group or team, but it can be linked to a Teams meeting or shared with a team.



Thanks

Jasmin Rashid, Microsoft 

 





Iron Contributor

Thanks for your help, Itai Almog I've accessed and had a play :lol:

1. Why can we only save as SVG? Why not jpg or png?

2. Can't see how to give a whiteboard a title on the web app. Is this possible?

3. Is the W10 app available for Surface Pros?

 

@Georgeina Baker

1.  There should be an option to share as SVG or PNG. Let us know if you don’t see that as an option in Settings > Export.

2.  It is not yet but we are working on this. 

3.  Yes W10 app is available for Surface Pro's 

 

Thank you

Jasmin Rashid, Microsoft 

 

 

Copper Contributor

So I can get full functionality only on my phone now... whooopeeeee..    Like I can draw anything useful on that screen.  Useless as is for Windows.

Copper Contributor

Is there any way to access the Whiteboard with an O365 Personal subscription?

@ARCliff - Thanks for reaching out - you can access Whiteboard with any O365 or consumer account :)

 

Jasmin Rashid, Microsoft 

Copper Contributor

Are there any plans to include a native Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tool within Whiteboard? As they save as .png files, the tools available for Optical Character Recognition (OCR) would cause insurmountable latency to workstations at larger corporations. Having a native DLP would go a long way to ensure data is kept safe!

 

@Jen_Unser - Thanks for the feedback!. We do have plans to include DLP and it is on the Whiteboard roadmap :)

 

Jasmin Rashid, Microsoft 

Copper Contributor

When will a Whiteboard for Android app come out? The only touch screen I have for drawing out ideas in collaboration is an android tablet, so much of the functionality is not available right now.

 

@kayla-s Thank you for reaching out. An Android app is on our roadmap please stay tuned for future announcements :)

Jasmin Rashid, Microsoft 

Brass Contributor

What plans include Whiteboard? My kids have Student Office licenses through NYC Schools-does that include it?

Which Office 365 plans include it (it isn't listed in the comparison checklists, at least that I can find)? The ad page seems to imply Microsoft account users (like Outlook.com) should have access, but I don't see it in the apps listing. Do Business Kiosk users get access? Business Essentials vs Business regular?

And I can't find info on this, but originally you could only collaborate with people in your own tenant. Is it now possible to work with anyone inside or outside that has a Microsoft account and supported plan (whatever those might be)?

Brass Contributor

It would be nice if there was an application available for OS X Catalina.  I have Teams and most other Microsoft applications on my Mac, but have to use the web based software in teams.

Copper Contributor

Hi @Itai Almog 

 

Is it possible to integrate https://twitter.com/MicrosoftMath   @MicrosoftMath  in Whiteboard?

That will be really a killer app, specially when discussing solutions for complex business scenarios, logistics, etc. It will make collaboration more insightful.

Also for education, this simply will be really amazing to teach math and review results.

Hope it can be implemented !

 

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Brass Contributor

I would be nice to have this available in the Mac OS X and Windows platforms as well.  It could be extremely helpful when teaching and tutoring students online during the COVID-19 quarantine.

Copper Contributor

Getting really excited about this new collaboration tool. Unfortunately the web version seems very limited and our IT refuse to let us install the Windows 10 version of the app. For those who are getting impatient for the web version to catch up, where can we keep up to date on this progress? Where can we post about getting updates on this progress?

Copper Contributor

I hear rumours of an update to the web application to include the newer features currently available in the mobile applications.

 

Is it possible to have even a loose indication of if this is true and how far out it might be?

Microsoft

@Owizardo - Thank you for reaching out we are also very excited! - we are currently working to priortize our Web app launch for later this year so do stay tuned for announcements on this. Please do continue to post here and we hope to also keep you updated right here too :). Please feel free to also DM us offline as well :)

 

Thanks

Jasmin


1 Like
Like

Microsoft

@TheDiningPhilosopher - Thank you for reaching out. Most of the features currently available on the Windows 10 and iOS apps will indeed be coming to the Web app later this year!. Please stay tuned for further announcements on this :)

 

Thanks

Jasmin 

Copper Contributor

i love using microsoft whitboard:stareyes:

Bronze Contributor

Hi @Itai Almog 

Do you have any possibilities to share what is happening with Teams and WhiteBoard? Currently when starting to use it it basically force to use the WB app instead the one inside Teams.

Copper Contributor

Can we now share the whiteboard with people outside of our organization?

Microsoft

@Sales_Learning-Nancy Thank you for reaching out. Guest access is one of our top priority items and this capability will be available later this year.  

As a temporary workaround for guest access, you can do the following:

a. Have all users download and use Whiteboard for Windows client. It’s free and more fully featured than the WB Web app in Teams right now, with key things like text, sticky notes and templates.

b. Have all users sign in to the app with a Microsoft Account (MSA) w/ their personal email.

c. Users can then share the WB share link to anyone else and they will have full collaboration access to the whiteboard.

