Display Options

Display options control how work items are organized and presented within a view. While filters determine which items are shown, display options determine how those items are arranged — their grouping, sort order, and which properties are visible. Every layout (List, Kanban, Spreadsheet, Calendar, Gantt) shares the same display options panel.

Access display options

1. Open any view or navigate to a work items list.
2. Click the Display Options button (gear or layout icon) in the toolbar.
3. The display options panel appears, showing all available settings.

Changes take effect immediately. Click outside the panel to close it.

Group by

Grouping organizes work items into sections based on a shared property value. Each unique value of the selected property becomes a group header.

Available group-by properties

Property	Groups created	Example
State	One group per workflow state	Backlog, Todo, In Progress, Done, Cancelled
Priority	One group per priority level	Urgent, High, Medium, Low, None
Assignee	One group per assigned member, plus Unassigned	Alice, Bob, Unassigned
Label	One group per label, plus Unlabeled	Bug, Feature, Improvement, Unlabeled
Cycle	One group per cycle, plus No Cycle	Sprint 13, Sprint 14, No Cycle
Module	One group per module, plus No Module	Authentication, Payments, No Module
None	No grouping; all items in a flat list	(single ungrouped list)

Set group by

1. Open Display Options.
2. Click the Group by dropdown.
3. Select a property.

The view re-renders immediately with the new grouping.

Behavior by layout

Layout	Grouping effect
List	Collapsible section headers between groups of rows
Kanban	Groups become the vertical columns
Spreadsheet	Collapsible section headers between groups of rows
Calendar	Swimlane rows for each group value
Gantt	Sidebar sections group items; bars align with their group row

Sub-group by

Sub-grouping adds a second level of organization within each primary group. This creates a nested structure: primary group > sub-group > individual items.

Set sub-group by

1. Open Display Options.
2. Set a Group by value first.
3. Click the Sub-group by dropdown.
4. Select a property different from the primary group.

Effective combinations

Group by	Sub-group by	Result
State	Priority	See priority distribution within each state
State	Assignee	See who is working on what within each state
Priority	State	See workflow progress for each priority level
Assignee	State	See each person's items organized by state
Module	Priority	See priority breakdown within each feature area
Cycle	State	See workflow status within each sprint

WARNING

Sub-grouping is available only when a primary group is set. The sub-group property must differ from the primary group property. Avoid sub-grouping on high-cardinality properties (many distinct values), as it creates excessive nesting.

Limitations

• Sub-grouping is not available when Group by is set to None.
• The Kanban layout renders sub-groups as swimlanes within each column. More than five swimlanes can make the board difficult to read.
• The Calendar and Gantt layouts support sub-grouping but visual density increases quickly.

Order by

Ordering controls the sort sequence of work items within each group (or within the entire list if grouping is set to None).

Available order-by options

Order by	Behavior
Manual	Items appear in the order you manually arranged them (via drag-and-drop). New items appear at the bottom.
Created date	Items sorted by the date they were created.
Updated date	Items sorted by the date they were last modified.
Priority	Items sorted by priority level (Urgent first by default).
State	Items sorted by workflow state order.

Set order by

1. Open Display Options.
2. Click the Order by dropdown.
3. Select a sort property.

Ascending and descending

The Direction control toggles between ascending and descending order for the selected sort property.

Order by	Ascending	Descending
Manual	Custom order as arranged	Reverse of custom order
Created date	Oldest first	Newest first
Updated date	Least recently updated	Most recently updated
Priority	None to Urgent	Urgent to None
State	Backlog to Cancelled (following state order)	Cancelled to Backlog

Set direction

1. Open Display Options.
2. Click the ascending/descending toggle next to the Order by dropdown.

TIP

For most workflows, "Priority descending" (Urgent first) and "Created date descending" (newest first) are the most useful default sorts.

Show or hide empty groups

When grouping is active, some group values may have zero matching items. By default, empty groups are hidden to save space.

Enable empty groups

1. Open Display Options.
2. Toggle Show empty groups on.

When to show empty groups

Scenario	Recommendation
You want to see all workflow states even if some are empty	Show empty groups
You want a compact view with only relevant groups	Hide empty groups
You are using Kanban and need all columns visible for drag targets	Show empty groups
You have many labels but only a few are in use	Hide empty groups

On the Kanban board, showing empty groups ensures every column is visible as a drop target, even if it currently has no cards.

Display properties

Display properties control which work item fields are visible in the current layout. This is separate from filtering — display properties affect what you see on each item, not which items are shown.

Available display properties

Property	Default visibility	Available in
Identifier	Shown	All layouts
State	Shown	All layouts
Priority	Shown	All layouts
Assignees	Shown	All layouts
Labels	Hidden	All layouts
Due date	Shown	All layouts
Start date	Hidden	All layouts
Estimate	Hidden	All layouts
Cycle	Hidden	All layouts
Module	Hidden	All layouts
Created date	Hidden	Spreadsheet, List
Updated date	Hidden	Spreadsheet, List
Created by	Hidden	Spreadsheet, List

Toggle display properties

1. Click the Display Properties button in the toolbar.
2. Toggle each property on or off using the checkboxes.
3. The view updates immediately.

Layout-specific behavior

Layout	How display properties appear
List	Each toggled property appears as a column in the row
Kanban	Each toggled property appears as a field on the card
Spreadsheet	Each toggled property becomes a column in the grid
Calendar	Toggled properties appear as secondary text on calendar chips
Gantt	Toggled properties appear in the sidebar list next to the item title

TIP

Show fewer properties for a cleaner view. Show more properties when you need to compare metadata across items without opening each one. The Spreadsheet layout is designed for maximum property visibility.

Save display options

Display options are saved as part of the view configuration:

Scenario	Persistence
Custom saved view	Display options persist for everyone using the view. Click Update View to save changes.
Default view	Your personal display option changes are session-local and reset when you navigate away.
Unsaved configuration	Changes are lost on page refresh. Save as a view to persist.

Display options reference table

Setting	Options	Default
Group by	State, Priority, Assignee, Label, Cycle, Module, None	State
Sub-group by	State, Priority, Assignee, Label, Cycle, Module (must differ from Group by)	None
Order by	Manual, Created date, Updated date, Priority, State	Manual
Direction	Ascending, Descending	Ascending
Show empty groups	On, Off	Off
Display properties	Toggle each property individually	Identifier, State, Priority, Assignees, Due date

Related pages

• Views Overview — Save display options as part of reusable views.
• Filters — Control which items appear (display options control how they appear).
• SetGet Query Language — Advanced text-based filtering.
• List Layout — See how display options affect the list view.
• Kanban Board — See how grouping drives Kanban columns.
• Spreadsheet Layout — Maximum property visibility in a grid.
• Calendar Layout — Date-oriented display with color coding.
• Gantt Chart — Timeline view with grouped sidebar.