Frequently asked questions

Yes. There is no account, no paywall and no limit on the number of boards. We plan to cover running costs with non-intrusive ads placed outside the drawing area.

No. Open the page and start drawing. There are no accounts.

BoardScribble is developed and tested mainly in Chrome. It uses standard web features that current Edge, Firefox and Safari also support. If something misbehaves, please tell us on the contact page.

Yes. It supports touch, stylus, pinch to zoom and two-finger pan, and pen strokes respond to stylus pressure.

Yes. After your first visit your browser keeps a copy of the app, so it opens and works without a connection, and you can install it from your browser menu. Importing a PDF needs a connection the first time, because the PDF reader is downloaded on demand.

No. Boards are stored in your browser on your own device and stay until you clear your browser data. Because browsers can clear storage unexpectedly, use File → Save board file for important work.

In your browser, on the device you are using. Nothing is stored on our servers. A different browser, a different device or a private window starts with an empty board, so save a board file if you want to move your work.

We cannot recover them because we never had a copy. Saving a board file from the File menu now and then protects you against this.

The whole set of boards is packed into the link itself, so nothing is uploaded to a server. Whoever opens the link gets their own editable copy. Boards with images or PDF pages make long links; for those, save a board file instead.

Not yet. A share link gives each person their own copy. For tutoring, many people open the whiteboard and share their screen on a video call.

PNG, SVG and PDF (one board or all boards), plus copy to clipboard and a reopenable board file.

Export the board as a PDF from the File menu, then print the PDF.

Turn them on from the Instruments group in the toolbar. Drag an instrument to move it and its blue dot to rotate it. For the compass, drag the hinge to set the radius, then drag the pencil end around the needle point to draw an arc or a full circle. The how-to guide has step-by-step instructions.

Angles are exact within the app. Centimetres assume the standard 96 pixels per inch at 100% zoom, but real screens and projectors differ, so use the instruments for teaching and sketching rather than for drawings that must print at an exact size.

Start the pen or line tool close to the edge of the ruler or a set square and the stroke snaps to it. Without an instrument, hold Shift while using the line or arrow tool to snap to 15° steps.

Yes. Choose File → Import PDF. Each page, up to 20, becomes a board you can draw on. The pages are converted to images in your browser, and the PDF reader library is only downloaded when you use this feature.

Not directly. Export your slides as a PDF from PowerPoint, Google Slides or Keynote and import that PDF.

Your drawings stay on your device. We use the Google tag to measure traffic in aggregate, and visitors in the EEA, UK and Switzerland are not measured until they can give consent. The privacy policy has the details.