Grouping and Sorting
Grouping and sorting define the structure of any view. Grouping organizes items into labeled sections — by status, priority, team, epic, or any custom field. Sorting determines the order of items within those sections. Together they turn a flat list of work items into a meaningful, navigable overview of your board.
Grouping
How Grouping Works
When a view has a group-by field configured, all items are organized under collapsible section headers. Each header represents one value of the grouping field — for example, one status, one priority level, or one epic.
Each group header shows:
- The value name
- The value's color (status color, priority color, or custom field option color)
- The item count for that group
Collapse or expand any group by clicking its header. Your collapsed/expanded state is saved per view per user — your preferences don't affect what your teammates see.
Built-in Groupable Fields
These built-in fields support grouping on all board types:
| Field | What Groups Look Like |
|---|---|
| Status | One column/section per workflow status (e.g., Backlog, In Progress, In Review, Done) |
| Priority | Urgent → Very High → High → Mid → Low → Very Low |
| Stage | Predev, Dev, Production |
| Design Status | Not Started, In Progress, In Review, Approved, etc. |
| Pipeline | Review, Ready |
| Sprint | One section per sprint, plus "No Sprint" for unassigned items |
| Assignee | One section per team member |
| Reporter | One section per reporter |
| Level | Story, Bug, Task, Sub-task |
| Parent | Group tasks under their parent story |
Custom Groupable Fields
Any custom field of type Select or Tags can be made groupable. When creating or editing a custom field, enable the "Can be used for grouping" toggle. The field then appears in the group-by dropdown.
This is where Lifecycle OS becomes truly customizable. Common custom groupable fields:
- Epic — group stories by feature initiative or product theme
- Product — group items by product area
- Team — group items by Backend, Frontend, Data Science
- Release — group items by Upcoming, Next, or custom release milestones
- Category — group items by type of work (API, UI, Database, Performance)
Tip: Group by "Epic" to run an epic-level roadmap review — see all the stories and their statuses organized by initiative. Group by "Team" to review workload distribution without switching boards.
Changing the Group-By Field
Change grouping in View Settings → Group By. Select any available built-in or custom groupable field. The view immediately reorganizes under the new grouping. The change is saved to the view.
In table view, you can also click the Group By button in the toolbar for quick access.
Group Ordering
Groups appear in their natural order by default:
- Status — follows the status workflow order
- Priority — Urgent → Very High → High → Mid → Low → Very Low → No Priority
- Sprint — chronological, active sprint first
- Custom fields — follow the option order defined in field settings
You can manually reorder groups by dragging the group header. Custom sort order is saved to the view.
Hidden and Empty Groups
Empty groups (groups with zero items) are hidden by default. Toggle their visibility in View Settings → Show Empty Groups if you want to see all possible values even when no items are assigned to them.
This is useful on kanban boards where you want all status columns visible even when empty.
Color-Coded Headers
Group headers are color-coded by their field value. This provides instant visual feedback about the composition of your board. A lot of red in a priority-grouped view means a lot of urgent work. A lot of items in "Blocked" status stands out immediately.
Sorting
How Sorting Works
Sorting determines the order of items within each group. You can sort by any column — ascending or descending.
Configuring Sort Order
Set the sort column and direction in View Settings → Sort By. In table view, you can also click any column header to sort by that column. Click again to toggle between ascending and descending. Click a third time to remove the sort.
Sort Options
Common sort configurations:
| Sort By | Direction | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Priority | High to Low | See most urgent items first |
| Created | Newest First | Review recently added items |
| Updated | Newest First | See what's changed recently |
| Estimated Hours | Largest First | Find the biggest tasks |
| Position | Ascending | Manual custom ordering |
| RICE Score | Largest First | Data-driven prioritization |
| Commitment Date | Earliest First | See what's due soonest |
Position-Based Sorting
Each item has a position field — a numeric value that supports manual ordering. When your view is sorted by Position, you can drag and drop rows within groups to manually reorder them. The position values update automatically.
When sorted by any other field, drag-to-reorder is disabled for that sort column.
Multi-Level Sorting
For advanced use cases, you can configure a primary sort and a secondary sort (tiebreaker) in View Settings. For example: sort by Priority, then by Created Date. Items with the same priority are sub-sorted by when they were created.
Common View Configurations
Sprint Board — Current Sprint Items, by Status
- Group by: Status
- Sort by: Priority (High → Low)
- Filter: Sprint = Current Sprint
Backlog — All Unstarted Stories, by Priority
- Group by: Priority
- Sort by: Position (manual ordering)
- Filter: Status = Backlog, Level = Story
Epic Roadmap — Stories Organized by Initiative
- Group by: Epic (custom field)
- Sort by: Priority
- Filter: Level = Story
Team Workload — All Active Items by Assignee
- Group by: Assignee
- Sort by: Priority
- Filter: Status not in [Done, Cancelled]
Tip: Save each of these as a named view in the sidebar. Your team will thank you — instead of reconfiguring every time, they switch views in one click.