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Help needed - Enable Kanban View on Existing Backlog

Jing Gu

I need some help.

My team has created a Backlog for our project.

Screenshot 2025-08-07 at 11.38.19 AM.png

Now, we would like to create Kanban for the project.

Can someone enlighten us on the steps we will take to complete this task?

We should have started with Kanban but somehow, we found Backlog more familiar and started there. And we hope to find a way to "import" all our entries into the Kanban.

Many thanks.

Accepted answers

All comments

Varsha Joshi

Hi @Jing Gu

One way I know is to click into the Search text box on the Jira landing page and you would see "Boards" at the bottom of the window. Click on "Boards". There is a "Create Board" blue button on top left corner. Follow the instructions that follow to create your board.

Hope this helps.

Trudy P Claspill

Hello @Jing Gu

Given that the project is of type "Team Managed Software"

1. Navigate to the project (click the project link shown in your image)

2. Check if you see a Board tab in the display. Check if you also have a Backlog tab.

Screenshot 2025-08-07 at 12.22.44 PM.png

3. Board should be present already. But if it isn't then click on the ... button next to the project name and select Project Settings.

Screenshot 2025-08-07 at 12.24.03 PM.png

4. Select Features on the left.

Screenshot 2025-08-07 at 12.25.45 PM.png

5. On the right you'll see features that can be enabled and disabled for your project. Board should be enabled with no option to disable it. But if it is not enabled, enable it.

Screenshot 2025-08-07 at 12.27.43 PM.png

6. If you want a Kanban style board, not a Scrum board, scroll down and make sure that Sprints is disabled.

Screenshot 2025-08-07 at 12.28.11 PM.png

7. If you want to also have a Backlog list where you can keep some issues "in the backlog" and not displayed on the Board. scroll up and enable the Backlog feature.

Screenshot 2025-08-07 at 12.30.15 PM.png

Jing Gu

Varsha,

I appreciate it.

My question is if my team already created a backlog, to add Kanban, can they import / sync their Backlog entries without having to enter everything again in Kanban?

If this is possible, what are the steps to follow.

Jing

Jing Gu

Trudy,

I appreciate it.

My question is if my team already created a backlog, to add Kanban, can they import / sync their Backlog entries without having to enter everything again in Kanban?

If this is possible, what are the steps to follow.

Jing

Trudy P Claspill

Hello @Jing Gu

I am unclear about what you have actually done and what additional thing you are trying to accomplish.

When you say your team "already created a backlog", what exactly do you mean? What steps did your team execute to create the "backlog"?

Can you provide a screen image showing us your "backlog"?

The term "backlog" might be used to refer to a collection of work that needs to be prioritized and scheduled. Is that how you are using the term?

If so, where does that collection of work currently exist? Did you create it within Jira? Do you now have a collection of issues (work items) in Jira that you are referring to as your "backlog"?

Within Jira work items exist in a Project. Work items that exist in a Software Project may be viewed on a tab labeled "Backlog" as I showed in the image I provided.

In Jira "Kanban" refers to a style of Agile board for displaying work items. In a Team Managed Software project you can have a "Kanban" style board or a "Scrum" style board. Like the Backlog tab, the Board is just another view of the same issues within the project.

So, if you have created issues/work items in the Project that you showed us in your image, there is no need to recreate them to see them in a Kanban style board. You just need to ensure the correct features are enabled in the project. You can do that with the steps I previously provided.

If you collection of work items exists in some other application, like an Excel file, Jira does provide functionality for import content to create issues/work items. You don't have to retype everything if you have the text available in other forms. You can learn about importing data to create issue by using a CSV file here:

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/create-issues-using-the-csv-importer/

Jing Gu

Trudy,

Thanks a lot.

My team has created a backlog, like this:

Screenshot 2025-08-08 at 5.30.13 PM.png

And in each item, the team has entered a lot of detail. Like this:

Jira Item.png

My question is to show this on Board as Kanban, do we need to re-enter all the entries?

Jing

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