Getting started
TeachFORGE.ai
Getting started / Your first board
Making, saving and finding a board
Creating a whiteboard, how it saves itself while you work, keeping a copy on your computer, and finding it again next week.
The board saves itself. Save makes a copy.
Making a board
In the sidebar, under Whiteboards, open My boards and press + New Whiteboard. Give it a name in Whiteboard Name — leave it blank and it is called Untitled Whiteboard — and choose a Board layout:
| Layout | Good for |
|---|---|
| Landscape | Widescreen slides, the shape of a projector or a laptop screen. This is the default. |
| Portrait | Pages the shape of A4, for worksheets and notes. |
| Infinity | One canvas with no edges, for mind maps and working that spreads out. |
Press Create Whiteboard. Choose the layout with care: it cannot be changed once the board exists. If you want a different one, make a new board.
To rename a board later, click its name — in My boards, or at the top of the board itself, where it says Click to rename.
How it saves itself
On a paid plan you never need to press anything to save. Each time you lift the pen or finish a change, the page you are on is saved to your account, at most every couple of seconds.
If a save does not go through, the board says so and keeps trying:
- Could not reach the server. Check your connection. — your internet dropped. Keep working; it tries again, and saves when the connection is back.
- Could not save to the server. Try again in a moment. — the problem is on our side. Your changes are still on your screen; it tries again by itself.
While changes are not saved yet, your browser warns you before you leave the page. If you see that warning, wait a moment before closing the tab. The Share dialog also shows whether the latest changes are saved.
On the Free plan a board is a Quick board, marked Not saved. It clears when you close it. To keep a quick board, use Save below to put a copy on your computer before you close it.
Save, Save As and Open
The File menu on the board has three items that work with files on your computer, not with your account:
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Save | Downloads the whole board as a .teachforge file to your Downloads folder. Pictures and sound are inside the file. |
| Save As… | The same, but asks for a file name first. |
| Open | Opens a .teachforge file you saved earlier. |
Open replaces the whole board you are on with the file, including the copy saved in your account: pages that are not in the file are removed. To bring an old file back without losing today's board, make a new board first, then open the file on that.
A .teachforge file is a good backup and a good way to give a board to a colleague. If you choose a file that is not one, you see That file isn't a TeachForge whiteboard (.teachforge).
Finding it again
My boards lists every board you have kept, with the one you changed most recently at the top. Each row has Copy URL, Open and Delete, and shows when it was last used.
My Files, also in the sidebar, shows your boards alongside your other files, with folders. Use New folder to group boards by class or by term, and Move to put a board in one.
Neither list has a search box yet, so a clear name and a folder per class save time later.
Deleting a board asks you to confirm, and there is no undo on screen. A board you have not opened for a long time is not deleted without warning: you get an email first, well before anything happens.
How many boards you can keep
| Plan | Boards you can keep | Storage |
|---|---|---|
| Free | None — quick boards only | — |
| Standard | 50 | 2 GB |
| Quest | 250 | 15 GB |
| Academy | 1,000 | 50 GB |
At the limit, a new board is refused with a message giving your plan's number. Delete boards you no longer use, or move up a plan. Copies made for a group and quick boards do not count towards it. My Files shows how much storage you have used.