How To Clean Dry Erase Boards: 10 Surprising Tricks. - Office Ink Blog

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It is the bane of every teacher and public speaker’s existance– dry erase marker stains that won’t come off your dry erase board. EXPO & Quartet make  great dry erase board cleaners that get rid of stubborn stains, but if you don’t have any on hand, there are a surprising number of products found in nearly every home and maintenance supply closet that should do the trick.

Clean dry erase board marker stains with:

1. Isopropyl Alcohol Make sure you are using the 99% or 90% solution. The 70% stuff doesn’t work nearly as well.
2. Peroxide No 99% Isopropyl alcohol on hand to clean your dry erase board? Try peroxide.
3. Hand Sanitizer Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are better than “natural” sanitizers at cleaning your dry erase board — better at killing germs on your hands too.
4. WD-40 At this point, I want to know if there is anything WD-40 can’t do. (Answer: yes.)
5. Hairspray Spray on, wipe off, then get rid of the sticky residue with soap and water.
6. Toothpaste Actually, toothpaste removes stubborn stains from most smooth, non-porous surfaces.
7. Ben-Gay Slightly abrasive like toothpaste, and contains alcohol for added cleaning power.
8. Comet Abrasive with proven cleaning power. Your dry erase board will look brand new.
9. Coffee Grinds Of course, once you’ve used coffee grinds to scrub off dry erase marker stains, you have to turn around and clean off the brown coffee residue. Still, works in a pinch!
10. Vinegar Should probably list this first, since vinegar and water are my go to solution for most cleaning projects.

Do you have any tips and tricks for keeping your dry erase board looking new? We’d love to here them. Share your advice in the comments.

Sources: WikiHow, Gizmodo

447 comments on “How to Clean Dry Erase Boards: 10 surprising tricks.”

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• April 30, 2020 at 5:04 pm Tiffany Miller says:

  I used hand sanitizer on a micro fiber hand towel and if wiped right off!! However, if the board is heavily stained I could see hand sanitizer probably not cleaning it all.

  Reply
• April 30, 2020 at 7:02 pm Jim says:

  Mechanic orange hand cleaner with pumice work for me. A lot of elbow grease though. The writing had been on the board for years.

  Reply
  • July 14, 2020 at 4:04 am tina says:

    That really works? Mine has scribbles from several years ago on it.

    Reply
  • October 21, 2020 at 11:49 am Stella says:

    Wow, that’s amazing! I tried today and it works beautifully! thanks for the tip, Jim!!

    Reply
  • May 25, 2021 at 9:21 am geoffrey says:

    Pumice is an abrasive. It might get the board clean, but it’s going to create micro-etching that will hold the marker next time around

    Reply
  • October 27, 2021 at 6:10 pm Julee says:

    Tried the fast orange trick and man did it fade it, followed up with 91% alcohol and it’s gone!!! I had the liquid chalk/dry erase markers on there for months

    Reply
• May 29, 2020 at 1:55 am Erika says:

  I used a clorox wipe, but it stripped the “writable” surface…I don’t know how to fix this new problem…

  Reply
  • June 1, 2020 at 11:28 am G says:

    Try using car wax or furniture wax to your board.

    Reply
    • July 11, 2020 at 8:45 am Christina Holder says:

      Thank you from me as well!

      Reply
  • May 17, 2021 at 8:50 pm Paul Zemany says:

    To the hardware store I go, and I shall purchase the special white/grease board paint to renew the surface and make it look like a fresh writing surface.

    Reply
• June 10, 2020 at 10:26 am becki berry says:

  Toothpaste was the winner! Hand sanitizer didnt work, clorox bleach wipes worked a little, peroxide did not work at all. All were attempted with microfiber cloth.

  Reply
  • August 30, 2020 at 2:30 am Smart Sloth says:

    I just tried toothpaste based on your comment and YES!!

    Reply
    • September 9, 2020 at 2:04 pm Marjean Richey says:

      I tried all of them and toothpaste works the best!

      Reply
      • December 16, 2020 at 12:11 pm Rachel says:

        Same here!

        Reply
  • November 1, 2020 at 3:11 pm Vicky Parker says:

    Thanks for the tip!

