Every board that groups its cards — a Kanban into columns, a Matrix into rows
and columns, a Gantt into categories, a Gallery into sections, a Casino into
piles — has to answer one question: which groups does it show?
By default a board shows every value of the dimension it groups by, empty ones
included. That is the right answer for a small workflow and the wrong one for a
dimension with forty values, where the three you care about are lost among the
thirty-seven you don't.
The four answers
| Answer | Shows | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| All columns | Every value of the dimension, including the ones holding no card | Small dimensions, and boards where an empty column is a place to drop a card |
| Columns with cards | Only the values holding at least one card | Long dimensions where the empty values are noise |
| Columns from the filters | Only the values the board's filters select along that dimension | Boards whose filters already say what you are looking at |
| Columns you choose | The values you pick, in the order you pick them | A fixed, hand-made view — the four sprints of this quarter, in order |
The wording follows the mode: a Matrix says cells, a Gantt categories, a
Gallery sections, a Casino piles. The four answers are the same everywhere.
Where to find it
Open the board's appearance menu — the paint icon in the board toolbar,
Change board and cards appearance — and look for Which columns to show.
The four answers are there, and the one the board is on is ticked.
The same choice lives in the board's display settings (More board options… in
that same menu), and — the shortest way — on the board itself: wherever groups
are missing, the board says so and the answer is one click away. See When
groups are missing below.
Columns from the filters
This one ties two things together that used to be set apart: what the board
filters and what it shows.
Filter the board to To do and In progress, and a board set to Columns from
the filters draws exactly those two columns. Widen the filter and a column
appears; narrow it and one goes. You never touch the display setting again.
A dimension nothing filters shows nothing. This is the rule to remember.
If the board groups by Status and your filters say nothing about Status,
there is no column to draw, and the board will be empty on purpose. The board
tells you so rather than looking broken — and offers the other three answers
right there.
Columns you choose
Pick this one and a panel opens listing every value of the dimension. Tick the
ones you want.
Two things make this different from the others:
- The order is yours. The values you tick rise to the top of the list, and
you can drag them into the order you want. The board draws its columns in that
order — not the dimension's. - A Matrix chooses twice. Its rows and its columns are two different
dimensions, so the panel offers one list for each.
The choice is saved with the board, so everyone looking at it sees the same
columns in the same order.
When groups are missing
Whichever answer you are on, a board never simply drops groups in silence.
Where the missing ones would have been — last, just before the + New column —
the board leaves a marker saying how many are hidden:
- a Kanban shows a collapsed column
- a Matrix shows a collapsed row and a collapsed column
- a Gantt shows a row under the last category
- a Casino shows an empty cell on the mat
- a Gallery and a Chart show a note beside the cards
Click it and the four answers open, with a ? in the header leading back to
this guide.
On your phone
The mobile app draws the columns the board is set to, whichever answer it is on
— including the ones you chose by hand, in your order. A Kanban that hides
groups ends on a hidden columns slide that opens the board settings.
Picking values one by one is the web app's job; on a phone the board settings
offer the first three answers, and leave a board set to Columns you choose as
it is rather than undoing your choice.
Good to know
- The setting belongs to the board, not to you: change it and everyone sees
the change, like any other board setting. - It is independent of filters on other dimensions. Filtering by assignee
never removes a column from a board grouped by status — unless that board is
set to Columns from the filters and the assignee is what it groups by. - Collapsing a column and hiding it are different things: a collapsed
column is still there, narrow, and reopens with a click.