Zoom Whiteboard is a powerful collaboration tool that allows users to create and manipulate canvases. Read more about the tool from Zoom's Whiteboard guide. Use the information in this article to get started.
In this article:
- Understanding Zoom Whiteboard Tools
- Deleting Zoom Whiteboards
- Example Scenarios for Using Zoom Whiteboard
Understanding Zoom Whiteboard Tools
Whiteboard comes with a plethora of different tools for instructors and staff alike to collaborate with.
- Select: Allows you to click and drag a box around any objects on the whiteboard and drag and drop them anywhere on the canvas.
- Grab: Allows you to drag a grouping of objects easily without having to click and drag each object individually
- Draw: Allows you to leave your mark on the whiteboard. Multiple tools allow for notetaking, marking, and highlighting.
- Pen: Allows you to make fully opaque lines on the board
- Highlighter: Allows you to make semi-transparent lines that can go over other objects
- Line Thickness: Gives you the ability to change the thickness of the pen or the highlighter tools
- Color: You can change the color of the pen and highlighter tools. You have 9 basic options by default, but you can custom-add any color you'd like
- Eraser: Cleans up and removes any line or highlight you have made on the board
- Shape tool: Places cursor into shape mode to create basic shapes, callout shapes, flowchart symbols, UML symbols, and equations. You can click + drag and click + tap anywhere on the whiteboard to draw shapes.
- Context menu:
- Change fill (full, opaque, hollow)
- Change shape
- Change color
- Context menu:
- Line tool: Creates line objects. You can drag lines from the toolbar, attach them to shapes, and use them as connectors.
- Line types: straight, one-end arrow, double-end arrow
- Context menu:
- Change line thickness
- Change color
- Text: Creates text. Double-clicking a text object puts the object into text editing mode. When typing, the text box width automatically adjusts to fit the text completely.
- Note: The maximum number of characters per text edit is 5000.
- Context menu:
- Font style (bold, italic, underline)
- Font size
- Font alignment
- Font color
- Sticky Note: Creates a note idea that can be used to draw attention. When you select a sticky note, you can conveniently create a poll and send it to others to gather quick feedback.
- Context menu: Change background color
- Frame: Allows you to organize and sequence content within a canvas. You can easily switch between aspect ratios, such as 16:9, 4:3, 1:1, Letter, and A4. For unique specifications, you have the freedom to define a custom aspect ratio, enabling complete control over the canvas dimensions.
- Templates: Gives a pre-formatted structure and layout that can be used as a base to create many whiteboards.
- Upload PDFs and Images: Allows you to upload PDF or image files (JPG or PNG) from your computer onto the board. When PDF files and images are uploaded to the canvas, you can:
- move the files around
- adjust the size
- crop unwanted parts
- connect to other shapes
- add comments on or around the file or image.
- extract individual PDF pages to add annotations
- download files that have been uploaded to the Whiteboard
Deleting Zoom Whiteboards
You can choose whether to retain or delete Whiteboards in your UMN Zoom Settings.
- Go to zoom.umn.edu and select Settings from the left side of the page
- Scroll to the right using the scroll arrow
- Choose the Whiteboard tab and toggle Auto-delete specified Whiteboards
- Note: Show disclaimer when creating or opening a whiteboard is not available at this time
- Note: Show disclaimer when creating or opening a whiteboard is not available at this time
Example Scenarios for Using Zoom Whiteboard
While there are many use cases for Zoom Whiteboards, this section contains a few common scenarios that may be used by University faculty, students, or staff:
Scenario 1: An instructor wants to share a board for class collaboration
- Using the Desktop client: The instructor can start a new board or share an existing board (created via Zoom profile at zoom.umn.edu) with all participants, and those who are logged in to Zoom will retain access to the board after the meeting.
- Web client: A board can only be shared one email address at a time or Link Access can be given out. Copy and paste the Link and send it to the class.
- If an instructor has students who are non-UMN: Allow sharing with anyone with a Zoom Account must be selected in Settings to allow non-UMN Zoom users to access shared boards.
Scenario 2: An instructor shared whiteboard with Anyone and is Zoombombed
If you experience a Zoombombing, instructors can quickly:
- Lock the whiteboard
- Duplicate and reshare the new board with known users. The duplicated board will have a different URL.
Scenario 3: Staff wants to use whiteboard to collaborate and problem-solve complex issues
- Desktop client: You can start a new board or share existing board (created via Zoom profile at zoom.umn.edu) with all participants, and those who are logged in to Zoom will retain access to the board after the meeting.
- Web client: Boards can only be shared to one email address at a time or Link Access can be given out. Copy and paste the Link and send to desired users.
- Sharing to non-UMN email addresses: Allow sharing with anyone with a Zoom Account must be selected in Settings to allow non-UMN Zoom users to access shared boards.
Scenario 4: Instructor wants to use the infinite Whiteboard for extended lecture notes to retain all notes
There are situations where an instructor will want to retain notes and not have them deleted. You can use this feature with infinite whiteboard by:
- Choosing the Select tool, revealing a hand icon named Move.
- Use Move to drag the canvas around and create an infinite canvas.