Collab 21.12 Release PSPDFkit Rollout

Announcing the roll out plan for the new whiteboard

Continuous Delivery Collaborate Ultra 21.12 & 21.14 | Release to Production: Roll out calendar below
New features

Roll out plan and resources

An updated release plan is in the latest release note for Collaborate 21.14.

We're sharing the roll out plan for our clients in advance to give them time for change management ahead of the release of the feature.

The new whiteboard will be released to each hosting region separately, and gradually over a period of several days for each region.

• Asia Pacific: gradual roll out between the 21.12 release on July 8, 2021 and July 17, 2021
• Canada: gradual roll out between July 26, 2021 and July 30, 2021
• Europe and US: gradual roll out between the 21.14 release on August 12, 2021 and August 19, 2021

For release dates, consult the release calendar. For exact timing, refer to the release article published on Behind the Blackboard two weeks before the release.

The documentation of the new whiteboard has been published in advance:

• Whiteboard for moderators
• Whiteboard for participants

Benefits of the new whiteboard

With the new whiteboard all attendees can enjoy better formatting, usability, and annotation persistence. With the improvements to the annotation tools, attendees can enjoy these features on a session whiteboard or shared file.

• Better formatting: Pencil thickness, fonts and font size, shapes with color fill, arrows, and more are added to the annotation tools.
• Usability: It's easier to copy and reuse elements and paste text. You can now erase part of the annotations or clear all. There are multi line text blocks, text wrapping, and safeguards before clearing all annotations.
• Interaction with breakout groups: You can annotate a file in the main room and then share it with the breakout groups including annotations. You can bring a breakout group's own annotated file into the main room together with its annotations.

  More on sharing files with breakout groups

• Annotation persistence: Annotations made to the whiteboard, or on a file, are saved in the session. You can share something new, go to a new slide, or stop sharing. The annotations remain. Select Clear Annotations to remove them all.

  Create a blank file of several pages to have a multi-page whiteboard.

The new whiteboard doesn't include a pointer, but you can easily draw your own (arrow, dot) and move it around easily.