How to create a Kanban board from a Zendesk view

To create a Kanban board from a Zendesk view, open Lanewell from the left navigation bar and click New board. Under Tickets from, pick the view (or type a saved search), choose what the Columns and Swimlanes are, pick the lines On each card, and click Save my board or, as an admin, Save for the team. The cards are the real tickets, so dragging one updates it.

Steps

1. Open Lanewell from the left navigation bar. You start on My open tickets.
2. Click New board.
3. Name it under Board name (up to 60 characters).
4. Pick Who sees it. Just me saves it on your own profile. Shared with the team (admins only) saves it for everyone, or only for the groups you tick.
5. Choose Tickets from. A view: any shared or personal view you can open. Or a saved search in Zendesk search syntax.
6. Choose Columns. One of the options in the table below.
7. Choose Swimlanes, or leave them off. They can use any option except the one used for columns.
8. Tune the columns. Move them left or right, untick Show on the ones you don't need, and set a WIP limit where it helps.
9. Pick what's On each card. Up to 8 lines besides the ticket number and subject: requester, assignee, group, priority, status, type, due date, updated, created, tags, or any custom field.
10. Save. Save my board, Save for the team, or Use without saving for this session only.

What columns and swimlanes can be

For group and assignee columns, Always show these columns keeps chosen groups or agents on the board even with no tickets, so you can drag tickets to them.

Saved search examples

A board reads up to 500 tickets by default, 100 at a time. An admin can set 50 to 1,000 in the app settings. If the view or search has more, the header says so; narrow it to see the rest.

Moving cards

• Drag a card to another column, lane or both. Lanewell sends one update with only what changed.
• Move to on each card (shown on hover or keyboard focus) lists the columns, for keyboard and touchpad users.
• New and Closed columns are striped: Zendesk doesn't allow moving a ticket back to New or changing a closed ticket.
• If Zendesk rejects a move, the card goes back and the message shows Zendesk's reason, such as a field required before solving or an assignee who isn't in the ticket's group.

Shared or personal?

Boards hold only their layout, never ticket data.

What it costs

Lanewell Standard is $5 per agent per month with every feature, after a 14-day trial. Zendesk asks for a card at install and bills monthly. The Lanewell documentation has every setting.