project task board view

Get started Article
Build a project Article
Organize your project Article
Share and assign tasks Article
Create a custom field in Project Article

Organize your project

Your browser does not support video. Install Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe Flash Player, or Internet Explorer 9.

In Board view, you can add tasks to buckets and create new buckets to create a visual view of your project, and easily manage your tasks.

Create buckets

At the top of your project, select Board view.

Select Add bucket .

Type a name and press Enter.

Add tasks to buckets

Under a bucket, select Add task and enter a task name.

Type a name and select Add task .

Manage tasks

Move tasks between buckets - drag the task from one bucket to another bucket.

View task details - select the task.

Assign a task - select Assign to , and type or select a name from the drop-down.

Add a dependency - select Add dependency and choose a selected task, or type the number in the box.

Sort tasks by Finish date or Progress - select Group by and select an option.

Mark tasks complete - select the circle to the left of the task name. The circle changes to a checkmark.

Project training

Project help center

Need more help?

Expand your skills.

EXPLORE TRAINING >

Get new features first

JOIN MICROSOFT 365 INSIDERS >

Was this information helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

Task Board in MS Project

In Microsoft Project, a task board is a tool that an individual, team, or organization uses to represent work and its completion path. This includes ongoing, completed, and upcoming tasks that may be in a to-do list.

From this article, as a part of our Microsoft Project tutorial , you will learn more about a task board in Microsoft Project .

How to set task board in MS Project

Microsoft Project allows you to view and manage projects in the task board view.

For this, click on View tab. In Task views section, select Task Board .

You can add Show on Board column in the Gantt chart view. For this:

Task status in Microsoft Project

In Gantt chart view, we can add a status field that indicates the current status of a task. There can be four kinds of statuses: Complete, On schedule, Late, or a Future Task.

If you want to display, filter, or group by task status, add the Status field to the task view. Use the Status field with the Status Indicator field to get a graphical indicator of the status of the task.

We can add a status field or Task status by following these steps.

In Task tab, select the Gantt chart view.

In the Gantt chart view, choose Add a New Column . In the drop-down list, select Status .

This is how you can define a task status in Microsoft Project.

How to open Task board in GanttPRO

In GanttPRO online Gantt chart maker , there is also a possibility to switch to a board view. There, you can drag & drop your tasks that look like cards between columns.

Here, three filters are available: by Status , Priority , and Filter .

In Status, you will find Open, In progress, Done, and Closed columns. They correspond to Status column in the Gantt chart grid.

In Priority, you will find Highest, High, Medium, Low, and Lowest columns. They correspond to Priority column in the Gantt chart grid.

In People, you will find assignees and their tasks. They correspond to Assigned to column in the Gantt chart grid.

Cards in the Board view show lots of important information:

Task status

As you have probably noticed, in our alternative to Microsoft Project , there are four statuses: Open, In progress, Done, and Closed. They all affect task progress.

If your Status column is off, click on the Plus sign on the top right of the grid and tick Status box.

Haven’t caught the obvious benefit of GanttPRO? Don’t worry, the following video will clearly demonstrate it.

You can use a free 14-day trial of GanttPRO and make sure that this tool is your perfect choice!

Questions left? Write us in the Live chat, at [email protected] or book a personal GanttPRO demo .

Gantt chart project management tool

Plan and manage your projects easily with Gantt charts.

GanttPRO Team

Best practices in project management, productivity, and software solutions. Inspired by the experience of every GanttPRO team member.

MS Project Guide

Join 800,000+ project managers!

Create Gantt charts in minutes with GanttPRO and reduce time spent on managing tasks by 40%

No credit cards required. No obligation.

Using Kanban Boards in Microsoft Project

Introduction.

There has been a lot written over the last year regarding Microsoft’s foray into the world of Agile Project Management by way of new improvements in Microsoft Project. This article provides an update based upon one of the latest versions. We’ll discuss what’s changed recently and provide a walkthrough on setting up and using the Kanban Board. For those more interested in Sprints and Scrum, please note that I plan to cover those topics in depth in a subsequent article.

