Board

The Board is the issue list laid out as columns of cards. Same issues, same filters, same rules. It’s for people who think in stages, not rows.

Before you start

A view with some issues in it. Any issue list can switch, including a project’s Issues.
On a project’s Issues, cards open but don’t move. Create and move issues from a workspace view.

Steps

Switch to the Board

Open a view and press Display.
Pick Board. Pick List to go back.

Which layout a view opens in, and how saved views and your Layout preference decide it, is under Change how it looks.

Columns, swimlanes and groups

Display has three pickers on the Board:

Columns: the property that makes the columns. It starts as the view’s grouping, or Status when the view has none.
Swimlanes: an optional second property, as rows across every column. No grouping turns them off.
Groups in columns: an optional third property, as groups inside each column. No groups turns them off.

Each picker offers the grouping properties the other two aren’t using. For example, set Columns to Status, Swimlanes to Assignee and Groups in columns to Priority. Each person gets a row, each stage a column, and every cell groups its cards by priority, from Urgent down to No priority. Drag Ada’s High card into the High group of In Progress in Sam’s lane and it becomes In Progress, assigned to Sam, and still High.

Project and Milestone pair only one way: Columns Project with Groups in columns Milestone. Milestone can’t sit above Project, and neither works as Swimlanes against the other, so Display greys those choices out and says why. Their order, and which projects and milestones refuse moves, are under Change how it looks.

To fold things away:

Columns: the arrow in a column header folds it to a narrow rail with its name and count. The rail still accepts cards, and a card dropped there keeps its group. Folded columns stay folded when you open an issue and come back. Reloading the page opens them again. On a project’s Issues, they stay folded until you close the browser tab.
Swimlanes: click a lane heading to fold or open it.
Groups in columns: fold a group, say High, and High folds in every column and lane. Open any of them and they all open. A folded group still accepts cards.

Show empty columns and Show empty swimlanes keep columns and lanes with no issues on screen. With Show empty columns off, empty columns appear while you drag a card, and stay if a card lands in one. Column names and the lane you’re in stay visible while you scroll.

Each column, or each cell when swimlanes or groups are on, loads its own cards. A button at the bottom, such as Show 20 more, loads the next batch and says how many are left. Done columns name the completed-issues window they show, such as Past week.

The + in a column header opens Quick capture with that column’s value already picked. Environment columns and the Trash view have no +.

Cards

Mode sets how much a card shows. Shut up keeps it to the title and a few signals. Firehose adds labels, project, size and dates.
Card properties picks the details. With Status columns, Status stays off, since the columns already show it.
There’s no Density on the Board. Mode does that job.
Click anywhere on a card to open the issue.

Move cards

Drag a card to another column, lane or group. Or open its ⋯ menu, choose Move to and pick a destination. Move to works by keyboard and touch, and also lists empty columns that are hidden.
Drop it. A move sets every property the Board is showing: column, lane and group together. With groups on, Move to lists each column with its groups beneath it.

Where the card lands in its new cell follows the view’s Ordering. While you drag a single card, a gap shows where it will land.

Press Esc, or let go outside a column, to cancel a drag.

Select several cards and drag one of them, and the whole selection moves. The usual rules still apply, as in the list: moving an unrefined issue to Ready asks you to mark it refined, and moving something others depend on to Canceled shows what that affects first.

A Board with Environment as its columns, swimlanes or groups doesn’t accept moves. Move a Done issue between environments from its own Environment property.

Order cards that tie

The view’s Ordering decides where a card sits. Cards tie when the Ordering can’t tell them apart, such as three Highs ordered by Priority. You put cards that tie in the order you want:

Drag a card up or down among the cards it ties with, in the same cell.
Or use Move up and Move down in its ⋯ menu.

Under Ordering, Display says whether this view has any: Drag to order the ties. or Nothing ties, so there’s nothing to hand-order. Created, Updated and Title never tie.

Your order never beats the Ordering. Drop a High below the Mediums and it lands at the end of the Highs, and Hydrant says so. Hand order moves one card at a time, and it’s shared with everyone and every view. The rules are the same as in the list: Change how it looks.

Keyboard and selection

Tab to a card, then use ↑ ↓ Home End to move within its column, and ← → to reach the nearest card in the next column.
x selects the focused card, Shift+x selects every card from the last one you picked, ⌘A selects every loaded card and Esc clears the selection.
Shift+F10 or the Menu key opens the card’s menu.

The rest are in Keyboard shortcuts.

On a phone

On a narrow screen, the Board shows one column at a time. Pick it from the row of columns above the cards, each with its count. Swipe that row to see the rest.

Columns don’t fold there, and cards don’t drag: use ⋯ → Move to, Move up or Move down. The column you picked stays picked when you open an issue and come back.

Coming from Linear’s board

Most of it maps across.

The same:

Columns come from a grouping, such as Status.
Swimlanes are a second grouping, as rows across the columns.
Dragging a card to another column changes that property.
The order you put cards in is shared with everyone in the workspace.

Different:

Linear’s boards default to “Manual” ordering. Hydrant has no Manual ordering: you pick an Ordering, such as Priority, and hand-order only the cards that tie on it. A High always stays above a Medium.
Groups in columns adds a third grouping, as collapsible groups inside each column.

The longer comparison is on the Log: Hydrant and Linear.

What you should see

Your view’s issues as columns of cards, a count on every column, and cards that land where the Ordering says.

If it goes sideways

A card jumped back after you dropped it. Hydrant kept it with the cards it ties with. To put it somewhere else, change the card’s priority (or whatever the Ordering sorts by), or pick another Ordering in Display. If the card went straight back to where it started, the move didn’t happen: the drop landed outside a column, the destination refused it, or you dismissed a question about it. Drag it again.
A card won’t leave its column, lane or group. Environment is one of the Board’s groupings, or you’re on a project’s Issues, where cards don’t move. Change the grouping, or move it from a workspace view.
A column is missing. It’s empty and Show empty columns is off, or it’s Done or Canceled while Show completed issues is off. Turn either on in Display.
A column has no +. Environment columns, folded columns and the Trash view don’t create issues. Open the column, or press c for Quick capture.
You can’t drag on a phone. Cards don’t drag on narrow screens. Use the card’s ⋯ menu.
Density is gone. It’s a list setting. On the Board, Mode sets how much a card shows.