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title Organize your product backlog in Azure Boards
titleSuffix Azure Boards
description Learn how to map or parent backlog items to features. Then learn how to map features to epics in Azure Boards.
ms.custom boards-backlogs
ms.service azure-devops-boards
ms.assetid C294ACBD-00A3-4FCF-8777-B354BC0CC1EF
ms.author chcomley
author chcomley
ms.topic tutorial
monikerRange <= azure-devops
ms.date 10/27/2022

Organize your backlog and map child work items to parents in Azure Boards

[!INCLUDE version-lt-eq-azure-devops]

After you've added features or epics to your portfolio backlog, organize your backlog by mapping backlog items. You can quickly add and group items into a hierarchy. And also drill up or down within the hierarchy, reorder and reparent items, and filter hierarchical views.

In this article you'll learn how to:

[!div class="checklist"]

  • Open your product backlog or portfolio backlog
  • View the tree hierarchy
  • Group backlog items using the Mapping pane
  • Reparent items through dragging or the Change parent option

[!INCLUDE temp]

Prerequisites

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::: moniker range="azure-devops"

Note

Stakeholder access users for a private project can't drag items to map or reparent them or to assign their sprint.

::: moniker-end

::: moniker range="< azure-devops"

Note

Stakeholder access users can't drag items to map or reparent them or to assign their sprint.

::: moniker-end

Open your backlog from the web portal

From your web browser, open your product backlog.

::: moniker range=">= azure-devops-2020"

  1. (1) Check that you've selected the right project, (2) choose Boards>Backlogs, and then (3) select the correct team from the team selector menu.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
    Screenshot of Open Work, Backlogs, for a team.

    To select another backlog, open the selector and then choose a different team or select the View Backlog directory option. Or, enter a keyword in the search box to filter the list of team backlogs for the project.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
    Screenshot of Choose another team.

    [!TIP]
    Choose the :::image type="icon" source="../../media/icons/icon-favorite-star.png" border="false"::: star icon to favorite a team backlog. Favorited artifacts (:::image type="icon" source="../../media/icons/icon-favorited.png" border="false"::: favorited icon) appear at the top of the team selector list.

  2. Check that you have selected Stories (for Agile), Issues (for Basic), Backlog items (for Scrum), or Requirements (for CMMI) as the backlog level.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
    Screenshot of Choose product backlog level, Backlog items, Stories, or Requirements.

  3. (Optional) To choose which columns should display and in what order, choose the :::image type="icon" source="../../media/icons/actions-icon.png" border="false"::: actions icon and select Column options. For more information, see Change column options.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
    Screenshot of Open Column Options.

::: moniker-end

::: moniker range="azure-devops-2019"

  1. (1) Check that you've selected the right project, (2) choose Boards>Backlogs, and then (3) select the correct team from the team selector menu.

    Screenshot of Open Work, Backlogs, for a team, on-premises version.

    To choose another team, open the selector and select a different team or choose the :::image type="icon" source="../../media/icons/home-icon.png" border="false"::: Browse all backlogs option. Or, you can enter a keyword in the search box to filter the list of team backlogs for the project.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
    Screenshot of Choose another team, on-premises version.

    [!TIP]
    Choose the :::image type="icon" source="../../media/icons/icon-favorite-star.png" border="false"::: star icon to favorite a team backlog. Favorited artifacts (:::image type="icon" source="../../media/icons/icon-favorited.png" border="false"::: favorited icon) appear at the top of the team selector list.

  2. Check that you have selected Backlog items (for Scrum), Stories (for Agile), or Requirements (for CMMI) as the backlog level.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
    Screenshot of Choose product backlog level, Backlog items, Stories, or Requirements, on-premises version.

  3. (Optional) To choose which columns should display and in what order, choose the :::image type="icon" source="../../media/icons/actions-icon.png" border="false"::: actions icon and select Column options. For more information, see Change column options.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
    Screenshot of Open Column Options, on-premises version.

::: moniker-end

[!INCLUDE temp]

Show parent tasks and expand the tree hierarchy

::: moniker range="azure-devops"

You can set various options to view backlog work items using the View options menu. To learn which options to set based on the tasks you want to accomplish, see Configure your backlog view.