    Reply
  • December 29, 2020 at 3:27 pm Russell C. Campbell says:

    Toothpaste worked the best for me. 91% alcohol did almost nothing, peroxide was slightly better than alcohol. Be sure to make sure all the residue from the toothpaste is cleaned off otherwise you’ll receive complaints from people that the markers don’t write very well any more. I actually did this with a large white board laying on the floor and did all the elbow grease before mounting it on the wall.

    Reply
  • May 4, 2021 at 5:55 pm Camille Long says:

    This saved my whiteboard! Tooth paste for the win 🙌

    Reply
• July 3, 2020 at 2:10 pm Devon says:

  Vinegar and baking soda! Cleans anything!

  Reply
• July 8, 2020 at 6:05 pm Diane says:

  I tried every one of these suggestions and nothing worked.

  Reply
  • February 18, 2021 at 4:55 pm Nancy Scheewe says:

    99% Rubbing alcohol works perfect. Took it all of easily. Next time I will take picture and show you how great it is.

    Reply
• July 9, 2020 at 3:24 pm Gacha Hybrid beauty says:

  THANK YOU I WAS IN SO MUCH TROUBLE WITH ME GRAMMA! then I cleaned it and now I’m so happy!

  Reply
• July 22, 2020 at 10:28 am Stephanie says:

  Thank you! I had ink that had been on my board for years. Tried all the tricks I knew, but nothing worked. 91% isopropyl alcohol worked like a charm!

  Reply
• July 22, 2020 at 5:45 pm Starry says:

  My board has writings on it from a few years ago. Tried baking soda and vinegar, toothbrush and lots of elbow strength. Most of the marker stains were removed. I tried hydrogen peroxide on a cotton ball to remove the leftover stains. It only removed some. Eh, I can finally use the board.

  Reply
• July 27, 2020 at 1:09 am JoJo says:

  Hey everyone! I have just become the guru of sandwich board repair. I lent my double-sided sandwich board to a store I rent a space in. Mistake! Instead of her looking up any of your great suggestions on how to clean dried (waterproof) marker off the boards, she globbed on coats of paint (likely chalkboard paint) between marker usages. What a mess! At first look, I thought maybe it was food or something caked on the board. As I started to use the advanced cleaning products, it started to wear off the paint, reveling even more ink. What I was seeing was layers of paint drips before drying. I soaked the board with comet, vinegar, baking soda, goof off, but to no avail. I even tried using my dremel sanding bit and a putty knife to see if those would work. Then I chipped a little piece of the ink off with my fingernail, and eureka! I’m an artist and fortunately have clay sculpting tools – basically assorted shaped scrapers. I used a larger angled one and it worked like a charm!!! It took me over 2 hours but I was able to scrape down to the ribbed eraser board. The board is resilient and held up perfectly during the operation. Over 5 hand fulls of crap was scraped off the board. After I wiped off both sides of the board, I towel dried it and finished it with WD40 and a paper towel. It looks quite close to new again! So if the ink (especially the metallic) is sun-dried and beyond stuck on the board – or if some idiot acrylic paints your dry eraser board – a generic clay sculpting/scraping tool, some elbow grease, and WD40 is your answer.

  Reply
• August 2, 2020 at 3:50 am aisya says:

  it’s really work!

  Reply
• August 6, 2020 at 10:53 am Jaymie S says:

  Thank you for the tips! I tried vinegar first, and it removed one layer. I tried the Comet second, and it worked perfectly. I’ll use that first next time!

  Reply
  • September 10, 2020 at 4:24 pm Michelle says:

    Does your board still dry erase? The Comet cleaned off the marks, but now the dry erase markers leave a “shadow”. It looks worse than before.

    Reply
    • November 7, 2021 at 7:43 am Meija says:

      Use thooth paste, It helped perfectly for me

      Reply
• August 7, 2020 at 9:55 am Jeff says:

  Bug spray also works. It’s the only thing so far that has taken this marker off my garage door. I have a finish on the garage door like dry erase and it’s awesome. But I left it on too long and bugspray is the winner. I’ll use a furniture polish to recondition the surface once clean. Should have done this at the start since it is a garage door and not a dry erase board.