What is a Kanban Board?

A Kanban Board is a technique that allows us to visualize and show how work moves from left to right. Each column on the board represents a stage of the overall process. To be more precise, the board gives up a visualization of the project. On a physical board, a team would pull cards (each card representing a task) from one column to another to show progress (left to right). The columns on the Kanban board represent the state/stage of the task.

Examples of stages include:

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_board for more information.

Checking Your Version of Microsoft Project

These Agile features are only available in the subscription version of Microsoft Project. The basic features have been available since October 2017 in Version 1710 (Build 8625.2055), but some of the later features (search and % Complete for example) are very recent additions. What you might see will depend on your exact version!

To check which version of Project you’re using, open Project , choose File , and then select Account . Under Product Information , you see the subscription version if you are using it, like so:

To check your current version, go to the About Project button. Here you can find the Version, Build number, and your update channel. You can see below that mine is set to Monthly Channel (Targeted).

How to check your current version in Ms Project

If there are updates waiting to be installed for MS Project, this will be displayed next to the update button. In the image below you can see that there are no notifications, and therefore, I am already on the latest update available within the Monthly Channel (Targeted) .

Assuming that you have a subscription to Project, and that you have a subsequent version to 1710, you’re ready to create a Kanban project.

Where’s My Kanban Button Gone?

If you’ve read other articles or have dabbled a little bit already with the Agile features of MS Project, you know that it’s important to be aware of the following user interface (UI) changes that Microsoft has made recently:

Whilst none of these changes affect the current level of functionality, it’s worth being aware as you may see older articles that reference these UI features.

It’s also worth stating again that these are UI features only; the functionality of the product remains the same.

Switching and Setting up the Task Board View

To use a Kanban Board, you need to select Task Board view. The Kanban features sit nicely alongside the traditional Waterfall features, so you can take an existing project and view it in a Kanban Board.

Open your project. Then, on the View tab, in the Task View section, select Task Board .

Switching and Setting up the Task Board View

Your project tasks will display as boards in the Task Board view as shown below:

In order for a project task to display in Task Board view, the Show on Board flag for the task must be set to Yes (this is the default setting), and this can be set by adding the Show on Board column to the Gantt Chart view. If you don’t want a task to be visible on the board, change the setting to No . Summary tasks will never be displayed on the board, as they facilitate the filtering option, and the flag has no impact for such tasks.

Setting up Column Names and Board Options

When you switch to the Task Board view, the first real choice you must make is whether to keep the default column names or change them to suit your process. I’m going to add in a new column called Quality assurance to my column list. To do this, I’ll follow the steps outlined below:

Click on the Add New Column

2. Enter the column name, and then right-click on it to display the column options of renaming, deleting, or moving the column to the left or right.

3. In this instance I’m going to move the column to the left and place it between Next up and In progress .

4. The column names you enter here are mapped to a task field called Board Status , which can be viewed (and changed per task) in any task centric table.

5. One last thing to consider in your set up phase is this: decide whether moving the tasks between columns should update the % Complete field for each task. If you want this to happen, simply enter the % Complete to be assigned under each column header. Note that the default column of Done already has a % Complete set to 100.

6. If you don’t want to use the % Complete fields, then leave them unset and uncheck the Show % Complete Mapping option in the Task Board Tools Format tab.

Entering Tasks

Now that the Task Board view has been set up correctly, it’s simply a case of entering tasks directly onto the board.

7. Click on the Add Task button, enter the task name, and click Add .

8. Continue adding tasks until you have a full list of tasks for your project.

The result is a flat list of task names. This is fine where we don’t have too many tasks, but projects have a habit of morphing and changing quite a bit, and so, we can organize these tasks using Summary tasks. In order to create Summary tasks, we switch away from the Task Board view and to the Task Shee t view.