  1. To view Parents or a tree hierarchy, choose the :::image type="icon" source="../../media/icons/view-options-icon.png" border="false"::: view options icon and slide Parents to On.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"] Screenshot of Boards, Backlogs, Open View options and choose Parents on, cloud version.

    The hierarchical view displays. From this view, you can reparent items by dragging a child item to a new parent.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"] Screenshot of Backlogs Hierarchical view, cloud version.

  2. Use the :::image type="icon" source="../media/icons/expand_icon.png" border="false"::: Expand and :::image type="icon" source="../media/icons/collapse_icon.png" border="false"::: Collapse icons to expand or collapse one level of the hierarchy.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
    Screenshot of expand and collapse icons, cloud version.

::: moniker-end

::: moniker range=">= azure-devops-2019 < azure-devops"

You can set various options to view backlog work items using the View options menu. To learn which options to set based on the tasks you want to accomplish, see Configure your backlog view.

  1. To view Parents or a tree hierarchy, choose :::image type="icon" source="../../media/icons/view-options-icon.png" border="false"::: View options and slide Parents to On.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"] Screenshot of Boards, Backlogs, Open view options and choose Parents on.

    The hierarchical view displays. From this view, you can reparent items by dragging a child item to a new parent.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"] Screenshot of Backlogs Hierarchical view.

  2. Use the :::image type="icon" source="../media/icons/expand_icon.png" border="false"::: Expand and :::image type="icon" source="../media/icons/collapse_icon.png" border="false"::: Collapse icons to expand or collapse one level of the hierarchy.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
    Screenshot of expand and collapse icons.

::: moniker-end

Map items to group them under a feature or epic

If you've already created your backlog, and now you want to organize it, you can do that most easily by mapping child items to parents.

::: moniker range="azure-devops"

  1. Choose :::image type="icon" source="../../media/icons/view-options-icon.png" border="false"::: View options and select Mapping.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"] Screenshot of View Options, Mapping enabled, cloud version.

    The Mapping pane displays immediately.

  2. Find Unparented backlog items that may appear at the end of the parented set of backlog items. Parents must be turned on in view options.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"] Screenshot of Map unparented items to a feature, cloud version.

  3. To map features to epics, select the Features backlog from the backlog selector. The Epics Mapping pane automatically displays.

::: moniker-end

::: moniker range=">= azure-devops-2019 < azure-devops"

  1. Choose :::image type="icon" source="../../media/icons/view-options-icon.png" border="false"::: View options and select Mapping.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"] Screenshot of View Options, Mapping enabled.

    The Mapping pane displays immediately.

  2. Find Unparented backlog items that may appear at the end of the parented set of backlog items. Parents must be turned on in view options.

    [!div class="mx-imgBorder"] Screenshot of Map unparented items to a feature.

  3. To map features to epics, select the Features backlog from the backlog selector. The Epics Mapping pane automatically displays.

::: moniker-end

You can multi-select backlog and sprint backlog items in the same way as you multi-select items from query results.

It's the same process to map features to epics. From the Features backlog, drag features to an epic listed under the mapping pane.

Change the parent task and reorder items

When you need to change the order or grouping, drag the item to its new location.

You can reparent an item using the mapping pane, or drag it within the hierarchy to change its parent.

[!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
Reparent or reorder work items on a backlog

You can only reparent backlog items under other features, and features under other epics.

Also, to change an item's priority within a group, drag the item up or down within its hierarchical group. Reordering from a portfolio backlog works the same as when you moved items into priority order on your product backlog.

Limitations on reordering backlog items owned by other teams

If you find you can't reorder a backlog item, check whether the :::image type="icon" source="../../media/icons/info.png" border="false"::: info icon appears in the first column as shown in the following image.

[!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
Limitations on reordering multi-team backlog items

You can reparent items owned by other teams, but you can't reorder items owned by other teams. For more information, see Backlogs, portfolios, and Agile project management, Work with multi-team ownership of backlog items.

::: moniker range=">= azure-devops-2019"

Change a parent of multiple backlog items

From a product or portfolio backlog, you can multi-select several work items and choose Change parent… to link the items to a parent work item.

::: moniker-end

::: moniker range="azure-devops"

[!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
Screenshot of Change parent menu option of several backlog items, cloud version

::: moniker-end

::: moniker range=">= azure-devops-2019 < azure-devops"

[!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
Screenshot of Change parent menu option of several backlog items.

::: moniker-end

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