Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server 2022 - Azure DevOps Server 2019
Visual Studio 2019 | Visual Studio 2022
View work items that you created or are assigned to you. The Work items page offers several personalized pivots and interactive filter functions to streamline listing work items. Use this page to quickly find work items defined across teams within a project.
This article shows how to add any type of work item. However, use the backlog or board to add backlog or portfolio items—such as user stories, product backlog items, features, or epics. For more information, see Create your backlog, Define features and epics, and Start using your board.
These methods provide flexibility in how you manage and track your work items within Azure DevOps.
Note
The Work Items page is available from Azure DevOps Services, Azure DevOps Server 2019 and later versions, and Visual Studio 2019 RC1.
Prerequisites
Category
Requirements
Permissions
- To view, follow, and edit work items: View work items in this node and Edit work items in this node permissions set to Allow. By default, the Contributors group has these permissions. For more information, see Set work tracking permissions. - To add tags to work items: Project-level Create new tag definition permission set to Allow. By default, the Contributors group has this permission.
Access levels
- Project member. - To add new tags to work items or to view or follow pull requests: At least Basic access. - To view or follow work items: At least Stakeholder access. For more information, see About access levels. - All project members, including those in the Readers group, can send emails containing work items.
Note
Provide Stakeholder access to members who want to contribute to the discussion and review progress. These are typically members who don't contribute to code, but want to view work items, backlogs, boards, and dashboards.
By default, all Contributors and Stakeholders in public projects can add new and existing tags. In private projects, Stakeholders can only add existing tags. To control the ability to create new tags, set the Create tag definition permission at the project level. For more information, see Change project-level permissions.
Note
Provide Stakeholder access to members who want to contribute to the discussion and review progress. These are typically members who don't contribute to code, but want to view work items, backlogs, boards, and dashboards.
The Work Items page is only supported when connected to an Azure Repos Git or TFVC repository. When you connect to a GitHub or other Git repository, the Work Items and Builds pages don't appear.
If you don't see the Work Items option, you're not connected to a project. From the Connect to a Project dialog. Use CTRL-Shift to select your options and then choose Connect.
Note
The new Work Items experience is available when you connect to a Azure Repos Git repository. If you connect to a TFVC repository, you'll continue to see the legacy query-focused experience.
There's no az boards command that opens the Work Items page at this time. The Azure DevOps CLI commands are valid for Azure DevOps Services only.
Note
The types of work items you can create depend on the process chosen when the project was created—Agile, Basic, Scrum, or CMMI. For example, backlog items may be called user stories (Agile), issues (Basic), product backlog items (Scrum), or requirements (CMMI). All these types describe the customer value to deliver and the work to be performed.
You can view work items assigned to you, work items you're following, work items in which you're mentioned, and work items that you recently viewed or updated via the web portal and Visual studio.
You can also view work items usings the Azure DevOps CLI.
Use the drop-down menu to focus on relevant items within a project using one of seven pivots. Additionally, filter each pivot view.
Assigned to me: Lists all work items assigned to you in the project in the order they were last updated. Doesn't include items moved to the Removed category state. To open or update a work item, select its title.
Following: Lists work items that you're following.
Mentioned: Lists work items in which you're mentioned in the last 30 days.
My activity: Lists work items that you recently viewed or updated.
My team(s): Lists work items that your team members recently viewed or updated.
Assigned to me: Lists all work items assigned to you in the project in the order they were last updated. To open or update a work item, select its title.
Following: Lists work items that you're following.
Mentioned: Lists work items in which you're mentioned in the last 30 days.
My activity: Lists work items that you recently viewed or updated.
My team(s): Lists work items that your team members recently viewed or updated.
Assigned to me: Lists all work items assigned to you in the project in the order they were last updated. To open or update a work item, select its title.
Following: Lists work items that you're following.
Mentioned: Lists work items in which you're mentioned in the last 30 days.
My activity: Lists work items that you recently viewed or updated.
Recently updated: Lists work items recently updated in the project.
Recently completed: Lists work items completed or closed in the project.
Recently created: Lists work items created within the last 30 days in the project.
You can sort your view by any column field selected from the Column Options dialog in the web portal. For more information, see Change column options.
To view a work item, double-select the title or open the context menu (right-select or select the menu key) and Open. A browser window opens with the work item form.
Assign to me: Changes the Assigned To field to your user name.
New Branch...: Opens a dialog to create a new branch automatically linked to the work item. For more information, see Drive Git development.
Complete work item: Updates the State field to Completed, Done, or Closed.
Relate to changes: Links the work item to the current commit of recent changes.
open: Optional. Open the work item in the default web browser.
org: Azure DevOps organization URL. You can configure the default organization using az devops configure -d organization=ORG_URL. Required if not configured as default or picked up using git config. Example: --org https://dev.azure.com/MyOrganizationName/.
Example
The following command opens the bug with the ID 864 in your default web browser. It also displays the results in the Azure DevOps CLI in table format.
az boards work-item show --id 864 --open --output table
ID Type Title Assigned To State
---- ------ --------- ------------------- -------
864 Bug fix-issue contoso@contoso.com New
Azure DevOps CLI commands aren't supported for Azure DevOps Server.
