Place a small desktop whiteboard by holding a shortcut, moving the pointer and releasing. Draw, type, paste images and annotate screenshots with keyboard shortcuts or optional floating tools. Launch opens only a Windows tray icon or a macOS menu-bar item.
V1.3.4 HotkeyPatch remains the default stable download. V1.3.6 — early tester release adds optional compact floating tools and reduces repeated geometry work during freehand drawing. It is a prerelease with known visual and acceptance limitations.
Windows defaults are Ctrl+Win+Shift+W (board) and Ctrl+Win+Shift+Q (screenshot). Mac remains Universal2 Preview.
| Download | Platform | Installation |
|---|---|---|
| Windows installer — recommended | Windows 10/11, x64 | Run Setup. Installs for your account, adds a Start menu shortcut and offers a desktop shortcut. |
| Windows portable ZIP | Windows 10/11, x64 | Extract the ZIP, open Mini Whiteboard, run Mini Whiteboard.exe. Keep the entire folder together. |
| Mac Universal2 Preview ZIP | macOS 14+; arm64 and x86_64 bundle | Extract on a Mac, move Mini Whiteboard.app to Applications and open it. Interactive Mac acceptance is NOT RUN. |
Python and Qt are included. Release notes and verification describe this release. Checksums and dependency sources accompany the downloads. Earlier releases remain available.
The Windows files labelled HotkeyPatch include the new defaults. Existing saved hotkeys stay as chosen; use Settings → Hotkeys → Reset Defaults → Apply to switch to the new pair. The original V1.3.4 files remain available on the release.
Release notes and known limitations
cover the unchanged review-02 packages from source b4b9d27.
| Download | Platform | Installation |
|---|---|---|
| Windows installer — recommended for early testers | Windows x64 | Close Mini Whiteboard and run Setup to replace the registered installed copy. |
| Windows portable ZIP | Windows x64 | Close the old copy, extract the new ZIP and replace the complete application folder manually. |
| Mac Universal2 Preview ZIP | macOS 14+, arm64/x86_64 bundle | Quit, extract on a Mac and replace Mini Whiteboard.app in Applications. Interactive Mac acceptance is NOT RUN. |
SHA-256 checksums are provided with the release. Enable Settings → Show floating tools from the tray/menu bar. Tap a tool, hold or right-click for options, and drag the dotted grip. The toolbar starts off and follows the active board when enabled.
Glass remains grey on the tested hosted Windows client; Appearance → White provides the verified opaque appearance. One editable-clipboard case and complete client tray/settings and HotkeyPatch upgrade/rollback/reinstall/uninstall acceptance remain unresolved. See the verification details.
Microsoft's completed written response reported no positive scanner or telemetry indicators for the submitted V1.3.6 EXE. Its portal file-level determination still displayed Pending on 8 November; this is not a definitive Not malware classification. The original reported quarantine remains unexplained. See security troubleshooting.
Windows is unsigned. The Mac preview is ad-hoc signed and has not been notarized. For a trusted Mac download blocked by Gatekeeper, follow Apple's Open Anyway instructions. Interactive Mac acceptance, execution on macOS 14 and Intel hardware remain NOT RUN. Universal2 bundle checks and limited startup do not establish those results.
The Windows installer is recommended. It installs for your account without an administrator prompt, adds Mini Whiteboard to Start/Search, and offers a desktop shortcut. The portable ZIP remains available: extract it and keep its entire folder together. Both launch quietly into the tray.
On Mac, extract the Universal2 Preview ZIP on a Mac and move Mini Whiteboard.app to Applications. Interactive Mac acceptance is NOT RUN.
Choose Open at login in the tray/menu-bar menu to opt in. It is off by default. The app reads the OS registration each time the menu opens. If Windows Startup apps or macOS Login Items blocks it, follow the shown settings action; the app does not silently enable it again. Choose Turn off Open at login to remove the app's registration while startup is disabled or approval is pending. Keep portable copies in a permanent folder before enabling startup. Development and temporary copies cannot register. Startup registration and controlled command launches were tested. Automatic launch during an actual Windows sign-in is NOT RUN (not tested).
To upgrade an installed Windows copy, keep any work you need, choose Exit Mini Whiteboard, then run the newer installer. It replaces the existing installation in place under the same app identity; downloading alone does not update it. Setup checks the replacement and backs up replaced files before copying. It removes obsolete payload files only when ownership and their original hashes match. Preferences, custom hotkeys and the Open at login choice remain. Setup and uninstall refuse to proceed while the app is running.
For the portable ZIP, close the old copy, extract the new ZIP and replace its application folder as a whole. The installer does not search for or delete portable copies or historical downloads. On Mac, quit and replace Mini Whiteboard.app in Applications. Uninstall removes its own shortcuts and login registration; preferences remain for a later reinstall.
The demo uses the app controller and renderer on a controlled desktop.
