Board view

Board view groups your database pages by a specific property. Whereas kanban boards typically group to-do items by their status, board views in Notion can be grouped by status, assignee, priority, and more depending on what you need. They can also show you exactly what you want to see via filters, sorts, and custom database properties.

To add a board to your workspace:

1. Create a new page in your workspace.

2. Under Get started with, click the ••• and then Board.

If you want to create an inline board view, type /Board view on any page and press enter.

You can add a board to an existing database to view its data in that format. To do this:

1. Click + at the top left of your database.

2. Select Board from the dropdown menu.

By default, your board will be grouped by a status property if your database has one. Otherwise, your database items will be grouped by a select, person, multi-select, or relation property that’s in your database. If none of these properties exist, a new status property will be created in your database for you.

If you want to group your board by assignee, for example, instead of status, you can change the property that your board is grouping by. To do this:

1. Click the ••• in the top right of your database → Group.

2. Open the Group by menu.

3. Find and select the property you’d like to group by.

Let’s say you want to group by a property that doesn’t already exist in your database. For example, maybe you want to start assigning a priority to your tasks and organizing them by priority. You’ll need to add a new priority property. To do this:

1. Click the ••• in the top right of your database → Properties.

2. Select New property.

3. Find the type of property you want, like Select, and set your property up with a name and, if needed, options (like P0, P1, and P2).

You might want to change the labels for each of the groups in your board view. For example, maybe you want to turn In progress into Ongoing, or you need a new In review status. You’ll need to edit the property itself to accomplish this. To edit a property:

1. Click the ••• in the top right of your database → Properties.

2. Select the property you’re currently grouping by. Let’s say you're grouping by Status and want to add a new status option.

3. Under Options, click into each status option that your database currently has and give your options a new name or color. You can also select + next to Options to create a new one, or Delete an option entirely.

In board view, you can add a second layer of groups, called sub-groups. This lets you further organize your database items within a group.

1. Click the ••• in the top right of your database and click Sub-group. Select a property to group.

   • Each sub-group includes a toggle to the left, so you can quickly hide and show sub-groups to focus on what you need.

Switch up how your board is ordered with drag-and-drop.

• To rearrange columns, click and hold on a heading, then drag left or right.

• To move cards up and down or between columns, click, hold, and drag.

Depending on how you want your board to look, you can choose large, medium, or small card sizes. Your choice is applied to all cards.

1. Click ••• at the top left of your board.

2. Click Layout and the Card size dropdown.

Dress up your board by adding an image or preview of your card's content.

1. Click ••• at the top left of your board.

2. Click Layout and the Card preview dropdown.

   • Page cover: Will show the image you chose as your page's cover on your card.

   • Page content: Will show a preview of the page's content. If you have images on your page, the card will display whichever image comes first.

   • Files: If you have a Files & media property in your database, you'll have the option to display whatever image files you've added to this property on your cards.

3. Once you have images on your board, you can choose to crop them one of two ways.

   • Click the ••• at the top, then select Layout and switch on Fit image so the entirety of the image fits within the frame of the card.

   • Switch off Fit image and the image will be cropped to fill the entire card frame.

   • Reposition an image inside a card frame by hovering over it, clicking Reposition and dragging it into the position you want.

You can choose which properties you want displayed on the front of your cards in your board.

• Click Properties and click the switches next to the properties listed to hide or show them.

• Rearrange their order on your cards by using the ⋮⋮ icon to drag them up or down in this list.

1. For the column you want to hide, click ••• to the right of the heading.

2. Click Hide group.

3. Reveal hidden columns by clicking the slider icon → Group. You'll see a list of visible and hidden columns.

4. Click on any hidden column, then on ••• to choose Show group.

To the immediate right of each column heading, you'll see a gray number. The default is for this to show the number of cards in each column, but you can change it to give you other information. 

Depending on the type of properties you have in your database, you’ll see some or all of the following calculation options:

• Count all: Gives you the total number of rows in the column.

• Count values: Counts the number of property values contained in the column. 

• Count unique values: Counts the number of unique property values contained in the column, omitting duplicates. 

• Count empty: Counts the number of rows that do not have a value in the column. 

• Count not empty: Counts the number of rows where the column is filled. 

• Percent empty: Gives you the percentage of rows that do not have the chosen property filled in. 

• Percent not empty: Gives you the percentage of cards that do have the property filled in. 

• Earliest date: If you have time-related properties in your table like Last edited or Created time, you can choose to show when the oldest row was edited or created.

• Latest date: Shows when the newest row was last edited or created.

• Date range: Shows you the time gap between the oldest and newest edit or creation time.

• If you have a Number property in your table, you unlock several other calculation options:

  • Sum: Shows the sum of the numbers in the column.

  • Average: Shows the average of the numbers in the column.

  • Median: Shows the median of the numbers in the column.

  • Min: Shows the lowest number in the column.

  • Max: Shows the highest number in the column.

  • Range: Subtracts the lowest number from the highest.