Filter to create personal views
Filter each work item pivot view by entering a keyword or using fields like work item type (Types), State, Area Path, and Tags. The page remembers your filters for each pivot, providing personalized views across all pivots. For more information, see Filter backlogs, boards, queries, and plans.
No az boards command applies to filtering. Azure DevOps CLI commands are only valid for Azure DevOps Services.
Add work items
You can add work items from the Work Items page or from a Boards, Backlogs, or Sprints page in the web portal, from Visual Studio, or by using the Azure DevOps CLI.
Add a work item from the Work items page
Note
New work items are assigned the last Area Path and Iteration Path selected by the user.
Select New Work Item and choose the work item type from the drop-down menu.
For example, here we choose User Story.
Tip
Work items you add are automatically assigned to the current team's area and iteration paths. To change the team context, see Switch project or team focus. Enter a title and save the work item. You must save it before changing its initial default state.
Select New Work Item and choose the work item type you want. For example, we choose User Story.
A browser window opens, displaying the work item form for you to complete.
Enter a title and then Save the work item. You must save it before changing its initial default state.
area: Area the work item is assigned to (for example, Demos).
assigned-to: The email address of the person the work item is assigned-to (for example, fabrikamfiber-3@fabrikamfiber.com).
description: Description of the work item.
discussion: Comment to add to a discussion in a work item.
fields: Space separated field=value pairs for custom fields you would like to set.
iteration: Iteration path of the work item (for example, DemosIteration 1).
open: Open the work item in the default web browser.
org: Azure DevOps organization URL. You can configure the default organization using az devops configure -d organization=ORG_URL. Required if not configured as default or picked up using git config. Example: --org https://dev.azure.com/MyOrganizationName/.
project: Name or ID of the project. You can configure the default project using az devops configure -d project=NAME_OR_ID. Required if not configured as default or picked up using git config.
reason: Reason for the state of the work item.
Example
The following command creates a bug titled "Fix issue". It assigns the bug to the user contoso@contoso.com and shows the results in table format.
az boards work-item create --title "Fix issue" --type bug --assigned-to contoso@contoso.com --output table
ID Type Title Assigned To State
---- ------ --------- ------------------- -------
864 Bug Fix issue contoso@contoso.com New
Azure DevOps CLI commands aren't supported for Azure DevOps Server.
Add tags to any work item to filter backlogs, queries, and work item lists. Users with Basic access can create new tags, while users with Stakeholder access can only add existing tags.
Add a work item from a Boards, Backlogs, or Sprints page
Do the following steps to add a work item from your Boards, Backlogs, or Sprints page.
From your Boards, Backlogs, or Sprints page, choose the
plus icon or + New Work Item. The following example shows creating a work item from a board.
Note
Depending on the process chosen when the project was created—Agile, Basic, Scrum,
or CMMI—the types of work items you can create are different. For example, backlog items may be called user stories (Agile), issues (Basic) product backlog items (Scrum), or requirements (CMMI). All four are similar: they describe the customer value to deliver and the work to be performed.
Select a work item type from the dropdown menu, enter a title, and then select Enter. From a board, for example, you can also select Add to top. Before you can change the state from its initial default, save it.
Added work items are automatically scoped to your team's default area path and iteration path. To change the team context, see Switch project or team focus.
Create as many work items as you need of the type you need to track the work you want to manage.
Open Visual Studio 2019, Team Explorer, and then choose Work Items.
If you don't see the Work Items option, you need to connect to a project and not just a repository. From the Connect to a Project dialog. Use CTRL-Shift to select your options and then choose Connect.
Choose New Work Item and select the work item type you want.
When you work within Visual Studio 2017 or later version, a browser window opens with the work item form to complete. If you work within Visual Studio 2015 or earlier version, a work item form opens within Visual Studio.
area: Area the work item is assigned to (for example, Demos).
assigned-to: The email address of the person the work item is assigned-to (for example, fabrikamfiber-3@fabrikamfiber.com).
description: Description of the work item.
discussion: Comment to add to a discussion in a work item.
fields: Space separated field=value pairs for custom fields you would like to set.
iteration: Iteration path of the work item (for example, DemosIteration 1).
open: Open the work item in the default web browser.
org: Azure DevOps organization URL. You can configure the default organization using az devops configure -d organization=ORG_URL. Required if not configured as default or picked up using git config. Example: --org https://dev.azure.com/MyOrganizationName/.
project: Name or ID of the project. You can configure the default project using az devops configure -d project=NAME_OR_ID. Required if not configured as default or picked up using git config.
reason: Reason for the state of the work item.
Example
The following command creates a bug titled "Fix issue". It assigns the bug to the user contoso@contoso.com and shows the results in table format.
az boards work-item create --title "Fix issue" --type bug --assigned-to contoso@contoso.com --output table
ID Type Title Assigned To State
---- ------ --------- ------------------- -------
864 Bug Fix issue contoso@contoso.com New
Azure DevOps CLI commands aren't supported for Azure DevOps Server.
Open a view as a query
From the web portal, you can open any view, filtered view, or selected set of work items as a query. Choose Open in Queries or the Open selected items in Queries option from the context menu.