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Whiteboards are a popular collaboration tool to organize thoughts for meetings or projects. The rise of remote and hybrid work has made it harder to use whiteboards since people are not in the office together as often. Luckily, Google has a virtual whiteboard application called Google Jamboard to help colleagues and students work together from afar. Let's take a look at what Google Jamboard is.

What is Google Jamboard?

Google Jamboard is a virtual collaboration tool that lets users work together on a whiteboard-like interface in real time. This whiteboard syncs with your Google Workspace account and can be shared with other Workspace users, similar to Google Docs or Sheets. Each user that has access to the "Jam," Google's name for these whiteboards, can open it on their device and modify it.

How do you access Google Jamboard?

There are a few ways to access Google Jamboard. You can access Jamboard on a computer, like one of the best Chromebooks, by going to jamboard.google.com. If you're not signed in to a Google account, you'll have to sign in to access it.

If you're on a mobile device, download the Jamboard app for iOS for your Apple devices or the Jamboard app from the Play Store for your Android devices. Google also had an expensive Jamboard device that worked with G Suite services, which seems to be discontinued.

A Google Jamboard device being used in a professional setting.
Source: Google

Is Google Jamboard Free?

Yes, Google Jamboard is free. As long as you have a Google account, you are able to use Jamboard anywhere on any device.

What features does Google Jamboard have?

Google Jamboard has a number of features that make it a useful collaboration tool. Jamboard allows users to write with a mouse, finger, or stylus to take notes or markup elements. You can add sticky notes to the Jam to organize thoughts while brainstorming. There is also the ability to add text boxes, images, and shapes to enhance your content.

Modifying a sticky note placed onto a frame in a Google Jam.

To make the Jam a little more suited to the task at hand, you can change the background. You can also create a number of different whiteboards in the same Jam if you need to split up ideas. There is a laser pointer tool that turns your mouse into a laser to make it easier to present. If you want to share the Jam in a common format, Jamboard allows you to download it as a PDF.

What is Google Jamboard used for?

Google Jamboard has a number of ways it can be useful. Jamboard can be a virtual brainstorming board. People can add sticky notes, text, images, and shapes to generate and organize ideas. If you need to break your brainstorming session into different sub-points, create separate boards in the same Jam. This is useful in both professional and classroom settings for any number of projects and subjects.

Anything that you would use a whiteboard for, from keeping track of tasks to visualizing mathematics problems, is as good using Google Jamboard. Jamboard, however, has the advantage that it is accessible from anywhere. It's not as essential to get your group together to organize a project or do some homework, you can now work together virtually on Jamboard.

What Google Jamboard alternatives are there?

There are a couple of alternatives to Google Jamboard. Microsoft has a whiteboard app, named Microsoft Whiteboard, that has similar features for Microsoft Office users. Evernote, one of the best note-taking apps, also has a similar feature that lets users collaborate on a blank sheet. Dropbox Paper is another alternative where users have a large scrolling page where they can add photos, text, and other elements and collaborate in real time.

Create your own jam session

Whiteboards are a great collaboration tool, and Google Jamboard gives you your very own virtual whiteboard. It's easy for a team or class to use this application to organize ideas, no matter where everyone is working. To help make collaboration easier, a couple of Google Meet tips and tricks can help you become a meeting power user.