What you need to know
- Microsoft has several features in the works for Whiteboard, many of which add new options for embedding content.
- Microsoft Whiteboard will soon support embedding online videos through links, sharing clickable links, and adding comments.
- All of the new features appear on the Microsoft 365 roadmap and are currently scheduled to ship before the end of 2022, though that's subject to change.
Microsoft Whiteboard creates a shareable infinite canvas that can be shared between colleagues and coworkers. Microsoft has improved and revamped the app over time and has several changes on the way for 2022. The new features appear on the Microsoft 365 roadmap and were first spotted by Neowin.
Most of the upcoming features will sound familiar to those that regularly use Microsoft 365, such as the ability to add comments and attribute content to specific users. Microsoft Whiteboard will also gain the option to follow a person's viewpoint as they move around the digital canvas.
The ability to embed videos by inputting a URL is also on the way, which should make it much easier to share content. Clickable link support will also be added in the near future.
Here are the summaries of each of the Microsoft 365 roadmap entries currently slated for 2022 release:
- Users can insert a video URL and have the video appear directly on the canvas.
- URLs inserted into Whiteboard will become clickable links.
- Participants in Teams and on Web can see who added content to the board.
- The ability to add comments on a whiteboard to aid in discussion with board participants. This will include a comments pane to see all comments on a given whiteboard.
- Users will have the ability to invite users on a whiteboard during a Teams meeting to follow their viewpoint as they navigate and interact with the canvas.
- Users will have the ability to save whiteboards as a template, and will be able to share that template with other individual users.
- Adding a timer to Whiteboard to help enable users to run timed activities, such as a timed brainstorm.
The new features hav current release goals ranging from September 2022 through December 2022, but those are all soft goals. The Microsoft 365 roadmap provides a rough outline for what is on the way, not firm release dates.