A board with drawing, shapes and text
- Point at the first corner and hold Ctrl+Win+Shift+W on Windows or Control+Option+W on Mac.
- Keep holding and move to the opposite corner. A temporary outline previews the rectangle.
- Release the trigger key or any required modifier to create a focused board.
Use Q on Windows or S on Mac in the same global shortcut to capture a region into a new board with a locked screenshot background, ready to annotate. Mac's Global shortcuts menu also offers Command+Option+Shift+W/S/H when the default conflicts.
Both gestures support four directions and negative desktop coordinates. A board below 160 × 100 logical pixels, or a capture below 4 × 4 desktop units, cancels. Escape or the tray/menu cancellation clears a preview. Held repeats cannot create more boards. Screen capture may request Screen Recording permission on Mac; a denied or failed capture creates no board.
Windows screenshot creation defaults to Ctrl+Win+Shift+Q. Both left/right modifier keys work. Open tray → Settings → Hotkeys to record a chord or select modifiers and a key manually. Create, capture and Hide All can use different chords. Apply checks duplicates and OS registration before saving; Cancel keeps the previous configuration. Reset Defaults changes the editor until you choose Apply.
If a shortcut is already owned, its tray entry says unavailable and opens Hotkeys settings. Other actions remain registered. Select the explicit Win+Alt+Shift+W/Q compatibility preset, or choose another available chord. The app never takes over another owner's shortcut or silently changes defaults. Global actions pause while Hotkeys settings is open. Explicit choices survive restart and upgrade; existing Hide All and Mac preset choices are retained. Windows reserves Ctrl+Esc and Ctrl+Shift+Esc. For a custom creation chord whose Escape combination is unavailable, the app reports it and offers tray-menu cancellation; choose a different chord for keyboard cancellation.
Hotkey settings
Record or select each shortcut, then choose Apply. Opening Settings pauses global actions while the configuration is edited. This example shows custom bindings.
Screenshot content reaches the rounded board boundary. Small translucent controls and temporary feedback sit over the image; copied image content excludes them. The top edge still moves the window and its edges/corners resize it.
Enable tray/menu bar → Settings → Show floating tools. This preference is remembered and starts off. One compact palette follows the active board; other applications keep their focus. Each board keeps its own tool, colour and sizes.
Tap Draw, Eraser, Select, Shape or Text. Hold a tool, or right-click it, for its options. Colour and Undo/Redo are directly available. Drag the dotted grip to move the palette. It starts above the board, moves below when the top is full, and sits inside when neither outside position fits. Narrow screens wrap its 42-pixel targets; making the board bigger does not enlarge the controls.
The palette and options stay out of document exports and screenshot backgrounds. Selecting a tool finishes the current textbox; ordinary tool keys still type normally inside the text editor. Real stylus and physical mixed-DPI acceptance remain NOT RUN.
Actual V1.3.6 application capture on the Windows Server 2025 test desktop. The pastel background is a separate demonstration window. The palette is 375 × 46 logical pixels with 20-pixel icons and 42-pixel tool targets.
Placement, customisation and small-board examples
Swatches retain their fill colour inside a subtle outline. The options title uses compact semibold text.
These are captures of the implemented widgets. Scale checks used Qt overrides at 100/125/150/175/200%; physical mixed-DPI and real pen acceptance are NOT RUN. Glass appeared as solid grey on both the Server VM and the Windows 11 ARM client VM. The actual frozen-client captures below show the unresolved appearance; Glass visual acceptance has not passed. These are diagnostic captures, not the intended translucent result. A controlled comparison also reproduces the same grey board in published V1.3.4 HotkeyPatch on that client. White remains the verified opaque appearance; native Windows x64 hardware comparison is not yet run.
A controlled 1,920-point stroke on an empty White board reduced p95 paint work from 12.50 ms to 0.72 ms, with floating tools enabled. The matched 18-case synthetic workload covered both themes, empty/populated/screenshot boards, three stroke lengths and repeated drawing/whole-stroke erasing/undo/redo. These are offscreen processing measurements, not pen latency or display FPS. Stroke completion can take longer, and boundary clipping remains expensive. The friend's several-second freeze has not been conclusively reproduced. See measurement scope, package results and remaining limits.
