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Using Whiteboards

This guide walks you through creating whiteboards, using the drawing tools, collaborating with your team, and accessing whiteboards from both the sidebar and meeting channel sessions.

Creating a Whiteboard​

There are two ways to create a whiteboard in Copera:

From the Sidebar​

Navigate to a channel's session history in the Collaborate section. You can start a new whiteboard session from there, which creates a new whiteboard document and opens the Excalidraw canvas.

During a Meeting Channel Session​

While in a meeting, click the Whiteboard button in the meeting channel controls toolbar. This starts a new whiteboard that all meeting participants can see as a tile in the meeting view. If a previous whiteboard was used in the same channel, you can reopen it to continue where you left off.

Drawing Tools​

The whiteboard provides a comprehensive set of drawing tools through the Excalidraw toolbar:

  • Selection tool --- Click and drag to select, move, and resize elements on the canvas.
  • Rectangle --- Draw rectangular shapes. Hold Shift to create perfect squares.
  • Diamond --- Create diamond-shaped elements for flowcharts and decision nodes.
  • Ellipse --- Draw circles and ovals. Hold Shift for perfect circles.
  • Arrow --- Connect elements with directional arrows. Click the start point, then click the end point.
  • Line --- Draw straight lines between points.
  • Freehand pencil --- Draw freeform lines and sketches with your mouse or stylus.
  • Text --- Click anywhere on the canvas to add text labels, titles, or notes.
  • Image --- Insert images from your computer onto the canvas.
  • Eraser --- Remove elements by clicking or dragging over them.

Each shape can be customized with different stroke colors, fill colors, stroke widths, and styles (solid, dashed, dotted) using the properties panel that appears when an element is selected.

Collaborating on a Whiteboard​

Whiteboards are designed for real-time teamwork:

  1. Live cursors --- When multiple users are on the same whiteboard, each person's cursor appears with their name and avatar. Cursors automatically hide after a few seconds of inactivity to reduce visual clutter.

  2. Simultaneous editing --- All changes are synchronized instantly through the collaboration server. There is no need to save manually --- every stroke and shape is persisted in real time.

  3. Selection awareness --- When another user selects an element, you can see their selection highlighted, preventing accidental edits to the same object.

Whiteboard Menu Options​

Click the hamburger menu icon in the top-left corner to access additional options:

  • Load Scene --- Import an Excalidraw scene file from your device.
  • Save to Active File --- Save the current state of the whiteboard.
  • Export --- Export the whiteboard data for sharing or backup.
  • Save as Image --- Download the entire canvas or a selection as a PNG image.
  • Search --- Find elements on the canvas by searching for text content.
  • Help --- Access Excalidraw's built-in help and keyboard shortcut reference.
  • Show/Hide Grid --- Toggle a background grid for precise alignment of elements.
  • Clear Canvas --- Remove all elements from the whiteboard (use with caution).
  • Change Canvas Background --- Switch the background color of the canvas.

Accessing Saved Whiteboards​

Whiteboards are associated with the channel or session where they were created:

  • Session whiteboards --- Whiteboards started during a meeting channel session are linked to that session. You can reopen them from the session history list in the channel's past sessions popover.
  • Drive whiteboards --- Whiteboard files are also accessible from Drive, where they appear as Excalidraw documents that you can open, rename, or share.

Whiteboards in Meetings​

When a whiteboard is active during a meeting channel session:

  1. The whiteboard appears as a tile in the meeting grid alongside participant video feeds.
  2. Any participant can interact with the whiteboard --- drawing, adding shapes, and writing text.
  3. The whiteboard can be expanded to theater mode for a larger view.
  4. The user who started the whiteboard is tracked, and the whiteboard can be stopped or reopened by participants with the appropriate permissions.
tip

Use the keyboard shortcut reference (accessible from the Help menu) to speed up your whiteboard workflow. Common shortcuts include R for rectangle, D for diamond, O for ellipse, A for arrow, L for line, P for pencil, and T for text.