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Customize cards on a board

Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server | Azure DevOps Server 2022

Customize board cards to display the information your team needs most. Cards show work items as visual elements that facilitate quick updates, progress tracking, and at-a-glance status assessment. You can update fields directly on cards without opening work items, and apply visual styling to highlight important items.

Tip

You can use AI to help with this task later in this article, or see Enable AI assistance with Azure DevOps MCP Server to get started.

Note

This article covers board card customization. For Taskboard card customization, see Customize sprint Taskboards.

Prerequisites

Requirement Description
Access Basic access or higher
Permissions Member of Project Administrators security group or Team Administrator role

For more information, see Change project-level permissions.

Customization options

Each team can independently customize their board cards. Customizations aren't inherited from other teams, even when sharing area paths.

You can customize the following aspects of board cards:

Setting Purpose
Fields Control which fields appear on cards, including parent work item information
Styles Change card colors and text styling based on field criteria
Tag colors Assign specific colors to tags for visual categorization
Annotations Enable or disable icons showing related items (tasks, tests, GitHub)
Tests Configure how inline tests appear and behave
Card reordering Control behavior when reordering cards

Access board settings

  1. Open your board and select the backlog level you want to customize (Product backlog, Features, Epics).

  2. Select Settings.

    Screenshot showing how to open board settings.

Add fields to cards

Display relevant fields on cards to enable quick viewing and editing without opening work items.

  1. In your board settings, select Fields and choose the work item type to configure.

    Screenshot of Fields settings for User Story work item type.

  2. Check the boxes for fields you want to display on cards:

    • Show Effort: Displays Story Points, Effort, or Size depending on your process
    • Parent: Shows parent work item title (enables filtering by parent)
    • Custom fields you added to your process

  3. To add a field:

    • Select Add field
    • Enter the field name
    • Select Save

  4. To remove a field, select next to the field name.

Tip

You can edit most fields directly on cards. Read-only fields like Changed By and Changed Date display for reference only.

Apply style rules

Use style rules to highlight cards based on field values. Cards change color automatically when work items meet your specified criteria.

Common styling scenarios

Scenario Criteria Example
High priority items Priority = 1
Large work items Story Points >= 20
Stale items Changed Date <= @Today-5
Critical bugs Severity = 1 - Critical AND Work Item Type = Bug
Blocked work Blocked = Yes
Feature area focus Area Path Under Fabrikam\Mobile

Create style rules

  1. In your board settings, select Styles > Add styling rule.

    Screenshot of style rule configuration dialog.

  2. Choose a card color and define the criteria: Set up criteria using query-like syntax:

    • All clauses use AND logic
    • Rules apply in the order listed
    • Higher rules take precedence

  3. Use the actions menu ( ) to Clone or Delete rules.

  4. Select Save.

Set tag colors

Assign colors to specific tags for visual categorization.

  1. In your board settings, select Tag colors > Add tag color.

  2. Choose the tag and its display color:

    Screenshot of tag color configuration.

  3. Select Save.

Tip

Ensure Show Tags is enabled in Fields settings for tag colors to appear.

Manage annotations

Annotations display icons on cards that show related items like tasks, tests, or GitHub commits.

  1. In your board settings, select Annotations.

  2. Check the box next to the annotations that you want to use.

    Screenshot of annotation settings showing available options.

  3. Select Save.

Enabled annotations appear as numbered icons on cards:

Annotation Type Example
Tasks Screenshot of task annotations enabled.
Tests Screenshot of test annotations enabled.

Important

  • When you disable an annotation, you also disable the ability to add those items directly from the board.
  • Test annotations appear on cards only when a requirement-based test suite exists for the work item. Creating tests directly from the card automatically creates this suite. However, linking tests to a work item from the work item form alone doesn't create a requirement-based suite, so those tests don't appear as annotations on the card. For more information, see Manage tests inline.

Configure tests

Control how inline tests are organized when you create them from boards.

  1. In your board settings, select Tests (requires Test annotation to be enabled).

  2. Choose test organization options:

    • Create new test plan for each test
    • Add all tests to a selected test plan
    • Enable shared test outcomes across suites

    Screenshot of test configuration options.

  3. Select Save.

Configure card reordering

Control how card order is maintained when you move cards between columns.

  1. In your board settings, select Card reordering.

  2. Choose the reordering behavior:

    • Maintain backlog priority order
    • Allow free reordering within columns

    Screenshot of card reordering options.

  3. Select Save.

Move cards to specific positions

  1. Select ยทยทยท (More actions) on a work item card.
  2. Choose Move to position.
  3. Enter the target position number.

Screenshot of Move to position dialog.

Best practices

  • Start simple: Begin with essential fields and add more as needed.
  • Use consistent styling: Apply style rules that support your team's workflow.
  • Regular review: Periodically assess which customizations provide value.
  • Team alignment: Ensure all team members understand the visual conventions.

Use AI to query work items displayed on cards

If you have the Azure Boards MCP Server connected to your AI agent in agent mode, you can use natural language prompts to query and update the work items that appear on your board cards.

Task Example prompt
Find items by tag Show me all work items on my board that have the 'blocked' tag
View items with specific fields List all active user stories with their priority, assigned to, and story points
Update fields on work items Set the priority of bug 4567 to 1 and add the tag 'regression'
Find items by style criteria Show me all work items assigned to <me> that are past their target date
Spot missing card fields List active user stories in the current sprint for <Contoso> that are missing priority or effort values
Audit tag consistency Show all distinct tags used on work items in area path <Contoso\\Frontend> sorted by usage count
Highlight overdue items List work items in <Contoso> where the target date is in the past and the state is not Closed or Removed
Review card annotations For each active user story in the current sprint for <Contoso>, show the count of child tasks, linked bugs, and linked tests
Identify untagged items List active work items in the current sprint for <Contoso> that have no tags assigned
Bulk tag update Add tag 'Q2-release' to all user stories under feature <1500> in <Contoso>

Note

Agent mode and the MCP Server use natural language, so you can adjust these prompts or ask follow-up questions to refine the results.

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