Use templates to add and update work items in Azure Boards and Visual Studio

Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server 2020 | Azure DevOps Server 2019 | TFS 2018 - TFS 2013

Visual Studio 2019 | Visual Studio 2017 | Visual Studio 2015

With work item templates, you can quickly create work items that have pre-populated values for your team's commonly used fields. For example, create a template that defines the area path, iteration path, and activity to use when creating a task.

You can use work item templates to create work items or bulk update several work items. For examples that show usage of work item templates, see Sample work item templates.

Note

Work item templates are distinct from process templates. For information on process templates, see Choose a process template or these specific topics for the default process templates: Basic, Agile, Scrum, or CMMI.

Supported template tasks

The availability of template task options depends on the client and platform version available to you. Add and manage work item templates from the web portal or from Visual Studio 2015 or earlier versions. Visual Studio 2015 and earlier versions support working with templates by installing the Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2015 Power Tools. These templates only appear in your view of Team Explorer.

As shown in the following table, a ✔️ indicates the task is available from the web portal or from Visual Studio 2015 or earlier versions. (Make sure that you've selected the content version based on your platform version).

---

Task

Web portal

Visual Studio 2015

---

Capture a work item as a template

✔️

✔️

---

Manage work item templates
(Define, edit, delete, copy link, create copy, and rename)

✔️

✔️

---

Copy link (URL) of a template

✔️

✔️

---

Add a work item using a template

✔️

✔️

---

Define a work item template

✔️

✔️

---

Apply a template to one or more work items

✔️

✔️

---

Define a template using a hyperlink

✔️

---

Tip

The templates you define through the web portal are distinct from those you define through Visual Studio. Web portal templates can only be managed and applied to work items through the web portal. Similarly, Visual Studio templates can only be managed, viewed, and applied to work items in Visual Studio. However, you can use the URLs of both template types to add work items through the web portal.

Prerequisites

• To add, capture, or edit work item templates through Visual Studio Team Explorer, install the Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2015 Power Tools. These templates only appear in your view of Team Explorer.

Capture a work item as a template

The steps to capture a work item differ based on the platform, version, and client you use.

Web portal

If you connect to an on-premises TFS and primarily create work items working in the web portal, you can create a hyperlink that captures the default values you specify for a template. Choose the hyperlink, and it opens the template in the web portal.

1. From the web portal Queries page, open a new work item.

   

2. Fill in the default values you want the template to specify. You can leave required fields empty, or place some text in them

   Here, we fill in several values, including tags, but leave the Title blank. When you're done, copy the URL for the template.

   

3. The URL defines each predefined field, for example (line breaks added for clarity):

   http://fabrikamprime:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection/Fabrikam%20Fiber/_workItems/create/Task?%5B
   System.AssignedTo%5D=Jamal+Hartnett&%5B
   System.Description%5D=%3Cp%3EAlways+include+Remaining+Work+and+links+to+any+related+bugs+or+user+stories.%3C%2Fp%3E&%5B
   System.Tags%5D=Web%3B+Phone%3B+Service&%5B
   Microsoft.VSTS.Common.Activity%5D=Development&%5B
   System.IterationPath%5D=Fabrikam+Fiber%5CIteration+1
   

   Tip

   The URL won't contain defaults defined for the work item type. To specify a default field value, see Add or modify a field. Also, there is a 2000 character limit imposed by some browser clients with no work around.

4. Use the URL whenever you want to add a work item of the type you've defined with its predefined values.

   You can save the URL as a text file or add the URL to a dashboard or web page as a hyperlink.

Visual Studio 2015

If you primarily work in Visual Studio or Team Explorer, and want to create work items from templates that you access from the Work Items page, you can create work item template files (extension .wt).

1. If you haven't yet installed Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2015 Power Tools, do that now. You need this software installed to access the Work Item Templates power tool for Visual Studio.

2. Open or run a query that lists the work item whose fields you want to capture.

3. Right-click the work item of the type and whose fields you want to capture, and select Capture Template from the context menu.

   

4. In the dialog, use the checkboxes to select all the fields you want to save in the template. Then, add a name and (optionally) description to the template.

