The Whiteboard team has been hard at work since our announcements at Ignite. A few weeks ago, we announced the preview of Microsoft Whiteboard for Education. And as we gather more and more feedback from our growing customer base, we’ve also been rolling out great new features, with more on the way soon. Let’s take a look at what’s changed.

New pen colors and thicknesses

Responding to popular demand, we’ve added 10 new pen colors and three more pen thicknesses, allowing Whiteboard users to express themselves more colorfully and boldly than ever. To access the new colors and thicknesses, click on the pen you have selected to pop up the palette.

Background colors and gridlines

Just like it’s great to have options for pen color, customizing the look and feel of the board itself can help your ideas stand out – and can make your boards more usable and readable as well. Whiteboard now offers nine options for board color and eight types of gridlines that can be used together or separately to customize your boards’ backgrounds. These options are selectable in the Settings menu for any board.

Type text directly using the keyboard

We know not every device takes pen inputs – and even if it does, not everyone has the neatest handwriting! And though sticky notes are great for typing comments, sometimes you just want something a little more direct. For those who would rather type straight on the board, we now have you covered: just select the text entry option from the contextual menu (right-click/long tap to view), and type to your heart’s content.

All of these features are now available in the Windows 10 and iOS apps, and we’ve got many more exciting updates in the pipeline. Watch this space!