With hybrid workforces becoming the new normal, Microsoft Whiteboard is a very handy virtual whiteboard and collaboration tool that ties nicely into Teams meetings. When it was released in June, it made team collaboration much easier with interactive content. Last month, Microsoft released a bunch of new features to Whiteboard, including, but not limited to:

• More templates
• New sticky notes and grids
• Better inking support for tablet users
• More shapes/flowcharts/diagrams.

They’re also coming out with more features soon to insert documents, better iOS and Windows unified apps, collaborative cursors (so you can see who’s drawing/doing what) and more.

But what if you’re old school and like the physical white board in your office? Don’t blame you, we have a few of those folks in our office, too. But with hybrid workforces, it’s a bit more difficult to share those physical boards over the interwebs unless you buy a ridiculously expensive smart board or something. Microsoft recognized this and created “Content Camera” for Teams. This new feature allows you to use a webcam or external camera connected to your computer to share physical documents or whiteboards. There are two key projection options:

• Whiteboard mode: Users can point their laptop webcam to their whiteboard to project it to their audience. If the camera detects a whiteboard in view, it is straightened, zoomed in and the presenter’s hand or body does not block the content as she writes on it.
• Document mode: Users can attach an external USB camera, such as a document camera, mounted over a document, to project to their audience.

This feature may still be rolling out to your organization and will initially only apply to Teams Rooms setups. But if it’s available during your meeting, you can find it by clicking “Share -> Content from Camera.” You can learn more about the camera requirements to pull this off at Microsoft’s support article.