9. Select Task Sheet from the View tab, Other Views menu.

10. Insert Summary tasks in the usual manner, just as you would if you were setting up a standard “Waterfall” project. Typically, I do this by inserting tasks, and then then using the Indent button. By default, Summary tasks are set to be Auto Scheduled, whereas non-summary tasks are still Manually Scheduled.

11. Once the Summary tasks have been entered, we can then begin to use the filtering options in the Task Board view. More on that later.

Assigning Resources

One of the properties of a Kanban board is that it allows us to do simple resource assignments. We can easily (and visually) see who is performing or who owns each task or activity. Assigning resources can be performed in the Task Board view. For this project, I want to assign resources for the majority of tasks. Initially the list of resources will be blank, but are added by typing them into the Assign Resource dialog box. They will populate on the Resource Sheet. Note that once resources are assigned to tasks, the work value will be populated. This value can be viewed on the Task Board sheet.

12. Within the Task Board view, right-click on a task, and choose Assign Resources . Enter the resource name(s) into the Assign Resources dialog box, and click on the Assign Repeat this process for each task that you want to assign resources to.

Modifying the Work Value

When resources are assigned to tasks, a work value is created for each task. If you want to modify this value because you are estimating work and tracking it, this is best done in the Task Sheet view.

13. From the Format tab on the Task Board view, select the Sheet button to display the Task Board Sheet . Alter the Work value as required for each task.

Filters and Searching

So far, I’ve entered a lot of data, including summary tasks and resources. If there are more than, say a dozen tasks (and let’s face it, if I just had a dozen tasks, I’d used Excel or Wunderlist), then it’s difficult to view all of these tasks on the Task Board view. This is where filtering and searching comes in. Use the Filter button to only display the tasks belonging to one or more Summary tasks, or associated with one or more resources. Having applied a filter, I can further refine my query by using the search button. The searching and filtering functions allow me to quickly find the tasks or resources that I’m interested in.

14. Select one or more Summary tasks, and one or more resources using the dropdown menus from the Filter The tasks displayed on the Task Board view are filtered accordingly.

15. Use the Search button to further refine the displayed task list within the Task Board. The search is applied to all tasks within the current filtered list, and searches both the task name and the resource name. The search is not case sensitive.

Progressing Tasks

We’re now at the point where we can begin working on the tasks and therefore, progressing them on the Task Board. To do this, simply drag and drop the tasks from the Not Started column to the relevant columns on the right. If you have set a % Complete value for each column, then these percentages will be set for each task as you drop them into the column.

16. Drag the tasks to the relevant column as the tasks progress.

Reports and Printing

One of the key requirements of any project manager is to provide timely and accurate reports. Microsoft has created two Task Board reports: one that focus on the task status, and another that focuses on the work status. Of course, these are in addition to all of the standard reports that are provided out of the box. You can use these reports as provided or use them as a basis for setting up your own customized reports.

The reports are available on the Report tab within the Task Boards button.

17. Navigate to the Report tab, and then click on the Boards – Task Status within the Task Boards reports button. Notice that the layout of the report can be easily changed. In this case, I have added the MPUG logo.

18. Now navigate to the Boards – Work Status This report is more focused towards resources and who is doing what.

Both reports can be edited and printed (something you cannot do from the Task Board), and of course, are updated as the project is updated. One thing that I don’t like on either report is the Remaining Work Over Time and the Remaining Tasks Over Time graphs, as they just display invalid data unless I am prepared to finesse the project schedule somewhat, which, for a simple Kanban plan I wouldn’t be doing.

Within this article, I have explored using Microsoft Project to run a project using the Task Board, a.k.a. the Kanban board. This is probably one of the simplest methodologies open to us when managing a project, and you can see how I’ve managed to setup, enter, track, and comprehensively report on a project within a few steps.

Keep an eye out for my next article which will cover using the Scrum methodology within Project, and please feel free to download the associated .mpp plan that I used to produce the screen shots above by clicking here .