  Reply
• August 11, 2020 at 10:41 am Alan Veeck says:

  I found a product called Original Krud Kutter – works great (surprised me!) and if you care about this sort of thing, claims to be non-toxic & biodegradable.

  Reply
• August 24, 2020 at 6:46 am LordLinhey says:

  WD40 Good old WD40 use this for everything and it was the only thing that also restored thew surface as well as making it sparkly clean

  Reply
• October 7, 2020 at 12:40 pm LHS says:

  Nail polish remover (acetone) worked better than just about anything else I tried.

  Reply
  • October 15, 2020 at 3:36 am Pauline Lloyd says:

    Acetone attacks plastics. Wouldn’t be my choice nor all the abrasives like toothpaste.

    Reply
• October 13, 2020 at 1:23 am Cindy Breeland says:

  I tried most of these… The alcohol works great on not so old stains; but, toothpaste is amazing! Toothpaste is also one of the cheaper things to use because you do not have to use very much and it doesn’t take the “ erasable” surface off. I have always used WD-40 all over the board to keep the surface erasable and protects. I do have a major problem with a certain brand of dry erase pens. pen+GEAR This is more like a permanent marker; I could not even get it off Before it dried. All it did was smear and make the board blue; but the toothpaste got everything off! Thank you for your suggestions.

  Reply
• November 30, 2020 at 12:40 pm Broderick Batts says:

  The toothpaste did the job. Thanks all!!!

  Reply
• December 10, 2020 at 9:10 am Lisa Simpson says:

  GoofOff worked perfectly for me!

  Reply
• January 2, 2021 at 11:30 am Donna says:

  WD40 worked like a charm. And I realized I was using a dry-erase board for its unintended purpose. It is not for long-term lists (duh).

  Reply
• January 11, 2021 at 10:27 am Patricia Brenner says:

  What about stickiness from tape,? I have tried googone and alcohol and also hand sanitizer. It looks clean then I write and use my eraser and the eraser leaves like lint or something???

  Reply
  • January 18, 2021 at 9:46 am Amy says:

    Try vinegar for the sticky spots.

    Reply
  • March 19, 2022 at 12:00 am Dana says:

    Adhesive residues from tape, labels, and such will frequently (not always) dissolve in food oils. Orange or lemon oils, peanut butter, mayonnaise, olive oil, etc. Whether the surface to be cleaned is horizontal or vertical should guide your choice – runny oils are better on horizontal surfaces only. You may have to leave the oil on the sticky area for a while (like overnight), but it does not have to be a thick coating. Less is better, you still have to clean up the mess but at least you can do that with warm water, liquid dish soap, and a rag. Test on a small area first just in case the oil and the surface to be cleaned don’t play nice together. Glass or plastic surface should be ok, fabric or paper, not so much.

    Reply
• January 15, 2021 at 5:55 pm Wille says:

  I tried the alcohol, even the peroxide. Unfortunately for my boards with long ago items written on it, those did not work. I instead used baking soda, with just a touch of the alcohol for the baking soda to stick with it on the cloth I used. Now it sure can be used again.

  Reply
• January 26, 2021 at 5:14 pm Annette says:

  I use a magic eraser. It works pretty well with a bit of elbow grease.

  Reply
• February 3, 2021 at 11:51 am Joyce says:

  The toothpaste did the trick. The white board wasn’t too bad so it cleaned up beautifully. I didn’t try any of the other ideas. I thought I would try the simplest one first. Thanks for the ideas.

  Reply
• March 3, 2021 at 10:36 am Angie W says:

  Tried the Vinegar, tried Bleach wipes, tried Simple Green cleaner. What finally worked was hand sanitizer and Mr Clean Magic Sponge. And a lot of elbow grease. Glad I found this site!

  Reply
• March 4, 2021 at 4:19 pm Edric says:

  WD 40…Nopes Peroxide… HELL NO Alcohol… the white board even said it tickled, so didn’t work! Vinegar… No

  The winner is…. BENGAY! Looks brand new, crisp and clean. Bengay does the job with some elbow grease and muscle. And after youre done and your arm is sore, you can use the cream for the pain and soreness.

