What Is the Kanban Board?
The Kanban Board is a visual task management interface that displays your tasks in vertical lanes (columns) based on customizable field values. It provides an intuitive drag-and-drop interface for organizing and updating tasks at a glance. Designed for users who need to visualize workflow states and quickly move tasks between different statuses, priorities, or other custom fields, the Kanban Board transforms your task list into an actionable, visual workflow.
Why Use the Kanban Board?
- Visual workflow management: See all your tasks organized by status, priority, or any custom field in a clear column layout
- Instant updates with drag and drop: Move tasks between lanes with a simple drag, automatically updating the task’s field value
- Quick task overview: View essential task information including due dates, priorities, assignees, and subtask counts without opening individual tasks
- Flexible organization: Group tasks by any select-based or checkbox custom field, adapting the board to your workflow
- Real-time collaboration: Changes made on the board are instantly saved and visible to all team members
The Kanban Board saves time by eliminating the need to open individual tasks for basic status updates. Team members can process dozens of task updates in minutes by simply dragging cards between lanes, making it ideal for daily standups, sprint planning, and workflow management.
How to Use the Kanban Board
Accessing the Board
Navigate to Orbital > Kanban Board in your WordPress admin menu. The board loads with tasks grouped by Priority by default.
Grouping Tasks by Different Fields
The “Group tasks by” dropdown shows all of your select, radio, dropdown field types. These field types render the different Kanban views so you can visualize and edit your task data by drag-and-drop.
Use the “Group tasks by” dropdown at the top of the board to organize tasks by your custom fields:
- Click the “Group tasks by” dropdown
- Select your desired grouping field (Priority, Status, Approval Status, or any custom select/checkbox/radio field type)
- The board refreshes automatically with tasks organized into the appropriate lanes
Each lane represents a possible value for that field. For example, when grouped by Priority, you’ll see lanes for High, Normal, and Low priority tasks.
Remember, you can create new custom fields for your tasks and these custom fields will show up as options for your Kanban lane views.
Note: text, text area, number fields will not render Kanban Lanes. This is because you need to have data attributes that could apply to a task. These data types are not structured data.
Moving Tasks Between Lanes
To update a task’s field value, simply drag and drop:
- Click and hold on any task card
- Drag the card to the desired lane
- Release to drop the card into the new lane
- The task’s field value updates automatically
The board validates your permissions before allowing moves. If you don’t have edit access for a particular field, you’ll see an error message when attempting to drag the task.
Reordering Tasks Within Lanes
You can also customize the order of tasks within a lane:
- Drag a task card up or down within its current lane
- Drop it at your desired position
- Your custom ordering is saved automatically per user
To reset back to the default ordering (most recently modified first), click the “Reset Order” button that appears when you have custom ordering active.
Rename Lanes
Administrators can click the pencil icon on any task name to rename it. This will change the custom field label in the database. So you can either manage the label in the Kanban view, or edit the custom field directly. This is a nice-to-have feature that allows you to quickly rename lanes.
Note: Lane name changes apply site-wide for all users. Non admin users cannot change lane names.
Filtering Tasks
The Kanban Board includes powerful filtering options to focus on specific tasks:
Categories and Tags: Click the Categories or Tags dropdown to select one or more filters. Tasks matching any selected category or tag will be displayed.
Related Post: If you’ve linked tasks to WordPress posts, use the Related Post dropdown to show only tasks associated with a specific post.
Parent Tasks: Select specific parent tasks to display only those tasks and hide all others. This is useful for focusing on particular projects or work streams.
Filter selections are saved automatically (configurable in Settings), so your preferred view persists between sessions. Click the “Clear” button next to the active filter count to remove all filters at once.
Understanding Task Cards
Each task card displays essential information:
- Task title and ID: The task name with its unique identifier
- Excerpt: A brief preview of the task description
- Metadata badges: Visual indicators for due dates, priorities, categories, and custom fields
- Subtask count: Shows how many subtasks exist for this parent task
- Action buttons: Quick access to view details or edit the task
Color-coded badge outlines help you quickly identify urgent items, overdue tasks, or specific categories at a glance.
Viewing Task Details
Click the “View Details” button on any task card to open an offcanvas side panel with complete task information. This quick-view panel allows you to:
- Read the full task description
- View all custom fields
- See related content
- Access subtasks
- Open the full edit screen if needed
The side panel closes with the X button or by clicking outside the panel, returning you to the board view.
Tips and Best Practices
Hide uncategorized tasks: Check the “Hide Uncategorized” box to focus only on tasks that have been properly categorized. This helps maintain a clean, organized board.
Customize lane order: Drag lane headers (the column titles) to reorder them according to your workflow. For example, you might want “In Progress” before “Not Started” to focus on active work.
Group by Due Date Timeline: Select “Due Date Timeline” in the grouping dropdown to organize tasks by when they’re due (Overdue, Due This Week, Due Next Week, Due Later). This view is read-only but provides excellent visibility for deadline management.
Watch for multi-select indicators: When using multi-select custom fields, tasks with multiple values selected display a badge showing how many values are assigned. The task appears in the lane of its first selected value.
Leverage filters for focus: During team meetings, use the Parent Tasks filter to focus discussion on specific projects. Between meetings, filter by assignee or category to see only your responsibilities.
Check permissions first: If drag-and-drop isn’t working, verify that you have edit permissions for the current field. Some fields may be restricted to administrators or specific user roles.
Additional Features
Custom Ordering Persistence
The Kanban Board remembers your custom task and lane ordering per grouping field. If you organize tasks by Priority one way and tasks by Status another way, both arrangements are saved separately. Each user maintains their own ordering preferences.
Permission-Based Access
The board respects all task-level permissions. You’ll only see tasks you have permission to read, and you can only drag tasks you have permission to edit. Tasks with read-only access can be viewed but not moved.
Responsive Task Counts
Lane headers display the current count of tasks in each lane. These counts update automatically as you move tasks or apply filters, providing instant feedback on your workflow distribution.
Integration with Task Edit Screen
Changes made via drag and drop are fully integrated with the task edit screen. Moving a task on the Kanban Board updates the same field values you’d see in the WordPress task editor and quick edit GUI, maintaining consistency across all interfaces.