NEW Textbook ‘Forecast Scheduling with Microsoft Project Online 2018’

Eric Uyttewaal 08/28/2018, 3:56 am

Ben, comprehensive and thorough article; keep up the great work! Eric

Ben Howard 09/25/2018, 4:07 am

When you say “Don’t see this” do you mean the actual screen shot you posted at . The format of the actual screen isn’t important, it’s the functionality of MS Project which is important. I presume you have the agile features?

Lost Password

Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

Configure Backlogs settings under My Account

Task board view.

To support daily scrum meetings, all of a team’s tasks and sprint impediments are recorded in a digital task board. The digital task board thus allows team members to get a fast overview of the current state of a sprint.

To open the task board view, click on the small arrow next to the respective sprint, and select Task board in the drop-down menu.

Private Courses

This course is only available as a private booking for an individual or group.

As a result:

Our private courses can run online, in-person at your offices or at one of our training centres.

Please contact us for full details.

Validate Email Name * Email * Phone number * Message GDPR Agreement * I accept Acuity Training’s privacy policy

Make Your Own Kanban Board in Microsoft Project!

Kanban boards are a popular way to visually manage work, and Microsoft Project now has kanban board support built-in! You can use Kanban boards for any project, from simple to-do lists to complex workflows .

For more information on how to properly take advantage of MS Project, view our Microsoft Project courses here.

Kanban Boards

Kanban board helps in project management by allowing you to see the status of all your tasks at a glance and quickly move project tasks between columns to indicate progress.

Creating a kanban board is easy! Just create a new project task and add kanban board columns for each workflow stage. Then, add tasks and drag them between columns to indicate progress. You can also add Swimlanes to further organize your kanban board.

When kanban boards are used for workflows , it is important to consider the number of tasks and the number of people working on them. This will help you determine the number of columns and swimlanes needed. You can also add notes and attachments to tasks, which can help track progress.

There are many reasons why kanban boards are a great choice for project management. This includes:

Want to try a more visual representation of tasks? Try the Waterfall methodology !

Why Use Microsoft Project For This?

Microsoft Project is a great choice for kanban boards because it has kanban board support built-in. It’s simple to set up and use kanban boards in Microsoft Project.

Additionally, Microsoft Project offers many features that can help manage projects, such as:

Here’s how to set up your Kanban board in Project:

task board sheet view for project manager

Open Microsoft Project (online) and create a new project file by clicking on the “+ New Project” button.

Otherwise, in Microsoft Project subscription-based model, select task board in the view tab to open the kanban project.

( You can also use the free online version of Microsoft Project to create a Kanban board ).

Sprints project template and task board tasks

The window will show up. Click on the “Blank Project” button.

Click on the “Board” tab from the ribbon.

In the “Kanban Board” pane, click on the “Add Bucket” button to add types of task board view.

Adding Tasks

One of the Projects Kanban boards main advantages is that you can so easily add tasks! Here we will go through a simple task being added to the board.

To add tasks to your kanban board, simply “+ Add Task” button on each bucket.

You can add as many tasks as required.

Now, insert the task name – this one I will call “Check IP For Customer” and click on the “Add task” button.

And just like that, the task will pop up on your board!

Create summary tasks for existing project

Assigning Tasks To People

Now that you have your task set up, you can assign it to a specific person within your organisation!

To assign tasks to people, click on the task, and a window will pop up.

Task boards reports button for timely and accurate reports

Searching and filtering functions for both the task name

You can also add notes or attachments to a task! Just simply click on the task and then click the “Add Note” or “Add Attachment” button in the “Task” pane.

Want to implement this with tasks that already have Dependencies and Lead Time ? Read here.

Troubleshooting

If you’re having trouble setting up your Kanban board, make sure that you’ve added all of the necessary columns and swimlanes.

1- Limited Visibility Across Multiple Teams

If you’re working on a project with multiple teams, the kanban board can help you coordinate by providing visibility into the work of each team. However, kanban boards can only provide limited visibility across multiple teams.

