3 ms·

I recently discovered that common alcohol-based hand sanitizer works very well to remove stubborn white board marker. Not sure if it just works on my particular

I recently discovered that common alcohol-based hand sanitizer works very well to remove stubborn white board marker. Not sure if it just works on my particular brand of markers or if the solvent is more universal, but give it a try.

innguest 11y ago
Hand sanitizer will usually have moisturizer. It's better to use isopropyl alcohol as close to 100% as possible.
greggman 11y ago
I've found that drawing over the mark with a white board marker seems to make it removable.
- namplaa 11y ago
  I've found that it also works for permanent marker.
  - benihana 11y ago
    I've found that people keep repeating this but it doesn't work. So a couple of places in our office have permanent marker marks with smudges all around it from where someone tried to wipe it off with alcohol then a dry-erase marker.
    - mst 11y ago
      Drawing over permanent marker with a white board marker does work provided the permanent marker hasn't dried yet. Or, at least, I have done this successfully before now - so my current working assumption is "people are waiting too long after which it doesn't work", but since I like my white boards I'm unwilling to run the necessary experiments to test this.
      - tmm 11y ago
        I don't think time has anything to do with it. Rather it's the solvent in the dry erase marker. I used to use dry erase markers to remove extension numbers from the little tabs on 66 blocks back in the days before IP phones. Sometimes those numbers had been there for 15+ years. So, my advice would be: if one brand of dry erase marker doesn't remove your permanent marker mark, try a different brand. I think I used Expo.
    - hobs 11y ago
      It definitely works under the following conditions(I have done it dozens of times when a dangus has written on my whiteboard with the wrong marker): 1. You have just applied the permanent marker 2. You have a fairly wet dry-erase marker 3. You blot the perm with the dry-erase so as to flush the site with ink 4. Attempt to wipe/remove 5. Do this fast
    - will_work4tears 11y ago
      I've found the opposite, IME; perhaps the issue is with your boards? We regularly have this happen at work and the permanent marker is always removed. It also works on plastic containers - I've successfully done this hundreds of times on both reusable plastic bins for my food at work, as well as items I buy (and resell) from Goodwills and Savers / Value Villages. I've not yet run across a plastic container that this hasn't worked on. I've obviously not tried this with "hundreds" of whiteboards, but the one we have on the fridge at home works as well as the several size and types we have at work.

innguest 11y ago

Hand sanitizer will usually have moisturizer. It's better to use isopropyl alcohol as close to 100% as possible.

greggman 11y ago

I've found that drawing over the mark with a white board marker seems to make it removable.

namplaa 11y ago
I've found that it also works for permanent marker.
- benihana 11y ago
  I've found that people keep repeating this but it doesn't work. So a couple of places in our office have permanent marker marks with smudges all around it from where someone tried to wipe it off with alcohol then a dry-erase marker.
  - mst 11y ago
    Drawing over permanent marker with a white board marker does work provided the permanent marker hasn't dried yet. Or, at least, I have done this successfully before now - so my current working assumption is "people are waiting too long after which it doesn't work", but since I like my white boards I'm unwilling to run the necessary experiments to test this.
    - tmm 11y ago
      I don't think time has anything to do with it. Rather it's the solvent in the dry erase marker. I used to use dry erase markers to remove extension numbers from the little tabs on 66 blocks back in the days before IP phones. Sometimes those numbers had been there for 15+ years. So, my advice would be: if one brand of dry erase marker doesn't remove your permanent marker mark, try a different brand. I think I used Expo.
  - hobs 11y ago
    It definitely works under the following conditions(I have done it dozens of times when a dangus has written on my whiteboard with the wrong marker): 1. You have just applied the permanent marker 2. You have a fairly wet dry-erase marker 3. You blot the perm with the dry-erase so as to flush the site with ink 4. Attempt to wipe/remove 5. Do this fast
  - will_work4tears 11y ago
    I've found the opposite, IME; perhaps the issue is with your boards? We regularly have this happen at work and the permanent marker is always removed. It also works on plastic containers - I've successfully done this hundreds of times on both reusable plastic bins for my food at work, as well as items I buy (and resell) from Goodwills and Savers / Value Villages. I've not yet run across a plastic container that this hasn't worked on. I've obviously not tried this with "hundreds" of whiteboards, but the one we have on the fridge at home works as well as the several size and types we have at work.