Export a whiteboard to a Word document

A board is the right place to think and the wrong place to send a client. At some point the work has to become a document someone can comment on.

Why a screenshot is not a deliverable

Clients and colleagues want to comment inline, track changes and search the text. An image of a board gives them none of that, so the work gets retyped, usually by you, usually late.

Retyping also loses the structure. The hierarchy that was obvious on the board becomes a flat wall of text in the document.

Exporting to real Word structure keeps the hierarchy intact, which means the document arrives already organised rather than needing an hour of formatting.

How to do it

1. Group the board into sections with frames

   Select a section and press Cmd G. Each frame becomes a heading in the document, so frames are how you set the outline.

2. Name the frames the way you want the headings to read

   A frame called Scope of work becomes a Heading 1 with that text.

3. Tidy any loose notes into the right frame

   Anything sitting inside a frame is captured under that heading, in reading order.

4. Open Export and choose Word

   The .docx downloads to your machine, ready to open, comment on and track changes in.

Worth knowing before you start

Freehand drawings, connector arrows and anything positioned purely visually do not survive as vector shapes. They are placed as images. Word is a linear format and a board is a spatial one, so anything whose meaning depends on where it sits will read differently once it is in a column. Sections you want preserved exactly are better exported to PowerPoint.

Common questions