  Reply
• March 7, 2021 at 12:48 pm Cron says:

  Goof Off makes a graffiti remover spray. I just cleaned 10 year old dry erase writing from my board perfectly. Wipe down with a wet cloth after and the board literally looks like new. Amazing stuff. Vinegar didn’t work, sanitizer didn’t work. Industrial glass cleaner didn’t work, but Goof off Graffiti Spray remover works in seconds.

  Reply
• April 26, 2021 at 2:41 pm Tajah says:

  All it takes is a magic eraser and water.

  Reply
• July 30, 2021 at 9:58 am Zona says:

  Toothpaste works. Thank you!

  Reply
• September 23, 2021 at 12:39 pm Constanza Abrams says:

  Mr. Clean Magic Eraser worked for me. I didn’t have bad stains, however. Worth a shot.

  Reply
• October 7, 2021 at 11:20 am priscilla worth says:

  started w/alcohol – did a goodish job. Switched to WD 40 – elbow grease added did the trick… so how do I get the WD 40 off?

  Reply
• October 15, 2021 at 11:03 pm Steve says:

  toothpaste works – board smells great too

  Reply
• December 8, 2021 at 9:00 am Jeff says:

  For whiteboards that have been written on with permanent marker. Use the same permanent marker to trace over the marks and wipe clean with Alcohol. Don’t let the tracing dry. Might take more than one attempt but it works. Then do a follow up with toothpaste.

  Reply
• January 7, 2022 at 12:07 am Jade says:

  WD 40 removed a little bit toothpaste really did the trick for market that had been baking in the sun for a year. Good as new!

  Reply
• February 25, 2022 at 9:20 am SmilesHelp says:

  No extra product needed – Use a Dry Eraser marker over the old writing and comes right off!!! Been using this method for years and works every time!! Hope this helps 🙂

  Reply
  • January 31, 2023 at 12:46 am Yolaine says:

    Yep, it does work. Sometimes I had to redo a section but, it does work.

    Reply
• March 31, 2022 at 11:38 am Emily says:

  I used a magic eraser, some hand sanitizer, and elbow grease – worked like a charm!

  Reply
• July 31, 2022 at 8:24 pm Jacquelyn Haynes says:

  If the dry erase marks are not older than 30 minutes, trace with a dry erase marker and erase with a cotton ball. It is amazing!

  Reply
• March 9, 2023 at 2:52 pm Dennis Brallier says:

  The 99% Isopropyl Alcohol worked GREAT!!!!! Even took off writing that had been on there for a couple of years!!!!! Thanks very much for the neat tip!

  Reply
• May 22, 2023 at 8:52 am AnnMarie Miller says:

  I have tried EVERYTHING! The arteza dry-erase markers have left major stains on my new whiteboard tables. I have tried WD-40, vinegar, Isopropyl Alcohol, magic erasers, nail polis remover, toothpaste, peroxide, hand sanitizer, Goof-Off, bengay, bug spray, an hours and hours and hours of elbow grease, and still nothing. I contacted the company and their response was our research says it is removed with x,y, or z, so if it doesn’t oh well. Any other ideas??

  Reply
• June 14, 2023 at 12:27 pm Swamp Witch says:

  WD40 might work to resurface but did not touch our years-old marks on our whiteboard. Hand sanitizer works like a charm! Put it on a shop rag or a cloth and wipe on, leave for a few seconds then wipe off! Not sure if it’s the alcohol or what but something is working!

  Reply
• October 30, 2023 at 12:54 am Tm Clark says:

  I had left some material on my whiteboard for months and it was not going to give itself up easily. I went down the above list and tried almost every suggestion because I had the substance in the house. None of them worked so I went looking for anything I thought might. I tried “Brasso” and the old writing came off with absolutely the minimum of effort.

  That was so easy I wondered what else it might work on and I tried my friend’s fogged highlights. It worked, however, I will have to give the headlights some time to see what happens

  Reply
• November 4, 2023 at 5:24 pm Michele says:

  Toothpaste worked best for me. At first I didn’t think it was working, but then the residue wiped right off with a paper towel. Thank you!

  Reply

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