Column Settings

Each column on your Kanban board represents a workflow stage. The column settings let you customize how each stage appears and behaves, including its name, color, and status type classification.

The Problem This Solves

A generic "To Do" and "Done" workflow does not match how your team actually works. Different teams have different processes: some need review stages, others need testing columns, and many have multiple in-progress states for different work types.

Column settings let you build a workflow that reflects your actual process. When the board matches how work flows through your team, updates happen naturally and the board stays accurate.

What You Are Looking At

The Column Settings modal appears when you select "Column Settings" from a column's dropdown menu. The modal shows the current column name at the top for reference, followed by form fields for customizing the column properties.

Opening Column Settings

To access column settings:

1. Locate the column you want to configure on your Kanban board
2. Click the three-dot menu icon in the column header
3. Select "Column Settings" from the dropdown menu

You need board management permissions to access this option. If you do not see the menu, contact your workspace administrator.

Column Title

The title field displays at the top of the column and helps team members understand what stage work has reached. Choose clear, action-oriented names that describe the state of work in that column.

Effective column names:

• Backlog (work not yet started)
• In Progress (actively being worked)
• Code Review (waiting for peer review)
• QA Testing (verification in progress)
• Done (completed and verified)

Less effective names:

• Column 1 (meaningless)
• Tasks (too generic)
• Bob's stuff (person-specific, not state-specific)

The title supports up to 25 characters. Keep names short enough to display cleanly in the column header across different screen sizes.

Column Color

The color picker lets you assign a distinctive color to each column. This color appears as a top border on the column and helps with visual scanning across the board.

Color strategies:

• Use consistent colors for similar status types (all "in progress" columns in blue)
• Use red sparingly for blocked or critical states
• Use green for completion columns
• Maintain enough contrast between adjacent columns

Click the color input to open your browser's native color picker. Select any color from the palette or enter a specific hex code for brand-consistent colors.

Status Type Classification

The status type dropdown classifies how this column fits into your overall workflow. This classification affects metrics, reports, and certain automation behaviors.

To Do (State 0) Columns classified as "To Do" represent work that has not started. Tasks in these columns:

• Count toward backlog metrics
• Do not count toward work-in-progress limits in some calculations
• Represent future work when forecasting

In Progress (State 2) Columns classified as "In Progress" represent active work. Tasks in these columns:

• Count toward work-in-progress metrics
• Contribute to cycle time when they enter and exit
• Represent current team capacity usage

Done (State 1) Columns classified as "Done" represent completed work. Tasks in these columns:

• Count toward throughput metrics
• Stop accumulating cycle time
• May trigger completion notifications or automations

Choosing the correct status type ensures your analytics accurately reflect team performance and workflow efficiency.

Saving Changes

After adjusting settings, click the confirm button to save your changes. The column updates immediately on the board for all team members. You can also click cancel or press Escape to discard changes and close the modal without saving.

A loading indicator appears while the save operation processes. Wait for confirmation before navigating away.

Impact on Existing Tasks

Changing column settings affects only the column properties, not the tasks within it. Tasks remain in the column with their existing assignments, dates, and other properties. The column simply displays with the new name and color.

If you need to reorganize which tasks belong in which column, drag tasks between columns after updating the settings.

Column Reordering

Column settings control individual column properties. To change the order of columns on your board, drag the column header itself to reposition it. Columns can be reordered independently from their status type classification.

Pro Tips

• Workflow visualization: Use color gradients from left to right (cool colors for backlog, warm colors for active, green for done) to create visual flow
• Status accuracy: Review your status type classifications if metrics seem wrong. A "QA Queue" column should usually be "To Do" not "In Progress" since work is waiting, not active
• Team consensus: Discuss column names with your team. Everyone should agree on what it means for a task to be in each column

Permissions

Column settings require board management permissions. Agency Owners and Managers typically have this permission by default. Developers may have it depending on workspace configuration.

How to Report a Problem or Request a Feature

Your feedback matters. Here is how to share it:

If you encounter issues with column settings or want to suggest additional configuration options, we want to know.

In the Sidebar, click on Support Tickets and open a ticket for the problem. Everything is interactive and fast through the GitScrum Studio platform.