DrawOla guide
Live collaboration · Updated 2026-09-06
1. What live collaboration is
You can invite up to 4 people (5 people including you) to edit the same drawing at the same time. They see your cursor, every stroke you draw and every image you paste, and you see theirs as well.
The content is end-to-end encrypted. The drawing content only travels between the participants' browsers. The server only forwards the encrypted data and cannot see what you draw.
2. Start a session
Step 1: Open the drawing you want to work on together, and click the Share button at the top right.
Step 2: In the dialog, decide on one option:
Let people who join by link keep this drawing after the session ends
This option is off by default, and it cannot be changed after the session starts. See section 4.
Step 3: Click Start session, copy the link it creates, and send it to the people you want to invite.
After the session starts, the address bar shows text that starts with #room=, and the top right shows the remaining time and the avatars of the current participants.
3. Join someone else's session
Just open the link the other person sent you. You do not need to sign up or log in.
Joining a session creates a new drawing in your Studio, named “Collaboration draw”. The drawing you had open is not overwritten and is not affected in any way.
After you join, a notice tells you whether this drawing stays in your Studio after the session ends. The person who started the session decides that.
4. What happens to the drawing after the session
The person who started the session decides whether people who join by link can keep this drawing after the session ends.
| Setting | Person who started the session | People who join by link |
|---|---|---|
| Default (do not keep) | Always keeps their own drawing | This drawing is not saved into their Studio |
| Allow keeping | Always keeps their own drawing | This drawing stays in their Studio as their own copy |
“Do not keep” is a polite default, not a protection.
What it does: DrawOla does not save this drawing into the other person's Studio.
What it cannot do: stop the other person from taking a screenshot, exporting, or keeping what they saw in any other way. The content is already on their screen.
If the content really must not get out, do not share it by link.
Whatever the setting, drawings the joiner already had are never deleted. Only the drawing this session created is affected.
5. Leave a session
Three ways to leave
- Click the home icon at the top left to go back to the Studio
- Click Share to open the dialog, and choose Stop session
- Close the tab
All three have the same effect: you leave the session, the #room= part in the address bar is removed, and nobody else is affected. They can keep drawing.
Nobody is the host
The session does not end when the person who started it leaves. The others can go on, and the link still works. The session lasts until the last person leaves, or until it reaches the time limit.
When you are the only one left
When everyone else has left, the screen asks you:
You are the only one left
Everyone else has left this collaboration session. You can end it now, or stay in case somebody comes back.
Ending automatically in 60s.
End the session Stay in the room
This dialog counts down from 60 seconds, and the number goes down every second. When it reaches zero, the session ends by itself, exactly as if you pressed End the session yourself. This stops a session with nobody in it from using up the quota after someone leaves their desk.
You have to choose one. Pressing Esc, clicking outside the dialog or any other way does not close it. You can only press one of the buttons, or let the countdown finish.
If you choose to stay, the countdown stops, the link still works, and the people who left can come back.
If you joined by link and this session does not keep the drawing, the dialog adds one more reminder:
You joined this session by link, and it does not keep the drawing. If you leave, this drawing will not be saved into your Studio.
The countdown and the default action are the same for everyone; only this reminder is different. If you see it, the drawing you have will not stay after you leave. If you want to keep it, export it yourself before the countdown ends. See section 4.
6. Limits
| Item | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| People at the same time | 5 people | Includes the person who started the session |
| Length of one session | 60 minutes | Ends by itself when the time is up; the countdown is at the top right |
| Sessions started per network per day | 5 times | Only starting a session counts as 1; joining someone else's session does not count |
| Grace period after a disconnect | 60 seconds | Reload within one minute to get back to the same session |
“5 per network per day” is counted by your public IP address, and only “starting” counts.
So people in the same office, the same home or on the same mobile network share these 5 starts. Joining someone else's session does not count at all, because the person who started it already paid for the whole room, and the people who join only take seats that are already paid for.
In other words, 5 people on the same network who take turns starting sessions can start 5 sessions; but a whole office joining the same session together does not use up a single one.
When the quota is used up, the collaboration button turns gray and cannot be clicked. Hover over it to see when it resets. It resets every day at midnight Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). People who received a link are not affected and can still join.
7. Common situations
Q: The collaboration button is gray and I cannot click it
The quota for starting sessions is used up. Hover over the button to see the reason and the reset time. Either this network has used up its starts for today, or the whole service has used up its quota for today. This only stops you from starting a new session; if someone sends you a link, you can still join.
Q: I see “Lost connection to the collaboration session. Your changes are still saved locally. Reload the page within a minute to rejoin the same session.”
The network dropped for a moment, and your changes are still saved on this device. Reload the page within one minute to get back to the same session. After more than one minute, once everyone has left, the session is over.
Q: I see “This collaboration session has ended. Either everyone left the room, or it reached its time limit. The link will not open it again.”
Either everyone left, or it reached the 60-minute limit. This link will not open it again; ask the other person for a new link.
Q: The link says “That collaboration room is not open. Ask for a new link.”
This session has already ended. The address is cleaned up by itself, so you can go on using DrawOla without editing the address yourself.
Q: The link says “That collaboration room is already full.”
There are already 5 people in it. Wait for someone to leave, or ask the other person to start another session.
Q: The others cannot see an image I pasted
Each image has a size limit. Above it, you see “Image cannot be shared because it is larger than 2 MB.”. DrawOla compresses images that are too large when you import them. If it still fails, make the image smaller and try again.
Q: Can someone take my drawing?
Your own drawing always stays in your Studio. You decide whether people who join by link can keep it, and by default they cannot. But please understand that this is only a default, not a protection. See section 4.
Q: Do I need to sign up for an account?
No. DrawOla has no account system. Your drawings are stored in your own browser.