Boards

A board shows a project's work as cards in columns, one column per group of statuses. It needs the Board module; without it the work stays a list.

Open the board

Open the project, Work items, and switch from List to Board. The filters above narrow the board just as they narrow the list. The board opens on All work items; where the project runs sprints, the Sprints filter narrows it to one sprint that is not yet completed. Assigned to me shows only your cards.

A project can have several boards, each with its own columns, colour and rule for finished work. Pick one under Board, or from the other boards listed beside the board's name.

Moving cards

• Drag a card to another column. The move follows the workflow: if no arrow leads to that column you see No workflow transitions lead to this column; if several do, choose one; if the move needs a comment, write it
• With the keyboard: Space or Enter grabs a card, the arrows move it, Escape releases
• A sub-item is a card of its own and follows the workflow like any other. The Level filter chooses what the board draws: All work, Sub-items, Work items or Epics
• Without the Transition work item permission the board is read-only

Cards that others change update in real time and are briefly highlighted; the faces in the board's toolbar show who else has it open.

Adding a card from a column

Press the plus at the head of the column that holds the workflow's start status, write in What needs to be done?, optionally pick type, assignee and priority, and press Enter. The item is created in the start status, so the card appears in that same column; no other column offers the plus, and none does while swimlanes are on.

Swimlanes and card fields

• Swimlanes: none, By assignee, By priority, By parent, By epic, or by one of your custom fields
• Card fields: choose what each card shows: assignee, due date, priority, estimate, epic, labels and, where the project tracks time, logged time
• Focus mode hides everything but the board
• The double arrow at the head of a column folds a column you do not need

WIP limits

With the right to configure the board, open the column's menu (the three dots at its head) and set the WIP limit: how many items the column should hold at once. The column head shows the count against the limit. Going over does not block anything; the column is coloured, and its counter says Over the WIP limit when you point at it.

Finished work

Finished work on the board decides how long done cards stay: All, a number of days, or a number of your choosing. Old finished cards are hidden, not deleted; choose Show all to see them again. A board can also hide work whose release has shipped.

Configuring the columns

With the right to configure the board, Column settings opens Board configuration: add, rename, reorder and delete columns and decide which statuses stand in each. A status can be in only one column. Statuses in no column do not show on the board, and the configuration warns about them. New board starts a board with a column for every status of the workflow.