Whiteboard collaboration is more than several people drawing at once. The board combines a live canvas, participant awareness, a paired article, shared comments, object-level notes, and a reusable meeting workspace. Together, those surfaces let a group move from a fast workshop to a reviewable result without detaching the visual work from its space.
One Board, Several Kinds Of Context
The canvas is the shared center of the session. When collaborators edit the same board, additions, moves, resizing, styling, layering, and deletions appear as board changes for the group. Connectors, structured data, pinned objects, annotations, and links between comments and objects remain part of that board when it is reopened.
Several surrounding surfaces help people understand both the work and the conversation around it:
The Article and Comments panels open beside the board. Closing either panel returns the canvas to more room; it does not close the board or discard its visual state.
See Who Is Working Now
Live presence helps a facilitator follow a busy session without interrupting it. A collaborator can appear through their cursor, pointer color, current selection, active tool, pointer pulse, or panning activity. These cues answer immediate questions such as “Who is moving this card?” or “Which part of the diagram are we discussing?”
Live presence and participant history are different. Presence cues belong to the current session and disappear when a collaborator leaves or closes the board. The participant avatars and count can remember people who opened the board beyond that live session. Use visible cursors and selections to understand who is active now; do not treat the participant count as an online-status list.
Presence is also separate from board content. A pointer trail does not become part of the saved canvas, appear in undo history, or return when the board is reopened.
Keep Feedback Attached To The Work
Comments stay beside the canvas so discussion can retain its board context.
Use the linked article when the board needs durable narrative context: a workshop brief, decision summary, agenda, or explanation that would be awkward to arrange on the canvas. Every board is paired with an article from the start, and that article begins as a draft. Creating or editing the board does not publish it automatically.
Use Comments when feedback should become part of a shared discussion. The panel shows the article's comment thread beside the canvas, so collaborators can read or respond without leaving the board. A board-level comment can discuss the overall result. A comment linked to an eligible object points the conversation at a specific card, shape, or diagram node; its badge can reopen Comments at the linked discussion. You can begin a new linked comment from a selected object, or link an existing comment by dragging its handle to an eligible target. On mobile, that drag begins with a long press.
Use an annotation for a short note that belongs directly to one supported object. Annotations are useful for labels, reminders, or a concise clarification. They are stored with the board object, display as a badge, and can be edited or removed. Annotation text is limited to 500 characters, and freehand strokes do not support annotations.
The distinction is practical:
Personal Undo In A Shared Session
Undo and Redo are meant to help each editor recover from their own recent gestures, not to rewind the whole room. In the collaborative history path, undo follows the local editor's changes so one person does not intentionally reverse another person's work. A continuous move or resize is treated as one action rather than a long series of tiny steps.
This is personal action history, not a board-wide revision browser. Watch the canvas after undoing, especially when another collaborator has just edited the same object. Undo and redo are unavailable in a read-only board, and live presence never enters the history.
What Stays When The Session Ends
Authored board state is designed to remain available across sessions. Reopening the board restores its elements, styles, ordering, metadata, and the latest stored stage state. Linked annotations and object-comment references return with the objects they belong to. The paired article and its comment thread remain available through the same board context.
Visual Space also protects the shared result when a live session misses one or more incoming board updates. Instead of guessing at the gap, it reloads the latest stored board state. You may briefly see the board refresh after a connection interruption, but the intended result is a consistent current board rather than a partially reconstructed one.
This recovery behavior is not an offline editing promise. If a connection is unstable, pause consequential changes until the current shared state is visible, then confirm the result before continuing.
Access And Editing Boundaries
A board remains governed by its space and area. A viewer must be signed in, belong to the space, and have access to the relevant private area when one is involved. Bringing a board into a meeting does not widen those permissions.
An otherwise authorized person can open an existing board without Whiteboard app access in a read-only view. In that state, editing tools and board mutations are unavailable, including undo, redo, annotations, and linking comments to objects. Creating a board and editing its canvas require Whiteboard access.
The paired article and comments remain their own content surfaces. A person's ability to edit the canvas does not replace the normal access that applies to reading or contributing through those panels. If the group expects everyone to update context or join the discussion, confirm that access before the review begins.
Use The Same Board In A Meeting
A Whiteboard opened or created from an activity meeting is a normal, document-backed board, not a temporary meeting artifact. It uses the same canvas, tools, panels, presence, and history as the standalone workspace. The meeting adds a shared feed around that board, so participants can keep cameras, audio, screen shares, and other live apps available while the board is on stage.
Changing the meeting layout or selecting another feed changes how an individual views the room; it does not turn the board into a separate copy. Whiteboard can also change to another compatible board inside its active meeting feed. Ending the live-app feed or finishing the meeting removes that feed from the room, but does not delete the board. The group can reopen it later from its owning area when ordinary access allows.
For the complete meeting sequence, including choosing existing work, creating a draft, arranging feeds, and closing a shared app, see Collaborate with live apps.
Export A Review View
Save as PNG exports the framed viewport, so the visible canvas behind the menu matters.
More > Save as PNG captures the board area currently visible on screen. Pan and zoom first so the viewport contains the decisions, references, or diagram section the recipient needs. The result is useful for a review message or a quick asynchronous update.
PNG export is a snapshot, not a whole-board archive. Content outside the visible viewport is not included, and vector or whole-board export is not available. Saving on mobile also depends on whether the device offers a compatible file-saving dialog. Exporting does not publish the paired article or replace the reopenable board.
Common Questions
Why do I see someone in the participant count but not on the canvas?
The participant area can remember people who opened the board. Live cursors, selections, and pointer effects indicate current session activity and disappear when that presence ends.
Should I use a comment or an annotation?
Use a comment for discussion and replies. Link it to an object when that conversation concerns a specific visual item. Use an annotation for a short note stored directly with a supported object.
Does Undo reverse another collaborator's work?
Undo is designed around your recent local actions in collaborative editing, not a global board rollback. Because collaborators can touch the same object close together, verify the visible result after using it.
Can a read-only viewer open Article and Comments?
Board read-only mode prevents canvas changes and object-comment linking. Access to the paired article and its discussion still follows the permissions of those content surfaces.
Will the board disappear when the meeting ends?
No. Ending the meeting or its Whiteboard feed removes the shared meeting feed, not the underlying board. The board remains in its owning area for people who can normally access it.
Does Save as PNG include everything on the canvas?
No. It captures only the currently visible viewport. Reframe the board before exporting if important content sits outside the current view.