Hope this helps :)

 

Thanks 

Jasmin

Microsoft

@Petri X Thanks for sharing this feedback - this shouldn't be the case, you should be able to choose to stay in the Web/Teams app. Is this still happening?

 

Thanks

Jasmin

Copper Contributor

Hello,

 

Could you please advise where is the Teams whiteboard data stored? Especially the whiteboard data which is drawn during a Teams meeting.

 

Thanks

Sharvil

Copper Contributor

Hello @Itai Almog @Jasmin_Rashid ,

 

Could you please advise where is the Teams whiteboard data stored? Especially the whiteboard data which is drawn during a Teams meeting.

 

Thanks

Sharvil

Microsoft

@Sharvil_MS Thanks for reaching out. Whiteboard data is stored in Azure and only accessible by your tenant users. Newly created boards are stored in different locations depending on the country. Here is some more info on this link below :)

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=859501

 

Thank you 

Jasmin

 

 

 

Copper Contributor

Have you considered adding the ability to add the whiteboard for just a normal chat without having to start a meeting?

Microsoft

@lbdyckThanks for sharing your suggestion I will pass on to the team :) - we always appreciate feedback from our community! 

 

 

Jasmin Rashid, Microsoft

Copper Contributor

I just purchased a Surface HUB2S for its ability to whiteboard so effectively... Nothing in the marketing material stated it couldn't be used outside of my org. and then I found out this after I tried and failed to share a whiteboarding session with a CIO from another company: 

 

Note: Users can currently collaborate only with other people within their organization. We will be adding the option to collaborate on whiteboards with guests outside of your organization in the future.

 

I need to whiteboard with the Surface HUB2S with other CEOs, CIOs, CFOs, and IT professionals around the world. Not being able to use the SURFACE HUB2S outside of my organization is a no go situation, especially in the current COVID environment! This is very disappointing and if not enabled, will result in my organization having no choice but to return the $$$$ Surface HUB2S!

 

Your help is greatly appreciated!

 

Please help asap!

Microsoft

@Brian_SL1 Thank you for reaching out and appreciate your situation here.  We are aggressively working to deliver a solution for guest access by the end of the year. However we'd be really keen to you talk directly and understand more about your scenario. I'd love to have the Whiteboard PM take you through our roadmap and see if we can further help in any way. If this is of interest I will follow up offline to arrange :)

 

Thank you 

Jasmin, Microsoft 

Copper Contributor

Yes please reach out!

 

Email me the meeting information asap!

 

Thank you,

 

Brian

Microsoft

@Brian_SL1 Thank you - I have sent you a DM, please check your inbox :)

 

Thanks

Jasmin

Copper Contributor

Good day @Jasmin_Rashid @Itai Almog - great post. This looks absolutely fantastic, and an extremely useful tool.

 

I too am having a hard time understanding what is available. If there is communication that MS has published on the WB, please link if you wouldn't mind. Please confirm what is going on with the WB within Teams or/on O365, . Likewise I think we are of the impression this is an available app in the MS Store? If so, would you mind sending specifics on Compliance or how to install and configure it to be Compliant? That being said if the app is available to Public sec, is there any difference with the Private sector? If there isn't a difference, just let me know so I can be sure. 

 

Just a little background, we are attempting to get the WB fully integrated with O365 in a GOV environment. As I understand it (learned from this post) that the WB should be an available plug-in for us to install/configure/secure and allow the community to share within the Organization, period. Not looking for a way to share Publicly to begin with. However we really cannot use the solution provided for installing the local client, and personal accounts. In our scenario, we can't have any personal accounts. I can provide specifics if needed, but this isn't a solution. Can you provide a link to instructions on how to make this available to our user community. 

 

We need to be able to add the app to our own O365 store, so our users community can install it as an available app. Please let me know if this is a possibility or not as of now? 

 

So grateful for all you guys do!!! 

 

Blessings. 

Copper Contributor

Hello @Jasmin_Rashid ,

 

Just a little background, in our organization, we are trying various software's for Project Management and Whiteboard on Windows 10 and iOS is extremely convincing but the problems are as follows,

1.  Our Organization has disabled Windows store and almost all our team members use Windows 10 Enterprise. We expect the team to grow - cross functional, how do we have all the features available for all the users in this situation ?

2. I understand that the web app is to gain all the features but prioritized for end of 2020. That is a long time to wait, are there any quick fix, like an insider feature test, I can talk to my team and get them to volunteer. 

3. Even if we get the windows store to work, our company policy forbids us to login to Personal MS accounts into apps and websites, is there a workaround ?

 

Excited to know the possibilities, your work is inspiring and will change the way projects will be handled in the future, hoping that future is closer to reality ! 

