| title | View sample work item templates that show usage in Azure Boards |
|---|---|
| titleSuffix | Azure Boards |
| description | Learn about sample work item templates you can use to prepopulate fields and provide guidance in work item forms. |
| ms.service | azure-devops-boards |
| ms.assetid | 9b575c05-16f3-4027-aa5a-67b017a0089d |
| ms.author | chcomley |
| author | chcomley |
| ai-usage | ai-assisted |
| ms.topic | example-scenario |
| monikerRange | <= azure-devops |
| ms.date | 10/08/2025 |
[!INCLUDE version-lt-eq-azure-devops]
Work item templates save time and provide guidance when teams create user stories, features, bugs, or tasks. Teams commonly use templates to:
- create bugs for specific product areas,
- provide guidance to complete a work item,
- create work items with specific tags,
- define a bug template for use with an extension such as Bug Bash Pro.
Review this article for examples of template values. For guidance on adding, managing, and applying templates, see Use templates to add and update work items.
Note
Work item templates are distinct from process templates. For more information, see About processes and process templates or process-specific articles: Basic, Agile, Scrum, and CMMI.
As organizations grow, product areas and teams often multiply. To ensure a work item appears on the correct team's backlog or board, templates should specify the team's Area Path.
In this example, the Voice team sets the Area Path=Fabrikam Fiber/Voice.
[!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
For more about area paths, see About area and iteration (sprint) paths.
Add HTML into a rich-text field to provide guidance to authors.
For example, add this HTML into the Repos Steps field:
[!div class="tabbedCodeSnippets"]
<p><b>Steps to reproduce:</b><br>1. <br><br><b>Expected Behavior:</b><br>1. <br><br><b>Affected Branch:</b> <br> <b>Affected Build:</b><br></p>[!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
The work item form renders the HTML as shown:
[!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
Tags help you quickly filter backlogs, boards, or queries. To add multiple tags, enter them in the Tags (Add) field separated by commas (for example: Web, Sept Release).
[!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
For more about tags, see Add work item tags to categorize and filter lists and boards.
You can also use the Tags (Remove) template field to remove tags from many work items by bulk applying a template that removes the tag.
Prepopulate a custom field only after you add it to the work item type. For inherited process models, see Add and manage fields for an inherited process. For on-premises XML process models, see Add or modify a field to track work.
For example, set a custom Triage field to False to indicate a bug needs triage.
[!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
Work item templates don't create child links automatically (for example, creating five tasks from one user story). If you need that behavior, look for Marketplace extensions that add it. Examples:
::: moniker range="< azure-devops"
If your project uses the on-premises XML process model, you can add help text, hyperlinks, or web content to a form.
For more information, see:
- WebLayout and Control elements
- Provide help text, hyperlinks, or web content on a work item form
- Edit a WIT definition to add web content to a work item form
::: moniker-end
You can programmatically create, get, list, and delete work item templates with the Templates REST APIs.