Guide: Use Whiteboard in Microsoft Teams: Guide
In response to Slack’s growing popularity, Microsoft has finally announced Microsoft Teams for organizations. The software giant also continues to add new ones features to the teams. While it competes closely with Slack, Zoom, and others, Microsoft emphasizes collaboration as a specific part of the Teams app. When it comes to collaboration, the teams allow users to create, share and chat with a whiteboard while collaborating. Microsoft has added background blur for video calls, pop-upup chats and meeting windows, Outlook plugin and more in Teams. Among them, Whiteboard is one of the best features to work efficiently with team members. Microsoft Teams already allows the admin to share the screen with the team members. But if you want to brainstorm ideas with attendees, you can choose the whiteboard function during videos. The whiteboard feature is only available on desktop apps. In this post, we will do that guide you to how to access the whiteboard in Microsoft Teams, features it offers, and others tips and tricks regarding video calls in the Teams software. Let’s start. Download Microsoft Teams
How to Open Whiteboard in Microsoft Teams
As I mentioned earlier, Whiteboard in Microsoft Teams is only available for desktop apps and not mobile apps. Also, if you’re using Microsoft Teams on Windows or Mac, you can’t use the whiteboard in a direct chat with a team member. It is only available in team channels. Follow the steps below to use it. Step 1: In the Microsoft Teams app, click the Teams tab in the sidebar. From there, select a team and go to the relevant channel. Step 2: To add a new channel, click the three-dot menu next to the team name and create a channel. Add members to it. Step 3: In the bottom menu of the channel, you will see the Meet Now option. Tap it and a group video call will start between the team members. Before starting the video call, you can also add a relevant topic.
Step 4: On the Video calls screen, you will see a toolbar that gives you access to functions such as mute, wallpaper, chat, and screen sharing. Step 5: Select the screen sharing option and you’ll be prompted to choose from the current desktop, open windows, PowerPoint slides, browse files on PC / Mac, another Teams channel, or OneDrive.
Step 6: At the end, you will see the Whiteboard section, which offers two options: Microsoft Whiteboard and Invision’s Freehand. Choose Microsoft Whiteboard and it will open the whiteboard for you. InVision is a special UI / UX design tool that the designers use to design the user interface, and their Freehand tool is similar to Microsoft Whiteboard.
Whiteboard drawing Features
Microsoft offers a lot of drawing options while using the whiteboard. You can use the standard Pen tool in Red, Black, Blue, and Green to demonstrate the strategy.
You can also use the eraser tool to remove the irrelevant part of the whiteboard. The move tool is my favorite. You can use it to move the whiteboard or keep it on a fixed section. Because the trackpads on Windows laptops can be a mixed bag, I recommend using a mouse to draw or scribble with the Pen tool. After you are done brainstorming, you may want to save the raw image and ideas as an image on PC or Mac. To do that, tap the Settings icon in the top right corner and select Export image in SVG format.
Share Whiteboard and chat
During screen sharing, you can also ask others to join the stream. Tap on it Share button on the above, and it generates a link to share. Share together with others to allow them to participate in the session. You can also use the chat, mute, and invite other group members to the whiteboard. Microsoft has added all the practical options in Teams Whiteboard to ensure that the admin doesn’t have to leave the stream to activate it.
Mute allows you to mute the audio from your end. The chat function is my favorite. It opens the side panel in the whiteboard and lets you chat with team members. That’s a better way to communicate live with team members and they can talk to each other while sharing whiteboard screens. After the conversation ends, you can see the entire chat history with the name of the meeting in the channel.
In the member’s tab, you can see the current users in the meeting and suggested users, and you can even invite members from the other channels.
Shortcomings
Microsoft Whiteboard isn’t perfect either. There is no way to add text and predefined shapes such as circles, arrows, lines, squares or more to the whiteboard. Image insertion support is also missing. I hope future updates provide those options.
Use Microsoft Teams like a pro
Most screen sharing tools provide a whiteboard feature for brainstorming ideas with team members. Microsoft Teams doesn’t want to be left behind. You can use it to discuss ideas, share insights with visitors, and export it as an image for future reference. The next up: Want more about Microsoft Teams? Read the post below to find the top tips and tricks before.
Use Whiteboard in Microsoft Teams: Guide: benefits
Faq
Final note
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