Whiteboard not visible to participants when I share it on microsoft teams

Hi @Marco,

Thank you for sharing the details on the Q&A Forum.

Based on your situation and your Microsoft Teams Essentials subscription, I’d like to ask a few follow-up questions to help narrow down the issue:

• Could you confirm the type of account you're using with this feature? Is it a personal account (e.g., @hotmail.com, @gmail.com, @outlook.com) or a work/school account provided by your organization (e.g., @edu, @org)?
• Regarding the participants, are they internal members of your organization or external guests?

In the meantime, you may find it helpful to review the following resources on Whiteboard management and current limitations within Teams Essentials:

Manage sharing for Microsoft Whiteboard - Microsoft Whiteboard | Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Teams Essentials QuickStart guide for small businesses - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn

Once I have a clearer understanding of your current situation, I’ll be happy to assist you with greater accuracy. Please feel free to share any additional details you believe are relevant — screenshots are especially helpful and much appreciated.

Kindly note that our initial response may not always resolve the issue right away. However, with your input and more specific information, we can work together toward an effective solution.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Looking forward to your response so I can assist you further.

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Hi @Marco,

Thanks for quick response

Based on your situation with the Microsoft Teams Essentials subscription, let me provide you the information about the current limitations with Teams Essentials and what you can do to configure around it: 

The reason why participants can't see or interact with the Whiteboard

1. Whiteboard Sharing Is Limited by Organization Boundaries By default, only users within your organization (same tenant/domain) can view and collaborate on a whiteboard in Teams meetings. External participants (e.g., guests or users from other organizations) may not see the whiteboard or have the option to interact with it unless specific settings are enabled.
2. Whiteboard Storage Has Moved to OneDrive for Business New whiteboards are stored in OneDrive for Business. This means sharing and access permissions are tied to your organization's OneDrive settings.
3. Settings for External Collaboration Might Be Disabled If your Teams tenant settings do not allow anonymous or external users to interact with apps in meetings, they won’t be able to access the whiteboard.

Since you're the admin who manages your Teams Essentials setup, here’s what you can do:

1. Enable External Collaboration for Whiteboard

• Use PowerShell to run the following command:

    Set-SPOTenant -AllowAnonymousMeetingParticipantsToAccessWhiteboards On
  

• Make sure the Teams meeting setting “Anonymous users can interact with apps in meetings” is enabled.

2. Ensure Whiteboard Is Enabled for Your Organization

• Visit the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
• Go to Settings > Org Settings > Services > Whiteboard.
• Confirm that Whiteboard is turned on for all users.

3. Use In-Tenant Accounts for Full Collaboration

• If possible, have participants join using accounts that are part of your organization’s domain (e.g., @yourcompany.com).
• This ensures they can see and interact with the whiteboard fully.

Just some reminders:

• Teams Essentials is designed for small businesses and has some limitations compared to Microsoft 365 Business plans.
• All users must be in the same domain for full collaboration features to work smoothly.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this. 

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. 

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Hi @Marco,

Thanks for the detailed reply.

Regarding your question about the Org settings section, let me guide how to find it.

Since you're using French interface, the "Configuration" tab is actually a Setup tab in English, not Settings.

To find the "settings" tab, you need to choose "Afficher tout" which is "Show all" in English interface.

You can find the Settings tab and navigate to Org settings > Whiteboard from there

Regarding your question about Powershell, it's a scripting module for complicated configuration.
You can read about it via this document: What is PowerShell?

In order for you to use it, I'd love to verify the current role assigned to your current account in your tenant.

Once I’ve started a conversation, please continue by sending me a private message. This will allow us to discuss your tenant securely without risking exposure of your personal information.

To view and reply in a private message, look for the “Message” button located beneath your post.

I hope this information clear your confusion. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this. 

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. 

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Hi @Marco,

Thank you for your response, and I’m sorry for the complications you’re encountering. The configuration you're aiming to implement involves advanced settings that require PowerShell, as they aren’t available directly through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

Microsoft Whiteboard is closely integrated with services like SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business. While many features can be managed through the Admin Center, enabling external access — such as allowing anonymous users to collaborate during Teams meetings that requires PowerShell commands.

Since you've already confirmed that Whiteboard is enabled for your organization, the next step is to run the following command to allow anonymous meeting participants to access Whiteboard:

Set-SPOTenant -AllowAnonymousMeetingParticipantsToAccessWhiteboards On

Before executing this, please ensure your SharePoint Online PowerShell module is up to date:

Update-Module -Name Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell

This configuration allows temporary collaboration for external users during Teams meetings.

Once that’s complete, please go to the Teams Admin Center and adjust the meeting policy settings:

• Navigate to Meetings > Meeting Policies
• Enable Anonymous users can interact with apps in meetings

This will ensure external participants can engage with Whiteboard during scheduled Teams sessions.

For further details, you can refer to Microsoft’s official documentation here: Manage sharing for Microsoft Whiteboard – Microsoft Learn

If you need help running these commands or configuring the policies, I’d be happy to assist further. Let me know how you'd like to proceed.

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