Whiteboard

Get a seamless workspace and combine free-form brainstorming with multiple diagrams, from flowcharts to roadmaps.

kanban
Kanban
product roadmap
Product Roadmap
PI planning
PI Planning
customer journey map
Customer Journey Map
retrospective
Retrospective

With SmartDraw, You Can Create Many Different Types of Diagrams, Charts, and Visuals

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What is a Digital Whiteboard?

A whiteboard is a common name given to a shared visual workspace that teams use to plan and generate ideas. A digital whiteboard is accessible from anywhere by anyone and doesn't require that your team share a physical location.

In the physical world, whiteboards are used to sketch concepts and visualize workflow with markers, and brainstorm using sticky notes and even strings to illustrate connections. This can all be recreated online using a whiteboarding app like SmartDraw.

Multi-diagram whiteboard
Multi-diagram whiteboard

What Type of Visuals Belong on a Whiteboard?

Typically, a whiteboard consists of one or more visuals used for collaboration. These might include:

  • Sticky notes
  • Kanban board
  • Mind map
  • Roadmap
  • PI board
  • Gantt chart
  • Common diagrams such as a flowchart, org chart or decision tree.

It is often useful to bring in visuals based on external data. For example:

  • Jira cards
  • Network configurations like AWS and Azure
  • Database schema
  • Class diagram

Using SmartDraw as a Whiteboarding App

Begin by opening a blank whiteboard template. You can add visuals to your board using the Plus+ (or Insert Content) menu to the left.

In fact, you can make any workspace into a whiteboard, no matter what SmartDraw template you started with. The transition from a simple diagram on a page to a multiple-diagram whiteboard is seamless. Just add new blueprints.

You can select from a large selection of blueprints like flowcharts, mind maps, retrospectives, customer journey maps, and more. You can also add visualizations built from external data. Add sticky notes, emojis, Jira issues, and structured visuals.

Each blueprint added to your board is inside a frame making it easy to move and position.

Frames Help Organize Your Whiteboard

When blueprints are added to your workspace, they will appear inside a frame. Frames contain your visual and make it easy to move around.

Frames resize as the diagram inside them resizes. You can add or remove shapes, and the frame will adjust accordingly.

You can change the frame color, add a title, and modify their behaviors as needed.

Dynamic Controls

When you are working with a diagram blueprint and select one of the shapes, the controls shown in the left panel change to reflect the type of diagram you are using.

Click on a flowchart and you'll get the flowchart controls to help you build flowcharts, and then click on a roadmap and notice how your controls are now relevant for roadmapping.

Flowchart and roadmap controls

Working in Real Time

Whiteboarding is a real-time activity. It's important that changes are quick and easy to make. You don't have time to fiddle around lining things up or manually re-arranging shapes. All of SmartDraw's blueprints are smart and format automatically.

For example, you can add topics to a mind map using the keyboard. You can drag and drop to re-order them. All blueprint visuals - including Kanban boards, org charts, retrospectives, flowcharts, and more - come with built-in AI for formatting.

Add sticky notes, and containers will automatically expand and make room for new ideas without any manual repositioning. Double-click in a brainstorm to add a sticky note automatically. Move notes around the board, and any other shapes will adjust automatically. You'll never have to pause brainstorming to draw or reformat your board.

SmartDraw is an ideal tool for real-time idea generation and planning.

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