Drawing on Videos Calls (Whiteboard or PDF) (Zoom, Doxy.me, VSee)

Hi, everyone.  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel.  And in today's video, I'll show you how to use your iPad to draw on a whiteboard or a PDF and share it over a video call.

I'm a mental health therapist who started seeing clients during Covid lockdown exclusively over telehealth.  Now, I'm in person a couple of days, but I still see the majority of my clients using a video call platform.  Since I'm a visual person, I like to share images and drawings with my clients to help explain concepts.  It was important for me to figure out how to do this even when seeing clients remotely.

Okay -- here were my requirements:

• I see most of my clients through Doxy.me, but a couple over Zoom, so those are the main platforms I'll be discussing.  These methods should also work for other video call apps.
• Although I use a Mac laptop for video calls, I wanted to be able to draw on my iPad for a whiteboard.  I hate having to use a mouse to draw when I could use my Apple Pencil instead.

Whiteboard

When I'm looking to draw on a blank board or on an image, I use a whiteboard app.  I tested out a bunch about a year ago and liked the Aww App best, but since then they were acquired by Miro.com, so now I use that.  It takes a bit to get the hang of the interface (and maybe I'll do a tutorial on it at some point), but it works really well for simply sharing a whiteboard over a video call with a client. 

So, let's say I'm on a Zoom call with a client using my laptop.  And remember, I want to use the whiteboard with my iPad so that I can draw and write more naturally with my Apple Pencil.   There are two ways that I can do this:

• The first way is by joining the Zoom call with my iPad.  Then, I can go to a browser, log into Miro.com, and share my screen.  Of course, sharing privileges for participants have to be turned on by the host.  Then I can draw on my whiteboard and everything I do can be seen by everyone on the Zoom.
• The second way is that I log into Miro.com from my laptop and share the whiteboard from there.   Then I don't have to join the video call from my iPad, I simply log into Miro from my iPad also and make changes to the whiteboard from my iPad which everyone can then see.  There is a slight delay, but it's like a second or two, so not a big deal.  This works particularly well for Doxy.me  or VSee calls since you can't share a screen from a mobile device -- only a laptop. 

Draw on a PDF

So, all of that works if you want to draw on a blank whiteboard or on an image.  But what if I want to draw on a multi-page PDF?

• I *could* use Miro.com.  They have a way to import a PDF, but the interface only displays one page at a time and you have to erase all of your marks unless you want them to carry to the next page.  So not it's not ideal. 
• The way I do this requires using a Mac along with your iPad.  You have to do it in this exact sequence, or it doesn't work for whatever reason.  On my Mac, I find the PDF in the Finder.  You can't click to open the PDF or this won't work.  So, find the PDF in the Finder, now 2 finger click on it and choose Quick Actions and then Mark Up.  Once you have the document open in Finder, you can go up to the Mark-up icon and hit the arrow to the right of it and select the device you want to use the draw on the PDF.  If you select your iPad, it will show up on your iPad and you can use your Apple Pencil and iPad to mark-up.  Then you can share your screen and bring up the Finder app to show the changes that are being made from your iPad.  Again, you can't access this markup option if you open the document in Preview, you have to do it from the Finder. 

And that's it.  I find this to be a great way to use technology to enhance learning and collaboration in therapy.  Let me know what you think.  Comments are always appreciated and thanks for watching.