Embedding external content into Whimsical

Whimsical supports embedding content from various external sources, including Figma, Airtable, Canva, Hex, and, of course, Whimsical itself. Whimsical also supports embedding links from YouTube, Vimeo, and Loom, which means you can add informative video walkthroughs and seamlessly integrate them into your docs.

This way, you can have your working files from other sources in context with the rest of your content in Whimsical. This is a great way to:

Explain complex processes and workflows using Loom walkthroughs.
Collaborate on content with team members who may not have access to Figma, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
Add Hex notebooks directly to your project documentation to provide a more holistic view of data-driven decisions.

Adding an external embed

There are three ways you can add an external embed:

Copy and paste the file or video link straight into your Whimsical doc, and then click the embed icon to automatically generate the embed view.

Type / followed by embed and paste the embed link into the URL field.
When in a new line, click the [E] button on the right side of the screen and paste the embed link into the URL field.

You can also resize the embed window by dragging it from the corners.
Some embeds also support zooming in and out and repositioning the view of the content.
Video embeds can also be added to Whimsical boards.

Troubleshooting video embeds

If there is no thumbnail of your video showing on your board when you paste your link, or if you get an error message when you try to play your video, please check the sharing settings for your video link.

For Loom:

You want to ensure that "Anyone with the link can view" is selected before copying the link to paste into Whimsical:

For YouTube:

The video settings will need to be public or unlisted.