Google Meet Expands Whiteboard Features with a Little Help from Miro

It’s hard to overrate the importance of a whiteboard at a meeting. Now, Google Meet can offer a very advanced whiteboard, thanks to its collaboration with Miro, a specialized platform for visual collaboration. Now, all Google Meet users can write down their thoughts, draw charts and plans, or comment on each other’s ideas on a virtual whiteboard within a meeting.

The new service is available from a menu and compatible with all existing Google Workspace plans, as well as legacy G Suite ones. Family Link accounts are not allowed, as well as those of users under 18. Now, if you launch a whiteboard during the meeting, you can share it with all the participants, so they can write, draw, use templates, comment on any element of the drawing, and even download its final version as a . PDF file.

Usually, a Miro account is required for full access. Yet the admin who creates and shares out the board on Google Meet can decide whether a Miro account is required to join this particular board. A Google account, though, is a must. In addition, a Miro account allows users to save their whiteboards when they become inactive after 24 hours of work. Usually, a board remains available in read-only mode for a week after locking and then is fully deleted unless saved manually.

This new functionality is a free addition to Google Meet users. Now, Google Meet is even more serious a competitor to the previously undisputed leader Zoom. Given that most Internet users have Google accounts (unless Google is banned in their country), this makes Meet more attractive for users that are not bound to any rival platform.

The whiteboard by Miro starts appearing in Google Meet meetings on July 13. Have you already encountered or even used it? How useful and helpful do you find it? Is it comparable with other solutions, like Zoom or Slack? Tell us about your impressions in the comments!