Board Studio’s configuration sidebar lets you shape how your board is organized — defining swimlanes, grouping, and sort order. Every change is applied live with a smooth morphing animation, so you can experiment freely.
Overview
Open the configuration sidebar by clicking the settings button (⚙️) in the header bar. The sidebar slides in from the left with two main sections:
| Section | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Board Structure | Define the visual grid — swimlanes (rows and columns) and card grouping |
| General Settings | Global display options — linked card separation and sort order |
💡 Tip: Start simple. Add one dimension, see the result, then layer in more. You can always remove dimensions you don’t need.
Board Structure
The Board Structure section controls the visual grid of your board. It has three subsections that each add a different type of spatial organization.
Dimension types
| Dimension type | Creates | Headers appear at | Axis | Visual result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vertical Swimlanes | Horizontal bands (rows) | LEFT and RIGHT edges | Y-axis | Issues split into rows |
| Horizontal Swimlanes | Vertical bands (columns) | TOP and BOTTOM edges | X-axis | Issues split into columns |
| Grouping | Card groups within cells | Inline group headers | — | Cards stacked under collapsible headers |
📝 Note on naming: The names describe the orientation of the dividing lines, not the bands themselves. “Vertical swimlanes” draw vertical lines, creating horizontal rows. “Horizontal swimlanes” draw horizontal lines, creating vertical columns.
Visual examples
Sprint (columns) × Project (rows)
┌─ Horizontal Swimlane headers (TOP) ─┐
│ │
Sprint 1 Sprint 2 Sprint 3
┌──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┐
Vertical │ │ │ │
Swimlane │ FRON-1 │ FRON-5 │ FRON-10 │
headers │ FRON-2 │ FRON-6 │ FRON-11 │
(LEFT) ├──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┤
Frontend │ │ │ │
│ BAC-1 │ BAC-5 │ BAC-10 │
Backend │ BAC-2 │ BAC-6 │ BAC-11 │
└──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┘- Horizontal Swimlanes = Sprint → creates 3 columns, headers at top
- Vertical Swimlanes = Project → creates 2 rows, headers at left
Adding Priority grouping within cells
Sprint 1
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ ┌─ High ───────────────────┐ │
Frontend │ │ FRON-1 FRON-3 │ │
│ └──────────────────────────┘ │
│ ┌─ Medium ─────────────────┐ │
│ │ FRON-2 FRON-4 │ │
│ └──────────────────────────┘ │
│ ┌─ Low ────────────────────┐ │
│ │ FRON-7 │ │
│ └──────────────────────────┘ │
└──────────────────────────────┘- Grouping = Priority → cards stacked under collapsible group headers within each cell
Nested swimlanes (Status → Assignee rows)
Sprint 1 Sprint 2
┌───────────────────┬───────────────────┐
To Do │ │ │
Alice │ FRON-1 │ FRON-5 │
Bob │ FRON-2 │ │
─────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┤
In Prog │ │ │
Alice │ FRON-3 │ FRON-6 │
Carol │ FRON-4 │ FRON-7 │
└───────────────────┴───────────────────┘- Multiple Vertical Swimlanes (Status, then Assignee) → creates nested row headers
Dimension controls
Each dimension row in the sidebar provides a consistent set of controls for fine-tuning the board layout.
Control reference
| Control | Icon | Action | Available on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drag handle | ⠿ (6 dots) | Reorder dimensions via drag-and-drop | All dimension types |
| Field selector | Dropdown | Choose any Jira system or custom field | All dimension types |
| Sort direction | ↑ / ↓ | Toggle ascending or descending order | Swimlanes |
| Header position | ◁ / ▷ or △ / ▽ | Toggle header position (Left/Right or Top/Bottom) | Swimlanes |
| Visibility toggle | 👁 | Show/hide specific field values | All dimension types |
| Delete | ✕ | Remove the dimension from the board | All dimension types |
Adding a dimension
- Expand the subsection (Vertical Swimlanes, Horizontal Swimlanes, or Grouping).
- Click Add Dimension at the bottom of the subsection.
- Select a Jira field from the dropdown.
- The board updates immediately with the new dimension applied.
Reordering dimensions
When multiple dimensions exist in the same subsection, their order determines the nesting hierarchy:
- Grab the drag handle (⠿) on the left of the dimension row.
- Drag to the desired position.
- Drop — the board re-layouts to reflect the new hierarchy.
💡 Tip: The first dimension in a swimlane list is the outermost level. Drag the most important grouping to the top.
Removing a dimension
- Click the delete button (✕) on the right of the dimension row.
- The dimension is removed and the board updates immediately.
Field discovery
The fields available in dimension selectors depend on the loaded data:
| Field category | Availability |
|---|---|
| System fields (Status, Priority, Sprint, Assignee, etc.) | Always available |
| Custom fields (Story Points, Team, RACI Role, etc.) | Discovered from loaded issues |
| Multi-project fields | Union of all fields across loaded projects |
📝 Note: If a custom field doesn’t appear in the dropdown, ensure the issues using that field are loaded via your data source. Fields are discovered dynamically — they appear once Board Studio sees at least one issue containing them.
Business Logic Detection
Board Studio automatically detects the semantic meaning of each field and applies intelligent sort defaults. A small icon appears next to each dimension to indicate the detected ordering type.
