Working from home is fast becoming the norm across industries. Certain organizations allow their employees to work from home permanently. And when you’re working from home, brainstorming with your team can be difficult. The whiteboard is one of the tools that teams will find useful when collaborating remotely. While Microsoft Whiteboard is a solid choice, there are people who might want to try different options. So in this post I will share some of the best Microsoft Whiteboard alternatives.
Microsoft Whiteboard also integrates with Teams by Microsoft, but not everyone uses Teams. What about other users on Zoom, Duo, Meet or other platforms? These whiteboard apps will help you, and most are available for Windows and other platforms.
Let’s check them out.
1. Draw Pile
DrawPile is an open source and free whiteboard application available for Windows, macOS and Linux platforms. There is no mobile version. DrawPile is a drawing tool with collaboration features at its core. Inviting is a different story. For this you will need to share your external IP address and password. DrawPile provides a nifty guide on how to host a collaborative session.
It has the unique ability to record your screen while collaborating with others on the whiteboard. This can help to understand the process and can be used as a reference later. You can save it as a video or a series of pictures. The application is completely free to use.
2. Draw. Chat
One of the main features of Draw.Chat is its messaging feature, where you can send text messages to other participants. You can also send audio and video messages, which is cooler than detailed text descriptions. Recently, the developers of the app added a video conferencing feature.
Draw.Chat comes with many drawing tools that might be too much for those looking for a Microsoft Whiteboard alternative, but most will find these options useful. The best part is that it doesn’t require any registration and you have 10MB of cloud storage which you can store for up to 1 month before downloading the whiteboards. There are lots of keyboard shortcuts that will make your life easier.
Two interesting features include the ability to draw/highlight on maps and annotate PDF files. The app is completely free and you can create multiple whiteboards at once.
3. Miro (Previous RealtimeBoard)
Miro is a professional platform-independent whiteboard application that works on desktop computers and smartphones. You can start with a blank whiteboard or choose a template based on your needs. Miro’s user interface is very bright and there are many elements you can add to the whiteboard.
You can drag and drop each item wherever you want. You can also zoom and pan the board. Team members can chat with each other using text, audio, and video, or simply share screens within Miro. You can also connect many third-party apps like Slack, Drive, Teams, Trello, and more. There’s a Miro Marketplace for all kinds of plugins for extra functionality. Enterprise users will be pleased to know that there are administrative controls for users with workflow control permissions.
Miro has a free plan for up to 3 whiteboards and some basics to try. Meanwhile, the paid version, priced at $8 per month, unlocks various features such as greater team support, collaboration, private whiteboards, and the like.
4. Explain Everything
Description Everything works like the whiteboard option in Zoom or Meet, where you create a whiteboard and send an invitation code to others. There is no desktop app, but it works in any browser and has dedicated mobile apps. It was created to help teachers and other presenters explain how things work. It also supports audio and video recording.
You’ll create a whiteboard and then draw, add shapes, and other elements as you explain how things work. You can share the finished video with anyone. That doesn’t mean you can’t invite people in real time and collaborate with them on a single whiteboard. You can do this too, but those who can’t join the whiteboard sharing session can watch the video instead. Video can be created using a mix of media file types such as PDF files, audio or video messages, and of course all the elements you would use on the whiteboard.
Besides the video format, you can also save the whiteboard in PDF or some popular image formats. Like Miro, this Microsoft Whiteboard alternative integrates with many cloud storage applications. Up to 3 projects are free and pricing starts at $7 per month.
5. OneNote
Some Reddit users suggest using OneNote as a Microsoft Whiteboard alternative. OneNote is a popular note-taking app, again from the house of Microsoft. You can take notes, share and collaborate on a single note in a variety of formats including text, audio, and video, and there’s a handy toolbar with drawing tools.
While it’s not a traditional whiteboard app, there are some benefits to using OneNote. Using keywords or tags, you can create detailed notes, lists, draw, save, share, collaborate, and then search this sea of notes to find what you’re looking for. We’ve covered that OneNote is very detailed in GT before. Check out our draw.
Built-in Whiteboard
Did you know that video conferencing apps like Zoom come with a built-in whiteboard feature? Unlike OneNote, which was created primarily for taking notes, Zoom was first created for video conferencing and collaboration. This is another way to use a whiteboard, unlike the ones we shared above.
There are numerous other Microsoft Whiteboard alternatives and the alternative you use will depend on your specific needs and use case. I suggest you try a few of them, preferably the free version, and choose the one that works best for you.
Next: Did I catch your attention with Zoom’s whiteboard feature? Click the link below to learn how the whiteboard feature in Zoom works.
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