For example, if one team is working on a task that is blocked by another team, the kanban board will not be able to show this. In such cases, it is important to use other project management tools in addition to kanban boards.

2- Work Breakdown and Delegation

Another issue that has been vexing project managers wanting to use Kanban is how to break down work into smaller pieces and connect it across multiple boards ! In order to split up the workload, you need to create the necessary cards and place them on the proper team boards.

3- Scaling Kanban in the Entire Organization

Kanban is a very flexible system that can be adapted to fit the needs of any organization, no matter how large or small. One way to scale Kanban is by using it for multiple projects at once. For example, you could have a kanban board for each project team, with each board representing a different phase of the project.

You can also check the MS Project help documentation for more information.

Kanban boards are a great way to visually manage workflows. They’re easy to set up and use, and they offer many benefits, such as the ability to see the status of all your tasks at a glance. Microsoft Project is a great choice for kanban boards because it has kanban board support built-in.

For more on Microsoft Project, read here for an article on Cost Benefit Analysis !

Add risk to a project (and contingencies), critical path analysis and you microsoft project, microsoft project file extensions – master guide.

Thought Leadership

What is a Task Board?

Are you tired of rewriting your ‘to-do’ list? A task board may be your solution. Task boards are a type of visual management tool that help busy people keep track of their work. Because task boards are so flexible, they are applied universally as one of the best project management tools today.

AgilePlace Free Trial: AgilePlace Online Kanban Software

Sign up for a 30-day free trial and you and your team can start building online Kanban boards today. Experience for yourself how AgilePlace supports continuous delivery initiatives, eliminates waste and improves your team’s delivery processes and speed.

A task board helps the team stay on the same page and work smarter.

What Is a Task Board?

A task board is a tool used by individuals, teams or organizations to represent work and its path towards completion. This includes tasks that are in progress, finished tasks and upcoming tasks that may be in a backlog. Tasks are usually represented by ‘cards’ and can be arranged within something as simple as a few columns drawn on a board or dispersed among multiple levels of organization.

Regardless of depth or complexity, task boards are an essential part of organizing work in ways that allow people to prioritize, collaborate and deliver a higher quality end-product on a more regular basis.

Though they have vast personal uses, task boards are at the core of most every organization, industry or business that relies on people working together to achieve a shared goal. Whether it is software development or logistics, manufacturing or sales, on a global level task boards help people and teams:

Often task boards act as a focal point where teams can meet to discuss project changes, prioritize work and review progress towards stated objectives; a centralized resource. Task boards contain all of the information concerning each task at every stage of the workflow. Teams are able to stay on the same page and work smarter.

Types of Task Boards

At its most basic level a task board is compiled of three columns labeled: ‘To Do,’ ‘Doing,’ and ‘Done.’ However, the concept of a task board is flexible and can become much more complex. Style or composition of task boards are usually informed by a team’s method(s) of production.

There are generally two types of task boards, Manual Boards and Electronic or Online Boards.

Rarely do teams use just one or the other, but a combination of both. If the resources exist, it is often suggested to replicate information on manual and electronic task boards for complete visual task management ; this also encourages face-to-face engagement whenever possible.

Let’s take a moment to review these two types of boards a little more closely.

Manual task boards

A manual or physical task board can be made from simple materials, like a sheets of paper taped to a wall or a whiteboard. Most manual tasks board are easy to update and are quite flexible.

These types of boards work well for teams in the same location, as anyone can approach the board at any time to make a change or review progress, workloads and dependencies. They are generally easy to use, understand and encourage engagement.

Collaboration is possible with manual board, but they can present a few drawbacks for teams working remotely. Also, it creates challenges when trying to provide status updates or review work in progress with customers or stakeholders who cannot be physically present.

Electronic / online task boards

Electronic task boards offer all of the same benefits as a manual task board, but go even further through employing the expansive, highly functional nature of computing. They are information rich, offer up deeper data analysis and facilitate online collaboration.