 

Regards. 

Copper Contributor

@Jasmin_Rashid

You mentioned the roadmap for Whiteboard and your plans for DLP in a previous conversation 

"@Jen_Unser - Thanks for the feedback!. We do have plans to include DLP and it is on the Whiteboard roadmap :)"

 

As I am not able to see this workitem in the current Microsoft 365 roadmap https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/roadmap?filters=&searchterms=whiteboard Do you have some information about the timeline for integrating DLP for Whiteboard?

Copper Contributor

Hi @Itai Almog@Jasmin_Rashid,

 

While I can install the app, the online version does not appear for me on the "all apps" list in the 365 portal, and moreover, when I try to go to " whiteboard.microsoft.com", I get the AADSTS50020 error message. Moreover, when I try to collaborate by sending a link to others, they cannot use the web-app and must download the app from the store (which is only possible for windows/ios). 

 

Thanks,

Itay

Copper Contributor

Hi @Itai Almog , @Jasmin_Rashid ,

 

When I try to use the webapp on whiteboard.microsoft.com, I always get the AADSTS50020 error. In addition, the whiteboard app does not appear on my (personal) 365 account under "all apps". When I try to collaborate with others, they cannot access the online version as well and must install the app, which is only available on windows/ios. Is this on purpose?

 

Thanks!

Microsoft

@null null Thank you for reaching out, we are in the process of updating our roadmap which will be available soon :). DLP, eDiscovery, retention policies and legal hold capabilities will become available during 2020/21. Hope this helps!

 

Thanks

Jasmin Rashid, Microsoft 

Microsoft

@Itay Kaplan Thank you for bringing this to our attention and sorry you are experiencing this error (I have passed on to the team to explore this for you).

Whiteboard Web app is not available for consumers, so therefore users won't find it in the O365 portal. Hope this helps and thank you for sharing your experiences :)
 
Jasmin Rashid, Microsoft 
Copper Contributor

@Jasmin_Rashid thank you for the quick reply! So just to get this straight, even though the app isn't available for consumers it should still be possible to collaborate using the webapp given a link? If this is the case, it's great, and I'm looking forward for this being fixed for me so that I collaborate with people without windows/ios. 

In addition it would be great if it were possible to share a link with people who do not have an account, and to choose whether people with the link can edit or just view. Are you planning to add these features?

Microsoft

@Itay Kaplan -Most welcome - external/guest access capability is on our roadmap for later this year . The error you are experiencing is related to the fact that overall, we don‘t support MSA (personal) accounts in our web app yet.  The the message you get is expected and appears when you‘re trying to sign in with MSA. Hope this helps clarifies :)





Thanks 

Jasmin 

Copper Contributor

@Jasmin_Rashid Thanks again. In that case, I think there shouldn't be an option to view on the web. I mean, now, when you click the link there's the option to view on the web. If the link was sent from a personal account, then this would be impossible anyway if I understand your answer, so the option shouldn't exist at all. 

Anyway I do hope that this (webapp being widely available) and what I suggested above (allow/not allow editing and not needing an account in order to view) will become available soon. I am using whiteboard a lot, but this issue (the need for having an account, the need for installing the app) made it impossible in several cases which would otherwise be way more productive.   

Microsoft

@Itay Kaplan Thank you for the suggestions, these capabilities are on our roadmap.  Thank you for continuing to use Whiteboard and providing valuable feedback, its always much appreciated :) 

 

Jasmin Rashid,

Microsoft 

Copper Contributor

Hi,

My name is Angel. I was trying to use the Microsoft Whiteboard on my Macbook but noticed it had many features such as attaching images missing. The only feature available are drawing tools. How can I use the other feature as well?

Microsoft

@angelshen Thank you for reaching out! - we have accelerated internal development on our new Whiteboard Web app which will power Mac user’s experiences in the future. The goal is to bring Web (Mac experience) up to and beyond parity with the current Windows and iOS apps. Please stay tuned for further announcements on this :)

 

Jasmin Rashid,

Microsoft

Copper Contributor

As an architect, we would like to use Whiteboard to import PDF drawings and then make mark ups on the sheets with a client during a Teams meeting. I can't see a way to import a PDF to do this. If you know of a way would you please share. Thanks.

 

Microsoft

@Scott_Ginder Thanks for reaching out, this capability is on the roadmap for the Teams/Web experience later this year. We have excelled development of our Web app and the aim is for the Web/Teams app to become full feature parity and in line with the Windows10 and iOS apps. Please stay tuned for further announcements on this coming soon :)

 

Jasmin Rashid, Microsoft

Copper Contributor

Hi,

 

Can Microsoft WhiteBoard for the Web be embedded within an i Frame and referenced using the WOPI protocol within a custom Web Application ?

 

Regards,

Sam

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