Getting Started with Whiteboard

Brightidea Whiteboard allows users to collaborate and brainstorm ideas in real-time. Users can create and share multiple whiteboards within Brightidea, providing your team with a digital space to innovate together at any time. The Brightidea Whiteboard functionality is available to all users right out of the box; view additional license information here. 

 

Table of Contents: 

• Supported Browsers 
• Accessing Whiteboard
• Create a Whiteboard 
• Navigating within your Whiteboard
• Whiteboard Hotkeys / Keyboard Shortcuts
• Share a Whiteboard 
• Multi-Player 
• Review Available Whiteboards 

 

Supported Browsers 

Brightidea Whiteboard technology provides users an infinite, zoomable interface to store independent stickies, objects, images, etc. The interface requires the use of modern, up-to-date browser versions. Because of this, Whiteboard browser requirements differ slightly from other Brightidea feature browser requirements, which can be seen here.

Whiteboard is supported by the following browsers:

• Google Chrome 
• Mozilla Firefox (latest version recommended)
• Brave 
• Apple Safari (Version 15 or higher)
• Microsoft Edge 
  • Note: Microsoft Internet Explorer is not supported.
• Whiteboards are not accessible via mobile browser. 

 

Accessing Whiteboards 

• The Whiteboard feature is found on the User Homepage, example:
  https://<your-domain>.brightidea.com/userhome
  If you do not have User Home enabled you will need to set it up prior to being able to use Whiteboards. The User Home article details how to enable and configure User Home.
• On the User Home page, Whiteboards can be accessed from the menu on the left side of the screen under My Innovation.
  
  
  
  
• Note: This feature is turned on automatically for all customers- To deactivate it, System Admins can disable the option under System Setup.

 

Create a Whiteboard 

When you access the Whiteboard page for the first time you have two options for creating a Whiteboard. You can select the "New Blank Whiteboard" template at the top of the screen or click the "Create a Whiteboard" button under the empty list of saved Whiteboards.

We also provide template options to help you get started with a new Whiteboard. You can select one of the templates to create a new Whiteboard with some pre-loaded content. See the Whiteboard Templates article to learn more about the template options.

• Once the blank Whiteboard is generated, you can re-name the file and begin to use all the available tools and features.

• All new Whiteboards will only be accessible to the user who created them until they have been shared with other users in the Brightidea system. 

Navigating within your Whiteboard

Whiteboards provide the opportunity to navigate around its infinite, zoomable interface.

Using your trackpad, you can: 

• Slide one finger along the center of the touchpad to move the cursor
• Tap or click to select an object
• Use two fingers to move horizontally, vertically, or diagonally across the board
• Use two fingers, with a pinch motion to zoom in
• Use two fingers, with a stretch motion to zoom out  

Using your mouse: 

• Use the scroll wheel to move up and down, or press down on the scroll wheel to pan through the board.

Using the Zoom Reference:

• The Zoom Reference feature can be found on the top right of the Whiteboard.

• Click on the plus (+) or minus (-) buttons to zoom you in and out
• Click on the zoom percentage to expose the Zoom Reference menu

• • Click "Zoom to Fit" to set your zoom to fit all objects on the Whiteboard
  • Click "Zoom in" to zoom you in
  • Click "Zoom out" to zoom out in
  • Click "Zoom 50%" to zoom to 50%
  • Click "Zoom 100%" to zoom to 100%

Whiteboard Hotkeys / Keyboard Shortcuts

For those users that enjoy leveraging the efficiency of Hotkeys (Keyboard Shortcuts), Whiteboard has a built-in set of key combinations to offer even more agility for your innovating efforts. To access the Keyboard Shortcuts modal within your Whiteboard, select the menu in the upper left corner next to your Whiteboard title and select Keyboard Shortcuts.

Essentials:

Tools:

Text:

Selection:

Edit:

Arrange:

 

Share a Whiteboard 

• To begin collaborating with other users, click Share in the top right corner of your new Whiteboard. This will open an invitation window to invite other users to access the Whiteboard.

• The Share invitation window allows you to invite either existing user in your Brightidea system by entering the user's name, or new users by entering an email address. You can edit the invitation email template in System Setup > Site > System Email Messages.
  
  • Users who already have a profile in the Brightidea system will receive an automated email to join your Whiteboard.
  • Users who do not have access to the Brightidea system will receive an automated email to register, then they receive access to the Whiteboard.  
  • Using the Copy Link option will copy the URL for your Whiteboard to your computer's clipboard so you can manually share access.

• Selecting Link to selected object will copy the link to a specific object in your Whiteboard for manual sharing. You can also link to a selected object directly from the board by right-clicking on an object. 

• By default, the Whiteboard allows access to anyone who clicks the link to collaborate. Turn this off to change permissions.

If you opt for Anyone with link can view, users who have the link can access the Whiteboard (even if they aren't specifically assigned) but will not be able to edit the content or properties of the Whiteboard. 

Users will see the Whiteboards they have view-only access to in their User Home Whiteboard list. They can also save a Copy of Whiteboards they have view-only access to. 

Note: Sending Whiteboard invites to specific users will still give them edit access to the Whiteboard.

 

Multi-Player 

• Inviting additional users automatically enables multi-player and multi-edit capabilities in a Whiteboard. This allows users to see who is accessing the same Whiteboard and what they are doing in the Whiteboard in real-time. 
• When multiple users are accessing a Whiteboard at the same time they each be able to see:
  • The profile image of each user in the top toolbar
  • Each user's mouse cursor will be activated within the space and identified with the username.
• All users can simultaneously add and edit content/objects within the space concurrently in real-time. 

Follow Users

Allows users to quickly locate and follow each other in the whiteboard to support collaboration & review workflows. This is an inverse of the huddle feature, which is detailed in the Core Tools support article. 

• Click on a user in the top toolbar to follow their view on the whiteboard
• While following someone's view, you can see a visual indicator by a colored screen border 
• To break the following rule, navigate within the board or edit an object 

Review Available Whiteboards 

• All Whiteboards = all whiteboards, whether generated by yourself or shared with you
• My Whiteboards = only boards you, as a user, originally created 
• Shared With Me = only boards in which you were invited to edit and view 
• The "Search Whiteboards" field allows users to search all Whiteboard titles in your system.