Kanban views allow you to lay out your data like stacks of notecards for quick visual reference.

Kanban views are one of the Spreadsheet.com view types, allowing you to lay out your data like spread stacks of notecards. Based on your worksheet's primary view, Kanban views provide an alternative to managing your data in the traditional spreadsheet grid.

Kanban views show cards corresponding to every row in the table region of your worksheet. Only rows below your worksheet's designated table header row are part of the table region. The title of each row card is the value of the primary column cell value in that row.

Kanban views allow you to see data differently, letting you sort, filter, and move cards or stacks. Adding a Kanban view can turn a sheet view like this...

...into a layout like this:

Let's take a closer look at creating, configuring, and managing Kanban views.

This article features Spreadsheet.com's Product Launch Plan template. Explore the Template Gallery to find ready-to-use templates in over 20 different categories, or learn more about starting a new workbook from a Spreadsheet.com template.

Setting up a Kanban View

Like all other view types, you can create a new Kanban view by opening the Views sidebar from the top navigation bar and clicking the + Kanban button at the bottom of the sidebar.

When you create a new Kanban view, the first thing Spreadsheet.com asks you to do is to choose a column to stack cards by. If you think of Kanban views as stacks of notecards, Stack by is the way to determine which card goes in which stack. You may only use Select, Icon Set, or User columns with the "Allow multiple users" option disabled for stacking.

By default, the Stack by selector shows all columns that can be used for stacking. Or you can create a new Select or User column to stack by.

Once you've created your Kanban view, you can access all configuration settings from the view navigation bar directly below your workbook title.

Configuring Kanban Cards

Clicking on the Configure cards button opens a dropdown with multiple ways to customize your Kanban view.

From the top field of the dropdown, you can designate an Attachment column as the place from where the Kanban's header image is taken. Below, toggle the "Show column labels" option to add and remove column labels from the data in each Kanban card.

You can toggle individual columns on and off to determine which pieces of information are included in each card, as well as change the order in which the information appears by dragging the drag handles to the left of each column name. Rearranging the order in which columns are presented in the Kanban view does not change their order in your primary view.

Select "Show all" or "Hide all" at the bottom of the dropdown to quickly make all columns' information visible or hidden.

As you make changes in the Configure cards dropdown, your Kanban view will update dynamically.

Configuring Kanban Levels

The Levels dropdown lets you configure what rows are shown in your Kanban view, specifically when rows in the primary view rows are arranged into parent and child hierarchies. For more information on indenting and working with hierarchies, see our article on Creating Row Hierarchies.

In the Product Launch Workbook we've been looking at, tasks are organized into a hierarchical relationship with "parent," "child," and "grandchild" rows. For example, in the sheet shown below, "Launch Schedule" (A9) is the child of "Business Requirements" (A8), which itself is the child of "Product Plan" (A6).

By default, the Kanban view shows "All levels" of the hierarchy. In the sheet shown below, all tasks are shown regardless of their hierarchical level.

By selecting "Level 1" from the Levels dropdown, the Kanban view will update to only show tasks from the top of the hierarchy and exclude any "child" or "grandchild" cells.

If you're missing rows in your Kanban view that you expect to be there, make sure to check the Levels dropdown and confirm that "All levels" is selected.

Additional Configuration Options

Filters and Sorts

Filters and Sorts operate similarly in Kanban views as they do in sheet views. For a more detailed explanation, see our full articles on Filtering and Row Visibility and Sorting and Row Order. 

Filtering allows you to define criteria to configure which data appears in your Sheet view. Like with traditional spreadsheets, there are hundreds of ways to filter your data, including special filters for specific data types like dates, attachments, users, and more.

You can define and manage your Kanban view filters by opening the Filter dropdown in the view navigation bar. In the example below, we apply a filter that will only include records where the RYG icon is red.

Similarly, sorting allows you to define criteria to configure the order in which your records appear in your Sheet view. You can apply multiple sorts to a view, and you can control the order in which sorts are applied by reordering them using the drag handle  at the left of each sort condition. 

You can define and manage your Kanban view sorting rules by opening the Sort dropdown in the view navigation bar. In the example below, we apply a sorting rule that will alphabetize records by their task name.

Rename, Copy, and Delete

Just like sheet views, Kanban views can be renamed, copied, and deleted. You can access these options by opening the Additional settings dropdown in the view navigation bar. You can also access the Lock view and Permissions settings from this dropdown.

Managing Kanban Stacks

Minimizing Stacks

You can minimize stacks by clicking on the minimize button in the top right corner of each stack. Minimized stacks retain all of their data, and can be expanded by clicking anywhere on the minimized stack.

Create a New Row

You can add a new row – or "card" – to each stack by selecting clicking the + New row button below the title of the stack you want to add a row to. The Expand row dialog will open, letting you add data for that new card. When you add a new row in a Kanban view, the row is inserted after the last non-empty row in the primary view.

Similarly, you can change the data in a card by clicking on it and editing the fields in the row details dialog.

Dragging and Dropping Stacks

In Kanban views that are stacked by a Select column, stacks can be reordered by dragging and dropping in the order in which you want them to appear. When you change the order of the stacks by dragging and dropping, the order of select options in the "Stack by" column will change accordingly. It will also change how rows are ordered in other views that use the "Stack by" column in a sorting rule.

Stacks cannot be reordered if the Kanban view is stacked by a User or Icon set column.

Uncategorized Rows

On the far left side of all Kanban views is a minimized stack of rows that are uncategorized by the "stacked by" column. This can be a useful way to see rows that are missing data—like tasks missing a status, user, or other select data types.

Publicly Sharing and Embedding Kanban Views

Just as you can share Spreadsheet.com workbooks with the general public, you can share individual Views with a public sharing link or by embedding them on websites that support iframes. Publicly shared Views are read-only, and you can choose to disable public sharing and embedding for any View at any time.

You can configure options for your publicly shared Kanban View from the Public View sharing and embedding dialog.

1. Enable public sharing and embedding: Toggle this checkbox to enable and disable public sharing and embedding for your current View
2. View toolbar settings: Choose which toolbar options are available for viewers to use in the shared View
3. [Coming Soon] Allow users to copy this view: Choose whether or not viewers can create their own Spreadsheet.com workbook from a copy of your View

Once you’ve configured your options as needed, use the public share link to share your View with the public, or the embed code to embed your View in any website or app that supports iframes.

Read on through the rest of our articles on Views and View Types to learn more about each of the view types Spreadsheet.com offers, as well as more information about locking views, changing view permissions, and managing your existing views.