Manage sharing for Microsoft Whiteboard
The sharing experience differs based on whether you're in a Teams meeting, if you're using a shared device, or what tenant-level sharing settings are enabled. The following scenarios apply only to new whiteboards created after Whiteboard switches to using OneDrive for Business storage. There's no change to previously created boards still stored in Azure.
Share in Teams meetings
When you share a whiteboard in a Teams meeting, Whiteboard creates a sharing link. This link is accessible by anyone within the organization. The whiteboard is also shared with any in-tenant users in the meeting. Whiteboards are shared using company-shareable links, regardless of the default setting. Support for the default sharing link type is planned.
During a Teams meeting, external and shared device accounts (typically used in Surface Hubs and Teams Rooms devices) have more capability for temporary collaboration. Users can temporarily view and collaborate on whiteboards that are shared in a meeting, in a similar way to PowerPoint Live sharing.
In this case, Whiteboard provides temporary viewing and collaboration on the whiteboard during the Teams meeting only. A share link isn't created and Whiteboard doesn't grant access to the file.
To enable this behavior, follow these steps:
Ensure that Whiteboard is enabled for your organization. For more information, see Manage access to Whiteboard.
Using PowerShell, connect to your tenant and ensure the SharePoint Online module is updated by running the following command:
Update-Module -Name Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShellThen run the following Set-SPOTenant command:
Set-SPOTenant -AllowAnonymousMeetingParticipantsToAccessWhiteboards OnEnsure that the Teams meeting setting Anonymous users can interact with apps in meetings is enabled. If you've disabled it, any anonymous users (as opposed to guests or federated users) won't have access to the whiteboard during the meeting.
This setting applies only to whiteboards and replaces the previously shared settings: OneDriveLoopSharingCapability and CoreLoopSharingCapability. Those settings are no longer applicable and can be disregarded.
Note
By default, the Teams meeting setting Anonymous users can interact with apps in meetings is enabled. If you have disabled it, any anonymous user (as opposed to guests or federated users) won't have access to the whiteboard during the meeting.
Note
If you would like shared device accounts to have access to Whiteboard in Teams meetings but not anonymous users, you can disable Anonymous users can interact with apps in meetings while having AllowAnonymousMeetingParticipantsToAccessWhiteboards enabled.
Note
Even when AllowAnonymousMeetingParticipantsToAccessWhiteboards is enabled, Teams channel meetings have a limitation that anonymous users cannot see the whiteboard share.
These changes should take approximately 60 minutes to apply across your tenancy.
| Scenario | Storage and ownership | Sharing settings | Sharing experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start the whiteboard from a desktop or mobile device | Storage: OneDrive for Business Owner: User who creates the whiteboard |
Enabled | In-tenant users: Can create, view, and collaborate External users: Can view and collaborate during the meeting only (the button to share a whiteboard won't appear for external users) Shared device accounts: Can view and collaborate during the meeting only |
| Start the whiteboard from a desktop or mobile device | Storage: OneDrive for Business Owner: User who creates the whiteboard |
Disabled | In-tenant users: Can initiate, view, and collaborate External users: Can't view or collaborate Shared device accounts: Can't view or collaborate |
| Start the whiteboard from a Surface Hub or Microsoft Teams Rooms | Storage: Azure (Whiteboard files will be moved to OneDrive for Business in the future) Owner: Meeting participant |
Not applicable | In-tenant users: Can initiate, view, and collaborate External users: Can view and collaborate during the meeting only Shared device accounts: Can initiate, view, and collaborate during the meeting only |
Note
If a Whiteboard is stored in OneDrive and already attached to a meeting, it cannot be initiated on a Surface Hub or Microsoft Teams Rooms device. An authenticated user on another device will need to do so. We plan to enable this functionality in a future release.
Share in Teams calls
During a one-on-one or group call, you might start sharing a Whiteboard. Similar limitations apply to who can share a Whiteboard regarding scenarios where users from different organizations are involved in a call.
When all members of the call are from the same organization, any person can start and access the Whiteboard. For calls involving users from different organizations, only some users can access the Whiteboard sharing button. During a one-on-one call, only the original user who created a conversation or call (the first person to send a message or call another user, whichever occurs first) between the two users can access the Whiteboard sharing button from the drop-down share tray button.
This cannot be changed after two users have started a conversation. Deleting the chat involving the two users will not restart the chat, therefore, this will not reset who created or started the chat. Having the other user call will also not change who can share the Whiteboard, even if a Whiteboard has not been shared yet. The purpose of this limitation is to prevent out-of-organization user access to a Whiteboard unless sharing starts from an in-organization user.
Add as a tab in Teams channels and chats
When you add a whiteboard as a tab in a Teams channel or chat, Whiteboard will create a sharing link that's accessible by anyone in the organization.
| Scenario | Storage and ownership | Sharing settings | Sharing experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add the whiteboard to a channel or chat from a desktop or mobile device | Storage: OneDrive for Business Owner: User who creates the whiteboard |
Not applicable (only applies to meetings) | In-tenant users: Can initiate, view, and collaborate External users: Not supported Teams guests: Not supported Shared device accounts: Not applicable |
Create and share in Whiteboard native clients
When you share whiteboards from the web, desktop, or mobile clients, you can choose specific people. You can also create a sharing link that's accessible by anyone in the organization.
| Scenario | Storage and ownership | Sharing settings | Sharing experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Create the whiteboard from a desktop or mobile device | Storage: OneDrive for Business Owner: User who creates the whiteboard |
Not applicable (only applies to meetings) | In-tenant users: Can share within their organization External users: Sharing with external users isn't supported at this time |
| Create the whiteboard from a Surface Hub | Storage: Local Owner: None (Unless user sign ins to save and share the board, which saves to OneDrive for Business. Easy share will be added back in the future. |
Not applicable (only applies to meetings) | In-tenant users: User must sign in to save and share the board (Easy share will be added in the future) External users: Sharing with external users isn't supported at this time outside of a Teams meeting |
| Create the whiteboard from Microsoft Teams Rooms | Not yet supported | Not applicable (only applies to meetings) | Not yet supported |