Since the pandemic, collaboration tools have become a dime a dozen, which can make it extremely confusing to find one that is actually useful. That's where FigJam comes in. It's an online collaborative whiteboarding tool developed by Figma, the popular website and app design platform.

It lets you create diagrams, mind maps, flow charts, sticky notes, and more while collaborating with others in real-time. FigJam integrates with Figma and you can use it for brainstorming sessions, meetings, and workshops in the following manner.

Step 1: Create a FigJam file

  1. Head to the FigJam page in your web browser and click on the 'Try FigJam for free' button.
  1. Now, you can sign in with your Figma account or create a new account on the platform. You can also sign up with your Gmail account.
  2. Alternatively, you can sign in to Figma and click on the 'New FigJam Board' button at the top.
  1. You should now see a new FigJam whiteboard in front of you. Click on the white panel at the top left and give the file a new name.

Step 2: Invite collaborators to your FigJam whiteboard

  1. To invite collaborators to your FigJam whiteboard, click the 'Share' button at the top right.
  1. You can click on 'Copy link' in the pop-up that appears to get a shareable link you can share with others.
  1. Another way to invite collaborators to your whiteboard is to type their email addresses in the provided field and click the 'Invite' button.
  1. You can control how collaborators can interact by clicking the 'Can view' option below the Invite button.
  1. Then click on 'Edit' to allow the collaborators editing privileges or 'View' if you only want them to be able to view the file. You can also control who has access to the whiteboard from here and set a password for additional security.

Step 3: Add visual elements to your whiteboard

You can add various visual elements like sticky notes, text, shapes, etc. to your whiteboard from the Tools panel at the bottom.

  1. Click on the 'Marker' tool to select it. This will let you draw freehand on the whiteboard.
  1. Click and hold to draw on the whiteboard with the marker tool. You can also pick from different colors from the right and change the thickness of the tool.
  1. When you select the Marker tool, other tools like the Highlighter, Washi Tape, and Eraser also become available. You can use these to highlight text and objects, add decorative elements, and erase stuff respectively.
  1. Next is the Sticky Note tool. To add a sticky note to the whiteboard, click the Sticky Notes tool next to the Marker tool.
  1. Pick a color from the available options and click anywhere on the whiteboard to add your sticky note.
  1. You can then type your text in the sticky note and even customize it by changing the font style, size, and style from the text toolbar. Collaborators can add multiple sticky notes to the whiteboard for jotting down notes and ideas quickly.
  1. Next, click on the 'Shapes' tool in the Tools panel to draw a shape. A pop-up will show you the shapes you can create and you can also click on 'More shapes' on the right to view additional shapes.
  1. Select the shape you want to draw from the Tools panel before clicking and dragging on the whiteboard to create it. You can also change the size and color of the shape from the panel. Additional shapes will appear on the left when you click on 'More shapes' on the Tools panel.
  1. You can also add text anywhere on the whiteboard, including inside shapes by clicking on the 'T' button at the bottom and clicking where you want to add text. Then just type the text you want. As before, you can format the text using the text toolbar and change the font, color, style, etc.
  1. Other tools include the Section tool, which lets you create sections on the whiteboard for different purposes, the Table tool for creating tables, and the Stamp tool for adding stamps like Thumbs Up, Heart, Star, etc. Keep in mind that emojis are temporary and designed to help collaborators express reactions, while stamps are permanent.
  1. The last tool lets you search the Figma community for stickers, templates, plugins, and more and add them to your whiteboard.
  1. Remember that FigJam lets you scroll indefinitely in any direction. You can select the 'Hand' tool that appears as a hand on the Tools panel and then click and drag to pan the whiteboard.
  1. To zoom in and zoom out, press and hold the Ctrl key and then scroll up or down.
Note: You can drag and select the different elements on your FigJam board and use the Ctrl + G shortcut to group them together.

Step 4: Collaborate in real-time

  1. Once all team members you've invited to your FigJam whiteboard are active, their names and cursors will appear on the screen. You will be able to see their actions as they create sticky notes, add text, draw shapes, etc.
  2. Click the speech bubble icon at the top right to activate the Comment tool. You can view all comments from collaborators on the right panel and can ask for feedback, ideas, and questions using comments.
  1. To add your own comment, click anywhere on the whiteboard after selecting the Comment tool. You can then type in your comment in the comment field.
  1. You can also tag collaborators in comments by adding the @ symbol before typing their name. Then click on the collaborator's name to tag them.
  1. Collaborators can reply to comments directly by clicking on the comment.
  1. Widgets are another feature of FigJam that makes it easy to collaborate with others. Click on the clock at the top right to activate the widgets panel.
  1. The Widgets panel will appear on the right. You can use the Timer widget during ideation or brainstorming sessions and can even add music to the sessions.
  1. There is also the Voting widget that lets collaborators provide feedback or reactions.
  1. You can also find several preset templates in FigJam for collaboration by clicking the 'Templates' button at the top right.
  1. Finally, there is AI Generator, which lets you generate concepts like flow charts using text right within Figma. Simply click the button and type what you want to generate in the text box before hitting Enter.

Things to know

  • There is practically no limit to how you can use the different tools that FigJam offers for collaboration. For instance, you can use the Stamp tool to vote on concepts and ideas. Similarly, you can use sticky notes or text boxes to summarize important points.
  • You can use tags in comments to assign action items to project collaborators and use the Section tool to create different sections for each action item.
  • Keyboard shortcuts can make it incredibly easy to work with FigJam while also saving a lot of time and effort. You can select different tools quickly, such as selecting the Select Tool by pressing the V Key or the Sticky Notes tool with the N Key.
  • FigJam also lets you import and export various document formats, like JPG, PNG, TIFF, CSV, etc. You can also copy elements from your FigJam board and paste them directly into your Figma design file.