   

5. Save the template and it will appear in the root of the Team Explorer pane under the Templates section.

Manage work item templates

You can view the list of templates defined for each work item type, and also add, edit, copy, delete, rename, and copy the link of a template. All templates are defined and managed for a team.

Web portal

Manage templates for a work item type

Managing work item templates from the web portal is only supported from TFS 2017 and later versions.

Visual Studio 2015

With Visual Studio with power tools installed, you can view the list of templates defined for each work item type, and also add, edit, copy, delete, and copy the link of a template. These templates are only available to you. To share them with others, you can copy the template URL and share that, or save the template as a .wt file.

• You manage templates from the Team Explorer pane.

  

  The root Templates node represents the parent of all of your templates. You may create a directory structure underneath it by adding folders. Right-click on the Templates node or a folder and select New Folder from the context menu.

• You can cut, copy, paste, rename, and delete templates and folders using the context menu. You may also drag and drop templates into folders. To edit multiple templates, use shift-click to select a range or ctrl-click to add individual templates to your selection, then right-click.

Define a template

1. From the Templates section, right-click Templates and choose to create a template from scratch.

   

2. Save the template, provide a Name in the dialog provided.

   

   Once you've saved the template, select Copy link to capture the URL for the template that you can use to add work items using the template.

Edit, use, copy, or delete a template

• To edit, delete, or complete another action on a template, open its context menu (right-click) and choose the option you want.

  

• To make frequently used templates more accessible, you can set a default template for each work item type. To do so, right-click on a template in Team Explorer and select Set As Default. A checkmark will appear on the icon to indicate that it's now the default.

Set your template directory

• To change the directory where templates are stored, select the Configure link, or navigate to it via Tools>Options>Microsoft Team Foundation Server>Work Item Templates. Use this dialog to set your template store path. Place your templates in a network location to share them with your team.

Add a work item using a template

The main method for adding a work item using a template is to open the template link within a browser window. To get the template link, see the next section Copy the link to a template.

You can share these links through email, a network share, or a team dashboard.

Copy the link to a template

Use the URL whenever you want to add a work item of the type you've defined with its predefined values. Copy the link to a shared network or send to your team via email. Also, consider adding a link to the team dashboard.

Web portal

Managing work item templates from the web portal is only supported from TFS 2017 and later versions.

Visual Studio 2015

1. You can copy the link to a template, which will open in the web portal, by opening the context menu for the template.

   

2. Paste the copied link into a web browser to check that it works as expected.

Apply a template to new or existing work item(s)

You can apply a template to a single work item or do a bulk update of several work items.

Web portal

Apply a template to several work items

The feature to apply a template to existing work items from the web portal isn't supported for TFS 2015 and earlier versions.

Visual Studio 2015

1. Open or run a query that lists the work item(s) whose fields you want to capture.

2. Right-click the work items—which must be of the same type—and choose Apply Template from the context menu.

   

3. Select the template to use and select OK.

   

4. Save the work item.

   

Define an unplanned work item template using a hyperlink

You can specify a work item template that specifies several field values using the following syntax. Use the URL whenever you want to add a work item of the type you've defined with its predefined values.

http://{ServerName}:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection/{ProjectName}/_workItems/create/{WorkItemType}?
[FieldReferenceName 1]={FieldValue 1}&
[FieldReferenceName 2]={FieldValue 2}&
[FieldReferenceName 3]={FieldValue 3}&
. . .

For example, the following syntax specifies a work item task with title TaskTitle. It specifies values for the Assigned To, Description, Tags, Activity, and Iteration Path fields.

http://{ServerName}:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection/{ProjectName}/_workItems/create/Task?
[System.AssignedTo]=Jamal+Hartnett&
[System.Description]=<p>Always+include+Remaining+Work+and+links+to+any+related+bugs+or+user+stories.</p>&
[System.Tags]=Web;+Phone;+Service&
[Microsoft.VSTS.Common.Activity]=Development&
[System.IterationPath]=Fabrikam+Fiber%5CIteration+1

Tip

There is a 2000 character limit imposed by some browser clients.

You can save the URL as a text file or add the URL to a dashboard or web page as a hyperlink.

Related articles

• Azure Boards FAQs
• Sample work item templates