Tools work only in the focused canvas. New boards start in Draw mode. Press F1 for the compact shortcut reference.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| D, then 1–5 | Draw at 2, 4, 6, 9 or 14 logical px |
| T, then 1–3 | Text at 14, 20 or 28 pt; apply to selected text or the next textbox |
| S, then 1–7 | Rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, line, arrow, triangle, diamond |
| A or V | Select and transform; Shift-click toggles, Shift-marquee adds fully enclosed objects |
| E, then 1–4 | Partial circular eraser at 8, 16, 32 or 64 logical px |
| E, then 5 | Toggle whole-stroke erasing; toggling off returns to circular 16 px |
| C | Temporary colour palette; 1–7 choose presets |
| Arrows / Shift+arrows | Move selection by 1 / 10 logical px |
| Delete / Backspace | Delete selected editable objects |
| Escape | Cancel a gesture or clear selection |
| Action | Windows | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Copy / cut / paste / duplicate | Ctrl+C / X / V / D | Command+C / X / V / D |
| Select all | Ctrl+A | Command+A |
| Undo / redo | Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y | Command+Z / Command+Shift+Z |
| Bypass snapping | Alt | Option |
| Finish text | Ctrl+Enter or Escape | Command+Return or Escape |
Text wraps to a stored width. Enter adds a newline; the temporary editor follows the caret for tall content. Resizing the board preserves objects and text width. While editing, letters, numbers, clipboard commands, arrows, deletion and undo belong exclusively to the text editor.
Clicking outside any active textbox finishes editing and deselects it. That click cannot start another editor, transform or drawing action. A separate next click can create or edit text. Meaningful text keeps its whitespace; blank new drafts disappear without history. Clearing existing text is one undoable deletion.
Selection has shared move, resize and rotation controls. Corners preserve ratio; edges scale one axis unless Shift is held or the group contains text or images. Shift snaps rotation to 15°. Shape creation retains square/circle constraints. Circular erasure cuts every editable object under its swept brush. Whole-stroke erasure removes an original freehand gesture, including its surviving fragments. Masks follow objects through transforms and edits.
Direct selection prioritises visible content in stacking order. A textbox's unused wrapping width cannot cover a neighbouring note's hit area. Clicking and dragging another object selects and moves it even inside the current selection box.
Right-click for ordering and lock/unlock commands. Paste images or drop local PNG, JPEG and WEBP files. Snap & Guides controls Smart Guides and Grid Snap. The minus button hides a board while preserving contents and history; the red × deletes that board. The tray/menu restores boards. Closing the last board leaves the utility running; choose Exit/Quit Mini Whiteboard to end the session.
Appearance → White / Glass is a global saved preference in the tray/menu. White is the default. V1.3.1 Glass uses a mostly neutral backing, native frost, rounded light-catching edges, subtle highlights and matching temporary surfaces. Interface headings are bold; document text and artwork retain their original weight, colours and opacity. Windows 11 build 22621+ uses a rounded native compositor backdrop; Windows 10, unavailable effects and reduced transparency/high contrast use a solid surface. Mac uses NSVisualEffectView. This is a Liquid Glass-inspired approximation; it does not implement optical refraction or native Apple Liquid Glass. OS-owned Mac menus and standard colour/permission dialogs retain native styling. Temporary menus have roomier rows and a clear selected state. F1 help groups shortcuts into two columns when space permits and scrolls on smaller desktops. Reduced motion disables the brief 140 ms edge light catch and feedback fades. Glass creation, restore and popup presentation never move or fade document content. There are no animated backgrounds or desktop-capture loops.
V1.3.1: actual Windows Glass and Appearance menu
This is a native Windows capture. The caption and backdrop belong to the test window. This older capture predates the optional floating tools.
Ctrl+Alt+H on Windows, Control+Option+H on Mac, or the matching menu action hides all visible boards immediately. Press again to restore that recorded set without taking focus from your current app. Already minimized boards stay hidden. New boards remain visible outside an older hidden batch. Individually restored or deleted boards leave the batch; a later manual minimize is respected. Held shortcut repeats and key release cannot toggle again. Mac's alternate preset includes H; normal Command+H remains a system shortcut.
On Windows, Hide All shortcut in the tray menu offers Ctrl+Alt+H and Ctrl+Alt+Shift+H. Your explicit choice is saved for the next launch. Settings → Hotkeys also supports a custom Hide All chord. A conflict leaves other registered actions working; choose another chord or retry. The app never silently switches shortcuts. Mac retains its existing W/S/H presets.
OCR and Extract Text are removed in V1.3.1, including their engine and language data. Historical V1.3 release assets and notes remain available.
- Documents are session-only. Only preferences are saved.
- Windows 11 has scripted native and packaged checks. Windows 10, clean-machine deployment and physical mixed-DPI arrangements still need testing.
- Mac remains a preview. Interactive shortcuts, focus, permissions, capture, Spaces and Retina/multi-monitor acceptance are outstanding. Floating windows use normal Space membership; coverage over every full-screen app is not guaranteed.
- Linux is unsupported. Images are limited to 64 million pixels and editable clipboard data to 96 MB. Protected desktop content may be unavailable to capture.
- The app has no accounts, network service or telemetry.
CONTRIBUTING covers source setup, architecture and rebuilding. Testing and troubleshooting covers native checks and remaining hardware acceptance. Report a bug with the version, OS and reproduction steps.
Mini Whiteboard's own source and assets use the MIT license. Dependencies retain their own terms; see third-party notices. Both packages contain license texts, exact dependency versions, notice hashes and the source/rebuild guide.