Boards and cards

A board is the studio wall covered in cards—except these cards remember their files, deadlines, checklists, owners, and every move. Arjun can drag “Fine cut” into Review, and Zoabase can notify Priya, set a due date, and add the review checklist before the card lands.

One kanban, three contexts

Zoabase uses the same Trello-style board system in three places:

Board	Location	Card represents
Sales board	/board	A task not attached to a project
Project board	A project’s Board tab	A project issue
Lead pipeline	Organizations → Pipeline	A lead or organization

The Sales board can filter by sprint, assignee, label, and text. Project boards use the project’s issues and can focus on a sprint. The pipeline can filter by owner and search terms, and each list summarizes deal value when present.

Understand lists and underlying status

Custom columns are lists with a name, color, position, optional work-in-progress limit, and a category. A task-board category is one of Backlog, To do, In progress, Review, or Done. A pipeline category is New, Contacted, Qualified, Proposal, Negotiation, Won, or Lost.

That mapping matters. Lists are the flexible surface; status or stage is the dependable machinery used by reports, sprint math, and done checks. You can create both Editing and Client revisions lists and map both to In progress.

Dragging a card into a list updates its status or stage to that list’s category. If someone changes status from an issue list or another action, Zoabase drops the card’s specific column pin and places it in the first list for the new category. Changing or deleting a column protects its current cards by pinning or moving them before the change completes.

Tip: Name columns in the language your team uses, but map them deliberately. “Client approved” should usually count as Done; “Waiting for footage” might still count as In progress.

Arrange the board

Project members can drag lists left or right, add another list, rename a list inline, recolor it, or change what it counts as. The list menu can:

• Set a WIP limit; the list turns visibly over-limit when it contains too many cards.
• Sort cards with the choices available for that board.
• Move all cards to another list.
• Archive all task cards in the list.
• Move the list left or right.
• Fold it into a slim vertical strip.
• Delete it and choose where its cards should go.

Folding is personal to the current browser and does not rearrange anybody else’s view. Board settings also provide a Lists screen for editing order, mapping, color, and WIP limits in one place.

Work from the card front

Card fronts can show covers, labels or tags, dates, members, priority, selected custom fields, and badges. Board settings let you toggle each category of information. The goal is signal, not wallpaper: Maya might show win probability and close date on pipeline cards, while Arjun shows checklists, attachments, and due dates on production issues.

Select a card to open its popup without leaving the board. A task card includes members, labels, start and due dates with soon or overdue states, assignee, priority, sprint and epic context, description, custom fields, and watching. It can also contain:

• Multiple checklists with progress; items can be assigned and dated.
• Uploaded files and link attachments.
• A color cover or image cover. The first uploaded image can become the cover.
• Sub-tasks, linked tickets, comments, and complete history.

Use Move to place the card elsewhere. Copy can duplicate it to a chosen board or list while optionally carrying checklists, labels, members, attachments and cover, and custom fields. Comments and history remain on the original. Share copies a direct link. Archive hides a task card without permanently deleting it; archived cards can be restored from board settings.

The lead popup is different by design. It exposes team, tags, deal value, win probability, expected close date, custom fields, description, contacts, todos, notes, and stage. It opens anywhere through ?lead=<id>.

Add labels and custom fields

Board settings define colored labels—or tags on the pipeline. Labels that already exist but have no board definition receive a stable automatic color.

Custom fields can be Text, Number, Date, Checkbox, or Dropdown. A dropdown has its own labeled options. Choose which fields appear on the card front; all remain available in the popup. Deleting a custom-field definition hides its stored values from the board.

Put routine moves on rails

Automations run when a card is moved into, moved out of, or created in a chosen list or any list. A rule may require a particular label or priority. It can contain several actions.

Task-board actions include assigning, adding or removing members, adding or removing labels, setting priority and dates, completing or creating checklists, commenting, notifying, moving to the top or bottom, setting a custom field, watching, archiving, and—on project boards—removing the card from its sprint.

Pipeline rules can change team or tags, priority, probability, close date, position, and custom fields; add a note or notification; create a follow-up todo; or schedule a reminder.

Create rules under Board settings → Automation. Name the rule, choose the trigger list and optional conditions, add actions, and enable it. Each rule shows its run count and latest run time. An activity entry records each run.

Heads up: Actions update the database directly and do not trigger more automation rules. That prevents loops such as a move causing a second rule that moves the card back.

A Northwind example

Priya creates a Client review list mapped to Review and sets its WIP limit to three. Her rule says: when a card moves in, add a “Review” checklist, notify the reporter, and set the due date in two days. Arjun drags NWF-12 into the list. The status becomes Review, the card stays in Client review, and the routine handoff happens consistently—without someone rebuilding the checklist from memory.