How to use a 75-inch interactive whiteboard TV (ViewSonic ViewBoard) for teaching

Step 1: Start the board and decide on internet

• If the TV works the way you want, try it without internet first, so no update breaks or changes something.
• Otherwise use the icons at the bottom: Ethernet, Wi-Fi or USB.
• Enable the option to start with the whiteboard, so it opens ready to use when the TV turns on.

Caution: Keep the remote control. A board received from the factory without its remote is almost impossible to set up.

Step 2: Adjust brightness and volume

• Press your finger against the screen for a few seconds.
• A menu opens with the brightness and volume sliders. Set them how you like.

Step 3: Write with a pen or your finger

• You can write with your hand or with a touch screen pen.
• Cheap pens work. The ink is always the color you set on the board, not the color of the pen.
• ViewSonic pens are a bit better: the thin point writes one color and the other end writes another. A thick-point pen only gives one color.

Step 4: Undo and redo

• On the bottom toolbar, one arrow is undo and the other is redo.
• Tap undo to remove the last thing you drew, and redo to bring it back.
• With a pen this works every time. Using your arm or hand only works sometimes.

Step 5: Add typed text with the T tool

• Tap the T to type text with the on-screen keyboard, then close the keyboard.
• The keyboard is huge and not very comfortable, so handwriting is usually faster.
• Typed text is not removed by simply writing over it. Use the eraser tool.

Step 6: Erase with the eraser tool

• Tap the eraser and wipe over what you want to delete.
• The eraser also has extra options, such as cutting or trimming part of a drawing.
• An old whiteboard eraser also works amazingly well on the screen.

Step 7: Choose marker color and thickness

• Tap the marker to see the different markers and the color palette.
• Pick a color such as blue, then write. To use another color, open the menu again and change it.
• Thickness is set in the same menu. The menu closes each time; Step 11 shows a faster way.
• Skip the special effect markers. The basic marker is all you need.

Step 8: Change the background to use white ink

• White ink does not show on the white canvas.
• Use the very tiny background icon to change the background color. Now white ink is visible.
• You can set a solid color back later, or save one as your background.

Step 9: Select, move, lock or copy what you wrote

• Use the select tool to pick something you wrote and move it.
• From the same menu you can lock it, copy, paste, change colors or cut it.
• The hand tool moves the whole board around, and you can zoom in.

Step 10: Insert pictures from a USB thumb drive

• Save the pictures for your presentation on your computer, copy them to a thumb drive and plug it into the TV.
• Open the drive from the board and press and drop the picture onto the board. It does not drag right away.
• Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox appear too, but they were not working in the video (ViewSonic escalated the issue).

Caution: The built-in Chrome browser and YouTube are very slow on this board, even on a 1 gigabit connection. Use the thumb drive.

Step 11: Resize, copy and paste pictures

• Move the picture around with your finger or pen.
• Resize it from the corner.
• Copy and paste to make another one. You get almost the same options as in Paint.

Step 12: Switch colors fast with the side toolbar

• On the side of the screen there is a quick marker bar.
• Change between colors like orange, pink or blue very quickly.
• Close it when you want to go back to working with the main tools.

Step 13: Add more pages with the plus button

• Press the plus sign to add a new page. You don't have to erase the board.
• Add as many pages as you want and draw on each one, for example a diagram showing how computers connect to a data center.

Step 14: Save your board to the thumb drive

• Tap the folder icon. Option one creates a new document, two opens a saved one and three saves your work.
• Type a name and save. It works like saving an Excel or Word document.
• To reopen it, choose open, go to the thumb drive and open the file. It is slow, but it works.

Caution: If someone unplugs the TV or it turns off by itself, you lose everything you didn't save.