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Private whiteboards: invite only the people you choose

Every whiteboard you create is public to your workspace by default. Flip a board to private and it locks down instantly — only you and the people you explicitly invite can open it, view it, or edit it. Here's exactly how visibility works, how to switch it, who can do what, and when each mode is the right call.

Last updated Jun 1, 2026

A whiteboard on The Big Class has exactly two privacy modes: public and private. The mode is a single setting on the board itself, so you can change your mind at any time without losing a single shape, sticky note, or stroke. New boards start public — most whiteboards are shared brainstorms, lesson canvases, or class warm-ups, and a private-by-default surprised teachers who just wanted to sketch in front of a class. When a board is genuinely yours alone, or meant for a small named group, switching it to private takes two clicks.

🌐 Public board Anyone signed in to your workspace can open and view it. Students tap “Request edit access”; you approve per person. Default for every new board 🔒 Private board Only the owner and the people you invite can open it. Invitees get full view + edit. Everyone else sees nothing. Switch on from board settings
The two modes at a glance: public boards are open to your whole workspace; private boards are locked to the owner plus named invitees.

Public vs private — what each one actually means

  • Public — any signed-in member of your workspace can open the board at /dashboard/whiteboards/<id> and watch it live. Students who reach it from the portal (/p/<tenant>/my/whiteboards/<id>) see it read-only and can tap “Request edit access”, which you approve or deny per person. Public is ideal for class boards, shared templates, and anything you actively want people to find.
  • Private — the board is invisible to everyone except its owner (you, the creator) and the specific users you’ve invited. There’s no “request access” button on a private board, because discovery is off by design; people who haven’t been invited can’t even see that it exists in the list. Invitees get full view-and-edit, the same as a co-owner.
  • The owner is always implicit. Whoever created the board keeps owner rights forever — you never have to add yourself to the invitee list, and you can’t accidentally lock yourself out.
Both modes still require a sign-in. “Public” means public to your workspace, not public to the open internet. A whiteboard is never anonymously browsable by a random visitor.

Make a board private (or public again)

Open the board you want to lock down. In the board editor’s top bar, open the settings dropdown (the menu next to the board title) and choose Visibility → Private. The change is instant and silent — no one is emailed, nothing is published, and the canvas is untouched. To reopen it to the workspace later, flip the same toggle back to Public.

Board editor:        /dashboard/whiteboards/<id>
Settings dropdown →  Visibility  →  Public | Private
Student (portal):    /p/<tenant>/my/whiteboards/<id>   (public boards only)
VISIBILITY 🌐 Public 🔒 Private
Visibility is a simple two-way switch in the board’s settings — Private is selected here.

Invite people into a private board

Once a board is private, open the Invite dialog from the same settings menu (“Invite to whiteboard”). Search by name or email — the picker matches anyone in your workspace, including co-instructors, admins, and enrolled students. Add as many people as you like; each invitee immediately gains full view-and-edit on that one board. Remove someone and their access is revoked on their next load.

PRIVATE BOARD · INVITE-ONLY Owner (you) Invitee Invitee Invitee 🔒 No access Not invited = can’t see it
On a private board, only the owner and named invitees can get in. Everyone else is locked out — there’s no public request button.
Private invitees get view AND edit — there’s no read-only tier inside a private board. If you want some people to look but not touch, keep the board public and use the request-to-edit flow instead, where you approve editors one by one.

What invitees can and can’t do

  • Can — open the board, see every change live with multi-cursor presence, draw, type, move and delete shapes, and use templates and the AI refine tools just like the owner.
  • Can’t — change the board’s visibility, manage the invitee list, or delete the board. Those owner-only controls stay with the creator.
  • Leaving a workspace or being removed from the invite list cuts access cleanly on the next load — there’s no lingering link that keeps working.

How private boards relate to edit requests

The two access systems are deliberately separate. On a public board, anyone can view and the gating happens on editing — students tap “Request edit access” and you approve them, which quietly adds them to that board’s invitee list. On a private board there’s nothing to request, because viewing itself is invite-only; you add people up front. If you ever flip a board from public to private, existing approved editors stay in as invitees — they don’t get kicked out.

When to use a private whiteboard

  • A personal scratchpad — planning next term, sketching a funnel, or drafting a lesson you’re not ready to show anyone.
  • Co-teacher prep — you and one or two instructors building a board together before it goes live to a class.
  • A small named group — a project team, a study pod, or a 1:1 tutoring canvas where only that student should be in the room.
  • Sensitive content — anything with names, grades, or feedback you don’t want the whole workspace stumbling onto.
Going private hides the board from your workspace immediately, including from co-instructors who were casually using it. If a board is load-bearing for a class, tell your team before you lock it — or invite them first, then switch.

Frequently asked

  • Do invitees get an email? No — inviting is silent and instant. Share the board link or tell them in class; it’ll be waiting in their whiteboard list.
  • Can students be invited to a private board? Yes — anyone in your workspace, students included, can be added by name or email.
  • Does switching modes lose my work? Never. Visibility is metadata; the canvas, history, and templates are untouched.
  • Can I make it truly public on the internet? Whiteboards always require a workspace sign-in. To show one to the world, screenshot it or embed it inside a public lesson or doc instead.

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