Ordering type reference
| Icon | Ordering type | Fields | Default behavior |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⚙️ | Workflow | Status | Follows workflow sequence: To Do → In Progress → Done |
| ⬆️ | Priority | Priority | Ranked by importance: Highest → Lowest |
| 📅 | Chronological | Date, Created, Updated, Due Date, Sprint | Ordered by time |
| 📊 | Numerical | Story Points, Number fields | Ordered by numeric value |
| 🔤 | Alphabetical | Text, User, Project | Locale-aware A → Z sorting |
| ••• | Option-based | Select lists, Radio buttons, Checkboxes | Follows Jira admin option order |
How detection works
- When you add a field as a dimension, Board Studio analyzes its Jira schema metadata.
- The system classifies the field into one of the ordering types above.
- An appropriate default sort direction is set automatically (e.g., Priority defaults to descending for “Highest first”).
- The icon is displayed on the dimension row.
You can always override the default direction using the sort direction toggle (↑/↓).
💡 Tip: For custom select fields (like “Environment” or “RACI Role”), Board Studio uses the option order defined in Jira administration — not alphabetical order. This means the sort will match the sequence your Jira admin configured.
Live preview
Every configuration change triggers an immediate visual update on the board.
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Animation duration | Smooth morphing transition (typically 800ms for full layout changes, 500ms for incremental updates) |
| What animates | Cards flow to new positions, headers appear/disappear, groups expand/collapse |
| No reload required | All updates happen in-place without page refresh |
| Undo-friendly | Change your mind? Modify or remove the dimension — the board morphs back |
📝 Note: During layout animations, the data source selector and Update button are temporarily disabled to prevent conflicting operations.
Unlimited nesting
Swimlane subsections support unlimited nesting of dimensions. Each added dimension creates a deeper level of board structure.
| Nesting level | Example (Vertical Swimlanes) | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 dimension | Project | One row per project |
| 2 dimensions | Project → Assignee | Rows subdivided by assignee within each project |
| 3 dimensions | Project → Assignee → Priority | Further subdivided by priority within each assignee |
The header area expands to accommodate multi-level nesting with indented labels.
⚠️ Warning: While there’s no hard limit, deeply nested layouts (4+ dimensions) can become visually dense. Two to three dimensions per axis typically provides the best balance of structure and readability.
General Settings
The General Settings section contains global display options that apply across the entire board.
Separate Linked Cards
A toggle that controls whether cards with dependency links are visually separated from standalone cards.
| State | Effect |
|---|---|
| Enabled | Cards with links move to a separate zone at the bottom of each cell, highlighting dependency chains |
| Disabled (default) | All cards appear together in the same area regardless of link status |
Order subsection
The Order subsection defines multi-field sorting for cards within each swimlane cell.
How multi-field sorting works
Cards are sorted by multiple fields in priority order:
| Sort rank | Field | Direction | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | Status | ↑ Ascending | To Do → In Progress → Done |
| Secondary | Priority | ↓ Descending | Highest → Lowest |
| Tertiary | Assignee | ↑ Ascending | Alice → Bob → Carol |
Ties in the primary field are broken by the secondary field, then the tertiary, and so on.
Sort controls
Each sort dimension has the same controls as Board Structure dimensions:
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| Drag handle (⠿) | Reorder sort priority |
| Field selector | Choose the Jira field to sort by |
| Direction toggle (↑/↓) | Switch ascending / descending |
| Delete (✕) | Remove this sort field |
| Add Dimension | Add another sort field at the bottom |
Direction toggle behavior
| Direction | Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Ascending | ↑ | A→Z, 1→9, To Do→Done, Low→High, oldest→newest |
| Descending | ↓ | Z→A, 9→1, Done→To Do, High→Low, newest→oldest |
📝 Note: Priority uses inverted semantics — “Highest” priority has the lowest internal rank in Jira. Board Studio handles this automatically, so ↑ on Priority means Low→High and ↓ means High→Low, matching user expectations.
Empty state
When no sort dimensions are configured, cards follow their default Jira order within each cell. The subsection displays:
- “No sorting configured”
- “Click ‘Add Dimension’ to define sort order”
Configuration workflow summary
Here’s the recommended workflow for setting up a board from scratch:
| Step | Action | Section |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Select a data source (Space or Filter) | Header bar |
| 2 | Click Update to load issues | Header bar |
| 3 | Open the sidebar (⚙️) | Header bar |
| 4 | Add a Horizontal Swimlane (e.g., Sprint) for columns | Board Structure |
| 5 | Add a Vertical Swimlane (e.g., Project) for rows | Board Structure |
| 6 | Optionally add Grouping (e.g., Priority) | Board Structure |
| 7 | Adjust sort direction toggles as needed | Board Structure |
| 8 | Configure card sort order in General Settings | General Settings |
| 9 | Toggle Separate Linked Cards if desired | General Settings |
| 10 | Save the configuration for reuse | Header bar |
💡 Tip: Board Studio saves configurations so you can switch between different board layouts instantly. Create a “Sprint Planning” config and a “Portfolio Overview” config for the same data source.
Next steps
- Data Sources — Learn how to select and manage the data powering your board
- Features — Explore dependency visualization, focus mode, semantic zoom, timeline, and more