Whiteboards give a space a persistent visual workspace for thinking, planning, diagramming, and review. A board can hold quick notes and sketches, but it can also bring in documents, goals, events, people, space areas, images, and structured data. The result stays connected to the work around it instead of becoming an isolated picture.
A Board That Belongs To The Work
Every Whiteboard belongs to a specific space area and appears as an app file in Docs. That identity matters: the board can be reopened from its home area, found alongside related documents, discussed through comments, opened during a meeting, and supported by a linked article.
The board itself holds the visual stage and its editable objects. The linked article carries the board's title and longer-form context, provides the shared discussion, and gives the author a separate publication path. These parts work together, but they are not interchangeable. Publishing the article does not flatten or replace the editable board.
This connection to Docs also gives a board a durable home. It is not a loose canvas in a global board list, and closing the editor does not discard the session. People return to the board through the space, subspace, activity, or Documents folder that owns it. For more about these connected file types, see App Files and Publishing.
From The Area Explorer To Fullscreen Work
Opening Whiteboard from a space area first shows its explorer. Here, files and folders remain the focus: you can browse boards in that area, open an existing one, or use New whiteboard when your access allows creation. Editor-only drawing and viewport controls stay hidden until a board is open.
Selecting a board moves into a focused, fullscreen workspace. The canvas receives most of the available room, while compact controls keep navigation, tools, people, the linked article, and comments within reach. You can use Change document to choose another board without abandoning the Whiteboard experience.
When you leave a standalone board, Back to whiteboards returns to the explorer for its owning area. This explorer-to-editor lifecycle keeps large-canvas work focused while preserving the location where the board will be found later.
Opening a board replaces the browsing view with a focused canvas while keeping navigation and collaboration controls close by.
When To Choose Whiteboard
Choose Whiteboard when the work needs a shared visual field whose parts remain movable and editable: a brainstorm, process map, stakeholder view, workshop wall, connected plan, or diagram that will continue after the session.
Whiteboard and Canvas both open as large visual workspaces, but they are designed around different outcomes:
A Whiteboard opened or created in a meeting is also different from a temporary meeting sketch. The meeting feed is a way to work on the board together; the board remains a normal, persistent app file with its linked draft article. Ending the feed or meeting does not delete that source work, so the group can continue later from Docs or the board's area.
One Stage For Many Kinds Of Thinking
The tool rail groups actions by purpose so you can move from an early idea to a more structured plan without changing apps:
Connectors can stay attached to supported objects as those objects move or resize. Board elements can also be styled and rearranged without turning the board into one flat image. Board Tools and Objects explains these families and their current boundaries in more detail.
Keep Sources, Discussion, And Visual Context Together
Pinned workspace references are more useful than copied labels because they keep a route back to the original work. A planning board can point to the goal being discussed, the event being prepared, the document that contains the details, the person responsible, or the area where follow-up belongs. Images can come from the existing workspace rather than a separate board-only media library.
The Article panel opens the board's paired article beside the canvas. Use it for context that needs more room than a note on the stage, and keep its draft or publication lifecycle distinct from edits to the board. New boards begin with this article as a draft; creating the board does not automatically publish a feed post. Publication remains an explicit decision and still respects the owning area's access rules.
The Comments panel provides whole-board discussion. When feedback needs a precise visual target, supported comments can be linked to a board object. Lightweight annotations offer a quicker way to keep a small explanation directly on an element. Collaboration and Context develops the differences between live presence, comments, linked feedback, annotations, and the paired article.
The Article panel gives longer context room beside the visual work without replacing the board itself.
Collaborate On The Same Board
People with editing access can add, move, resize, remove, or restyle elements on the shared stage, and their changes appear live. Cursors, pointer effects, current selections, active tools, and participant indicators help the group understand who is doing what without turning every gesture into a spoken instruction.
Undo and redo are designed around each person's recent work. This makes it possible to reverse your own board actions without treating another collaborator's contribution as part of the same local history. If a connection misses board changes, Whiteboard recovers the latest saved state instead of asking the user to reconcile parallel copies manually.
Collaboration still follows the board's access boundary. Live presence does not make a private area public, and a meeting does not grant someone access to a board they could not otherwise open.
Creation, Editing, And Read-Only Access
Opening a Whiteboard requires sign-in, membership in the owning space, and access to any private area that contains it. App access is checked in addition to those ordinary space permissions; it never replaces them.
Creation and editing are available through any of these current Whiteboard access paths:
An otherwise authorized member without Whiteboard app access can open an existing board in read-only mode. Editing tools are hidden, and actions that would change the stage, including undo and redo, remain unavailable. If valid Whiteboard access becomes active while the route is open, the workspace can refresh into an editable state without requiring the board to be reopened.
If you cannot create or edit, first distinguish between app access and content access. Premium explains the available Whiteboard offers in App Access, while the space owner or coordinator can help with membership in the board's actual area.
Use A Board In Meetings
Whiteboards are available as live apps in activity meetings. The group can browse compatible boards, create one when access allows, place it on the stage, and use the normal board tools, presence, comments, article context, and history inside the meeting layout.
The current Whiteboard feed can switch to another board without ending the live app. Each participant can also choose how to view that feed through the meeting's Grid, Stage, or Focus layout. Closing the live app removes its feed for the room, but the board remains in its owning Documents location.
Meeting work is therefore a continuation of the same document-backed lifecycle, not a second class of disposable boards. See Collaborate with Live Apps for the complete meeting journey.
Save A Snapshot Without Losing The Source
Choose Save as PNG when you need a quick image for review or an update outside the live workspace. The export captures the currently visible viewport. Pan and zoom to frame the part of the board you want before saving.
Whole-board export and vector export are not currently available. On mobile, saving also depends on the file controls offered by the device. The PNG is a snapshot only: collaborators should return to the Whiteboard file when they need the editable objects, linked sources, comments, or latest shared state.
Common Questions
Where is a new Whiteboard stored?
It belongs to the space area or Documents location from which it was created. Open that location again to find the board and its linked draft.
Is a Whiteboard just an image file?
No. It is an editable collaborative workspace made of board objects. PNG export creates a snapshot, but the source board remains available for continued work.
Why does every board have an Article panel?
The paired article provides title and explanatory context, carries the shared comments experience, and has its own publication lifecycle. It keeps the visual work connected to Docs and publishing without replacing the board.
Does creating a board publish it?
No. A new board starts with a paired draft article and does not automatically create a published feed post. Publishing is a separate action.
Can someone without Whiteboard access see an existing board?
Yes, when they are signed in and already permitted to access the owning space and area. Their board opens read-only until they also have valid Whiteboard editing access.
Does opening a Whiteboard in a meeting make it temporary?
No. The live-app feed is temporary, but the board is a persistent app file. Closing the feed or ending the meeting does not delete it.
How is Whiteboard different from Canvas?
Whiteboard is centered on collaborative planning objects, diagrams, references, and discussion. Canvas is centered on pixel-oriented artwork and an ordered layer stack.
Can I export the entire board?
Not with the current PNG action. Save as PNG captures the visible viewport; whole-board and vector exports are not available yet.