Kanban view
A board of cards in lanes that you open with Show As > Kanban, where dragging a card changes its status or stage.
What it is
The Kanban view shows the rows of a view as cards in lanes. In Microsoft's own apps the lanes are the statuses of the row, or the stages of a business process flow, and a Kanban type list switches between the two. You drag a card to another lane to move the row to that status or stage. To open it you select Show As > Kanban on the command bar.
When to use it
Use it for work that moves through a small number of steps, such as help requests or opportunities, where people want to see the load per step. Use the default Read-only grid for large lists, sorting and bulk edits, and the Calendar view when the date matters more than the step.
Licensing and configuration
No extra licence beyond the one for the app. You add the Kanban control to a view in the view designer under Components. Microsoft's documented setup covers the Opportunity and Activity tables, and says the control works on the main grid and not on subgrids. It is not supported in the Dynamics 365 for Phones app. Check the current documentation before you plan it for another table.
Pitfalls
- A drag into a lane can fail if a business rule or the stage logic forbids the change. Read the error that appears.
- Lanes for a status column follow the status choices. Renaming or adding a choice changes the board.
- Cards show only a few fields. Choose them with care, because users cannot add more.
- Large views make a long board. Filter the view first.
Try it in the demo
- Open Help requests with the deep link. The Kanban view shows lanes by status reason.
- Drag a card to another lane, or open the card menu and select Move to.
- Use the Kanban type list to switch to the business process flow stages.
The demo applies the same rules to the status and stage columns as a form would.