With BookAnyone’s remote tutoring service, you have access to the best tutors from top universities across USA. You get more choices, more experienced tutors at cost effect hourly rates with no long term commitment.
BookAnyone’s remote tool has a variety of features that allow tutors and their students to interact. Both the tutor and the student have access to the BookAnyone Remote Tool, and are able to share their webcam, upload documents, draw, type, and share their screens.
Screen activity on the BookAnyone Remote Tool is completely shared. This means that if the student moves the screen, it pans for the tutor as well, and vice-virsa. This makes it easy to sync up what is being worked on and collaborate effectively.
Remote Tool Demo
You can try out a 5-minute demo of the whiteboard software here: https://wb.bookanyone.com/demo
This demo url cannot be tested with others, but rest assured when a booking takes place, you’ll have 2-way video and audio.
Sharing Files
You can use the remote tool to share files between students and tutors, for example, for proofreading. Learn how here.
Remote Tool Feature Guide

Whiteboard Canvas | |||||||
Press and hold the left mouse button to draw on the whiteboard (or use your finger if using a touch-screen device). You can also plug a graphics tablet into your computer, which makes it easier to draw freehand. Click the right-button for undo/select context menu, and use the mouse wheel or trackpad to scroll and zoom. | |||||||
Menu options | |||||||
Uploads an image or document to the server and displays the first page on the whiteboard. Use the previous and next page buttons (at the bottom of the whiteboard) to move between pages of a multi-page document. | |||||||
Loads a saved picture | |||||||
Saves the current whiteboard state. Also allows you to save all pages to your local computer as a pdf. | |||||||
Clears the whiteboard. | |||||||
Undo. | |||||||
Redo. | |||||||
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Copy selected item(s) to clipboard. | |||||||
Cut selected item(s) to clipboard. | |||||||
Paste copied items into whiteboard. | |||||||
Delete selected item(s). | |||||||
Crops the whiteboard to the selected area. | |||||||
Prints the current whiteboard state. | |||||||
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Share a YouTube video. Video playback is synchronized, except on iOS Safari. | |||||||
Opens the shared rich-text / code editor, for synchronized text editing. | |||||||
Share your screen. | |||||||
Displays this help page. | |||||||
Drawing Tools | |||||||
Draws freehand lines. | |||||||
Eraser tool (white color/large size). | |||||||
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Draws ovals and circles. | |||||||
Draws text. | |||||||
Draws filled ovals and circles. | |||||||
Draws squares and rectangles. | |||||||
Draws filled squares and rectangles. | |||||||
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Laser pointer: allows you to highlight areas on the whiteboard without making any permanent marks. | |||||||
Pan tool: allows you to scroll around the screen. | |||||||
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Highlighter tool: draws using a semi-transparent brush. | |||||||
Colors | |||||||
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Text/line size | |||||||
Drag the slider to change the current text/pen size. | |||||||
Changes the current whiteboard page. | |||||||
Chat | |||||||
Brings up the chat window. Click the icon to display the list of other users in the room. | |||||||
Zoom Controls | |||||||
Allows you to zoom in or out. | |||||||
Video windows | |||||||
If video is enabled, you should see your video preview window at the top, and other users’ video below it. Click on the X below the video window to stop sending your video to other users. Below the video window is the audio recording meter: the circle lights up red when your voice is being transmitted to other users, and the red bar shows the current recording signal level of your microphone. You will see a green triangle underneath other users’ video windows when they are transmitting audio. | |||||||
Audio controls
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Math features
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Keyboard shortcuts
Cursor keys: Moves between pages, or moves a selected object (use shift key to move object more quickly). |
Graphing Equations
In order to plot equations on a graph, use the graph plotter. To open it, click on the top symbol in the bottom left of the whiteboard, and click on the graph (second from the left) as shown below.
This will open a window with full graphing-calculator functionality. You can plot multiple equations, view intersections, and more.
For additional options, (for example, to adjust x and y axis) click the wrench icon in the top right. To use exponents, functions, and more in your equations, click the keyboard icon in the bottom left.
Audio/Video Troubleshooting
General Audio Troubleshooting
- Start by following our article on troubleshooting your connection with tests.
- If you experience echos, make sure both users are using headphones or a headset. (Bear in mind that iphone earphones are not fully compatible with Macs, so you may still experience echos). Alternatively you can use the Firefox browser, which includes built-in echo cancellation.
- Make sure you plug in your headset before logging into the remote tool. (If you plug in your headset in after connecting to the remote tool and it isn’t working, try reloading the remote tool web page).
- Make sure your headset is properly plugged in, and that you have given permission to the browser to use your microphone (see below for more details).
- Try reloading the remote tool web page, or using a different browser if you have problems. Chrome and Firefox work best.
- When you speak, you should see a horizontal red bar move underneath your video window. You will also see a red circle light up under your video. If you don’t see these, it means that the Remote Tool is not picking up your microphone.
- When the other user speaks, you should see a green triangle light up under their video window. If you see the green triangle light up but don’t hear anything, it means that your headphones aren’t working. Try reloading the page and check your headphones are set up correctly. (Check to see if you can listen to a youtube video through them).
- If the other user reports that your voice is breaking up, check your microphone volume. You will see the volume controls underneath the video windows. When you speak, the red bar should fill at least 50% of the rectangle. If that does not happen, try increasing your microphone volume.
Chrome microphone/webcam permissions
Chrome will pop up a permissions window when you log into the BookAnyone Remote Tool:
Simply click “Allow” to give permission to use your microphone. You only need to do this once, and Chrome will remember in future.
To change your microphone settings in Chrome (assuming you have already given or denied permission to use your microphone), click on the little icon at the right-hand side of the url bar that looks like a video camera:
If you previously denied permission to allow microphone/webcam access, you can reset the chrome audio/video permissions.
Firefox microphone/webcam permissions
Firefox will pop up a permissions window when you log into the BookAnyone Remote Tool:
Simply click “Share selected devices” to give the BookAnyone Remote Tool permission to use your microphone and/or camera. You can choose “Always share” from the drop-down menu (to the right of the “Share selected devices” button) if you always want to give permission.
To change your microphone settings in Firefox (assuming you have already given or denied permission to use your microphone), click on the little icon at the left-hand side of the url bar that looks like a video camera.
This will allow you to select a different microphone (if your computer has more than one), or give permission if you previously didn’t give permission.
Safari microphone/webcam permissions
Safari will pop up a permissions window when you log into the BookAnyone Remote Tool.
Simply click on “Allow” to give the BookAnyone Remote Tool permission to use your microphone and/or camera. If you don’t see this popup, go to “Safari->Settings for this website” and check the Camera and Microphone permissions.
Tablet Troubleshooting
BookAnyone’s Remote Tool works great with most graphics tablets including Wacom and Huion brands. If you have a tablet but are having trouble drawing, please make sure to uncheck “Support TabletPC” (for Huion), and uncheck “Use Windows Ink” (for Wacom).