Whiteboard is a tool from Zoom that allows teams to enhance collaboration and brainstorming, providing on-site and hybrid teams a unified space in which to work.

Accessible on any device, Zoom whiteboards can be accessed at any time, whether during or outside of a meeting. Whiteboards provide a variety of features, including sticky notes, drawing tools, and comments.

Start a Whiteboard

Zoom’s whiteboard user guide provides details, including getting started creating, sharing, and managing a whiteboard, as well as its prerequisites.

Whiteboard Controls

Zoom provides information regarding features, including editing tools, comments, and sharing in Zoom whiteboard.

Manage Whiteboard Pages

The whiteboard dashboard displays all of the whiteboards you’ve created and shared. You can manage them from the dashboard. Zoom also provides information about adding, deleting, and resolving comments in Zoom Whiteboard

Zoom Whiteboard Training

Zoom offers an online Zoom Whiteboard training video.

Share a Whiteboard

Share to Contacts, Email Addresses, or a Whiteboard Project

1. Click Share at the top right of the whiteboard screen or by clicking the Share link next to a whiteboard in your whiteboard listings.
2. Two checkboxes determine which email addresses are valid for sharing:
   • Anyone can share at or below their level
     If you are sharing the whiteboard with external users, it is strongly recommended to disable (uncheck) this setting. Selecting this option will grant sharing privileges to anyone with whom you share your whiteboard. Collaborators with whom you share the whiteboard can add additional collaborators.
   • External users can be invited
     When checked, this options allows a whiteboard to be shared to non-Cornell Zoom account holders. (If both checkboxes are selected, you can choose whether external users Cannot Invite Others or Can Invite Others.)

3. (Optional) If you have created a whiteboard Project to organize materials, you can select the project name from the Shared with Project dropdown. The whiteboard will then be shared with everyone you have added to the project. (For more information about whiteboard projects, visit Zoom’s documentation, Creating whiteboard projects.)
4. In the Contact, Channel or Email field at the top, type contact names or email addresses of those with whom you would like to share the whiteboard. Select recipients from the pop-up list of results, or press Enter to add an address not seen in the contact list results.
   • If you enter an email address or contact that is not valid according to the sharing options you selected, Zoom will show an error message telling you the recipient is invalid.
   • While you are entering contact information, the project dropdown, the sharing settings checkboxes, or the Link Access options will be hidden until you send the invitation.
   • From the dropdown at the right end of the field containing recipient contacts or email addresses, choose the role you would like to assign to those with whom you are sharing: Co-Owner, Editor, Commenter, or Viewer.
   • Anyone who does not have either a Cornell Zoom account or a personal / free Zoom account will not be able to access a shared whiteboard.
5. (Optional) Use the Invite Message field, which is shown after you enter one or more contact names or email addresses, to type a short message of up to 280 words.
6. Click Share Whiteboard. If you have included external contacts or email addresses in your share list, Zoom will ask you to confirm the share. Click Share anyway to confirm, or Cancel to stop the sharing.

Share a Whiteboard Link

1. Click Share at the top right of the whiteboard screen or by clicking the Share link next to a whiteboard in your whiteboard listings.
2. Under Link Access, determine access to the whiteboard by choosing one of the following options from the dropdown:
   • Only invited members can access this board,
   • Anyone at Cornell University, or 
   • Anyone with the link can view this board (not recommended).
3. Click Copy Link.
4. Paste the link into a message or email and send to those with whom you want to share the whiteboard. Be aware that only those who meet the criteria set in Step 2 above will be able to sign in and open the whiteboard.

Set Whiteboard Sharing Defaults

Cornell hosts or participants can change their Zoom profile settings to determine the default settings shown when they open the Share Whiteboard screen for a whiteboard. To set your sharing defaults for Zoom whiteboards:

1. Open your Zoom profile Settings.
2. Click the Whiteboard tab.
3. Under Default Access Level, in the Who Can Access list, select one of the options: Only Invited Users, Cornell University, or Anyone.
4. Click Save.

To set the defaults for how those with whom the whiteboard is shared can re-share it: 

1. Go to the Zoom Profile Settings Whiteboard tab.
2. Under Default advanced sharing settings, check one of the options:
   • Users can share at or below their permission level
     Not recommended. If you will be sharing to external users, it is strongly recommended to disable (uncheck) this setting. Selecting this option will grant re-similar sharing privileges to anyone with whom you share your whiteboard. Collaborators with whom you share the whiteboard can add additional collaborators.
   • Internal Users can share with external users
     Not recommended. Select this option to allow Cornell account holders with whom you share your whiteboard to share it outside Cornell.
   • External users can invite others
     Not recommended. When Internal users can share with external users is checked, this option is available. When selected, this option allows a whiteboard shared by a Cornell participant to be re-shared with other external users.