Though not all electronic task boards live online, or are what you could call virtual task boards, the majority of them do. The composition of electronic task boards is much like a physical task board, with columns representing stages in a workflow and cards representing specific tasks. However, a digital task board can take visual task management much further .

The ability to break tasks down into granular elements is a huge advantage of electronic task boards. Whereas, on a physical board, cards can only contain so much information, cards on a digital board can contain multiple levels of tasks, comments and team data. Like the board itself, cards become a centralized location for discovering task specific details.

Data analysis and forecasting proves much easier with an electronic board. Compiling and reviewing data over the time and resources needed to complete a certain task is a big factor in improving workflow and building efficiency. This is where digital task boards shine.

Once you throw online capabilities into the mix, an electronic task board becomes a valued piece for working smarter, completing tasks and achieving overall objectives. Online task boards are accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. Users can share information faster, communicate seamlessly and promote collaboration. Online task boards also expand tasks beyond the board itself by allowing users to link to information, web pages or documents outside of the board.

Who Uses Task Boards?

The simple answer to this question: EVERYONE.

If you have ever used a calendar, you are using a task board. This is task management in its most simple form.

Moving past simple ‘to-do’ lists, there are a number of businesses and industries who use task boards to organize work and optimize production.

Anyone who wants to get more accomplished, deliver better results, on time every time uses some form of a task board.

Why Use a Task Board?

Task boards help people plan, execute and repeat with growing success. This means working on the right tasks at the right occasions, and knowing how to get stuff done on time. It means raising the quality of work while sculpting an excellent process to meet goals and expand capabilities, all within a manageable timetable.

Task boards go about doing this a number of ways:

Senior Marketing Manager

Rachaelle Lynn, a Certified SAFe Agilist, is a marketing manager and subject matter expert at Planview, a market-leading provider of project portfolio management, lean and agile delivery, project management, and innovation management software. Her experience in diverse B2B and B2C industries continue to drive her interest in the SaaS customer journey. Rachaelle holds a BA in Communication Studies from the University of Florida.

IMAGES

Using Board View for Tasks
Use task boards in Microsoft Project Online Desktop Client
Free Project Management Templates
Microsoft Project Management Solutions
What is a Task Board?
The 12 Best Project Management Tools (Free & Paid!)

VIDEO

Getting started with Taskworld
Creating a Task
Do It Anyway: A Task Management System
Ground Operation of ISS Task Board
8. How to make a good Task list
Creating a Task

COMMENTS

Use task boards in Microsoft Project Online Desktop Client
View your project in a task board · Open your project in the Gantt Chart View. · In the Gantt Chart for the project, select Add a New Column. · From the list
Organize your project in Board view
In Board view, you can add tasks to buckets and create new buckets to create a visual view of your project, and easily manage your tasks.
Task Board and Task Status in Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project allows you to view and manage projects in the task board view. For this, click on View tab. In Task views section, select Task
Using Kanban Boards in Microsoft Project
In order for a project task to display in Task Board view, the Show on Board flag for the task must be set to Yes (this is the default
Best Project Management Software with Task Board View 2023
View the best Project Management software with Task Board View in 2023. Compare verified user ratings & reviews to find the best match for your business
Task board view
To open the task board view, click on the small arrow next to the respective sprint, and select Task board in the drop-down menu. User-guide-taskboard. You will
Make Your Own Kanban Board in Microsoft Project!
Creating a kanban board is easy! Just create a new project task and add kanban board columns for each workflow stage. Then, add tasks and drag
KANBAN in Microsoft Project
Using Agile Features in MS Project like a Pro | Webinar Wednesday · Scrum in Microsoft Project · How to make a Kanban board on MS Teams Planner to
How To use Sprints & Task Boards in Microsoft Project
Join Ben Howard, MVP, Applepark Ltd, UK as he demonstrates How to use Sprints & Task Boards in Microsoft Project.This How To video is
What is a Task Board?
Elevate your PMO. Deliver business results. Watch demo • Project Portfolio Management · Enterprise Agile Planning. Drive Agile transformation your way. Watch