How To Turn Your Computer Screen Into A Digital Whiteboard

How To Turn Your Computer Screen Into A Digital Whiteboard

In my line of work, I do record instructional videos on my computer from time to time. And, one kind that I have done is what I call a “digital whiteboard” video.

Basically, it is drawing on screen. You can literally draw on top of your screen, on top of windows… and in some cases, just draw on a plain white background as if you were drawing on a whiteboard hung on your wall.

Now, I use a Mac on a day-to-day basis. And, there are some things were the Mac clearly excels – and this is one of them.

On the Mac, I use an application called FlySketch.

It gives you a number of different tools, including shapes, highlighting, etc. But, the one I use most often is the simple pen tool. I then use my Wacom Bamboo tablet to draw on screen. There is a little slider which allows me to adjust transparency. So, on one end, FlySketch sits atop the entire screen and is fully transparent. You can then draw over top your entire screen. On the other end, you can get a solid background of any color you want.

Now, what about Windows? Fortunately, there are some FlySketch alternatives for Windows users.

One is called Epic Pen. This is an open source application which allows you to draw on top of your screen.

Another option is called Screen Marker.

And, if you want to pay a little bit of money to get something which is supported, check out Annotate Pro. This is definitely the closest equivalent to Flysketch for the Windows platform. You also have the transparency option so you can do the digital whiteboard feature if you’d like.

And lastly, if you want to record one of these, just use your favorite screen recording application to do it. Screenflow on the Mac, or Camtasia on Windows.



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