Need help — my board layout changed on its own, lost category-as-columns view

[Shady Abdel-Atty]

Hi all,

My Business-type Space board layout suddenly changed and I can't get it back. Hoping someone here has seen the same thing or knows a fix.

Before (how it worked for months):

Board was grouped by Category. Each category was a vertical column running across the screen — one column per store project (London Vigo Street, Salt Lake City, Breuninger Nuremberg, Troy Somerset, etc.). Inside each column, I had the tasks for that project stacked underneath (Store Operations, Maintenance, HR, Logistics, etc.). It was clean — every project mapped out side by side, scrolling horizontally between them. The Group button was on the right side of the toolbar.

Now:

Same Space, same "Group: Category" setting. But:

• Categories are no longer columns. They're now horizontal sections stacked vertically down the page 
• Inside each section, the cards are forced into status columns (Open Tasks / In Progress / etc.) — even though I never used status grouping before.
• The Group button has also moved from the right side of the toolbar to the left side.
• I didn't change any settings. The change just appeared.

Screenshots attached (old layout vs new layout).

Thanks,

Shady

[Sid Zhang]

I am having the same issue. The board experience changed several times during past several weeks.

[John Funk]

Hi Shady - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Looks like Swimlanes have been added maybe and the swimlanes are based on the Category. 

Click the 3 dots to the right of the board name, then select Configure board (or the equivalent).

Then click the Layout option on the left. Things to look for - first, are there swimlanes added and what are they based on? And, how are the statuses mapped to the columnsf?

[Shady Abdel-Atty]

Hi John,

Thanks for checking and trying to support.

Unfortunately, i don't see any of the given options. Is it something related to the "Business Space"? I do believe its indeed related to the swimlanes, not sure if there is an other option to find it?

[John Funk]

Yes, that would be because it is a Business space board. I suggest creating a second board to see if that help you. Here are the instructions:

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Agile-articles/Creating-a-Second-Agile-Board-for-Team-Managed-or-JIra-Work/ba-p/2115018

[Shady Abdel-Atty]

Thanks, also didnt work..

Is there a difference when this is not a board but a space?
Also another colleague board, the group function is on the right while mine is on the left which wasn't the case before..

[John Funk]

What didn't work? What were you trying to do that you couldn't? And there are no cards on the board. Is your board filter configured correctly to pull in work items? 

[Shady Abdel-Atty]

Yes, when I followed the steps from the other page, it still didn’t work for me.

I also checked yesterday with another colleague who uses an iMac, and she still sees the “old” layout. We compared all the settings, but everything appears to be the same.

Do you happen to know if there’s a Jira support team or helpdesk I could jump on a quick call with and maybe share screens?

Most other departments are seeing the same layout as I am, which makes it even harder to understand what’s causing the difference haha. @John Funk 

[John Funk]

You can submit a support ticket to https://support.atlassian.com/contact#/

but don't expect a call. For your colleague, it might be that she never closes her browser or that it is in cache. But it will change for her one day, too. 

My best advice is to start working towards the new view to make it work for you. Atlassian is not going to roll changes like these back. Just trying to be upfront with you. 

You could try to create a second board to use the project/space and maybe have some more control over it. Here is an article to help with that. 

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-articles/Creating-a-Second-Agile-Board-for-Team-Managed-or-JIra-Work/ba-p/2115018