What Participant Permissions Can I Set on Whiteboard Fox?

When you create a Whiteboard Fox whiteboard, you choose how much control other participants have before the board is generated. The lobby offers three permission levels — participants can draw and erase only their own marks, draw and erase anything, or only view your drawing — plus a separate option that limits who can join and disables copy and image upload for participants. These settings are selected at creation time, so decide your collaboration mode before you click "Create Whiteboard."

The three drawing permission levels

Whiteboard Fox presents the choice as a single question in the lobby: "How will you use Whiteboard Fox?" The permission options sit alongside that choice and determine what everyone else on the board can do.

The first two options are the difference between a protected canvas and a fully open one. If you are sketching a diagram and want to keep your structure while others annotate around it, "their own drawing" is the safer pick. If the goal is a shared scratchpad — a quick planning session where anyone can correct or clean up — "anything" removes friction.

"Only view my drawing" turns the whiteboard into a one-way presentation surface. Participants still see changes relayed to them, but they cannot add or erase anything.

Restricting who joins and what participants can do

Below the drawing permissions, the lobby lists a set of additional controls:

• Invite my followers or anyone to join — this determines whether the board is open to anyone with the link or limited to your followers.
• Copy and image upload for participants will be disabled — when this is active, participants cannot copy content off the board or upload images into it.

The copy and image upload restriction is worth understanding before you share a link. It is a content-control measure, not a drawing permission: participants may still be able to draw (depending on the level you chose) while being blocked from pulling content out or pushing images in. If you are sharing sensitive material, combine "Only view my drawing" with the disabled copy and upload option.

How to set permissions and verify them

1. Open the Whiteboard Fox lobby and answer the "How will you use Whiteboard Fox?" prompt (for fun or for work).
2. Select one of the three participant permission levels described above.
3. Choose whether to invite followers or anyone, and whether to disable copy and image upload for participants.
4. Click Create Whiteboard.
5. Share the resulting link — the page notes you can "just email a link to the web page to let others view and edit your whiteboard."
6. Verify the setting by having a participant try an action outside their permission (for example, erasing one of your strokes under "their own drawing"). Changes are relayed to other participants "within a few seconds," so the result should be visible quickly.

Common sticking points

• Permissions are set at creation, not after. The lobby is where these choices live, so if you pick the wrong level you will likely need to create a new board rather than adjust the existing one.
• "Only view" is not the same as "copy disabled." A viewer can still read what is on the board; the copy/upload toggle is what blocks extraction and image insertion.
• Sharing is link-based. Anyone who receives the link and is permitted to join can access the board, so treat the link itself as the access control.
• Syncing is near-real-time, not instant. The site describes changes as reaching other participants "within a few seconds," which matters if you are presenting live and expect immediate feedback.

For questions about a specific setup, the site lists a contact address: [email protected].