Create and manage work items

Now that your project is set up, let's add your first piece of work to track. Work items are the fundamental building blocks in Plane - they represent any task or piece of work your team needs to complete.

In this tutorial, you'll:

• Create work items with clear titles and descriptions
• Set essential properties like priority, assignee, and dates
• Navigate different views and work item layouts
• Move work items through your workflow states
• Complete the full work item lifecycle

Create your first work item

Add a real piece of work to your project with proper details and organization.

1. Navigate to your project

   • Click your project name in the sidebar.
   • Make sure you're in the Work items tab.

2. Start creating tasks

   • Click Add work item in the top-right corner.
   • The work item creation dialog opens

3. Add title and description

   • Title: Be specific and actionable

   • Description: Provide context and details

     Example

     Title
     "Fix login button alignment on mobile"

     Description
     The login button on mobile devices is misaligned and appears cut off on screens smaller than 375px width.

     Steps to reproduce:
     a) Visit login page on mobile device.
     b) Notice button extends beyond screen edge.

     Expected result:
     Button should be fully visible and properly centered.

4. Configure work item properties

   • State:
     • Choose where this work fits in your workflow.
     • Select Planned since you're ready to work on it.
   • Priority:
     • Indicate urgency level.
     • Choose Medium priority for this tutorial.
   • Assignees:
     • Choose who will do the work.
     • Assign this first work item to yourself.
   • Labels:
     • Categorize the work type.
     • Select frontend label for this example.
   • Dates:
     • Set timeline expectations
     • For this tutorial, set a due date a few days from now or skip dates.

5. Save your work item

   • Click Save to create the work item.
   • You'll see it appear in the List layout with a unique ID (like "ENG-1" or "PROJ-1")

info

Unfinished work items automatically save to your Drafts section, so you can always come back to complete them later.

View and update work items

Learn different ways to view and access your work items.

1. By default, the work items appear in the List layout.

   • Your newly created item appears with key details visible.
   • You can see title, state, priority, assignee, and labels at a glance.
   • Items are organized by their current workflow state.

2. Open work item details

   Peek view (Quick access):

   • Click anywhere on your work item row.
   • Side panel opens showing details without leaving the main page.
   • Good for quick updates and viewing.

   Full view (Detailed work):

   • Click the expand icon (diagonal arrows) in peek view.
   • Provides full editing and collaboration interface.

3. Update work item state

   • Open your work item in peek view or full view
   • Click on the State field.
   • Change it from Planned to In Progress.
   • The change saves automatically. Notice how the work item moves to a different section in your layout view, reflecting its new state.

4. Modify other properties

   • Priority: Change based on new urgency levels
   • Due date: Adjust timeline based on progress
   • Labels: Add or remove as you learn more about the work
   • Assignees: Reassign if responsibility changes

   All changes save automatically, and you'll see them reflected immediately in your view.

5. Move work to completion

   

   • Look for the layout options on the top right of the screen.
   • Click the Board icon.
   • You'll now see your work items organized in columns by state.
   • Find your work item in the current state column (likely "In Progress").
   • Drag and drop the work item card to the "Done" column.

   The work item automatically updates its state when you drop it, and you'll see it move visually from one column to another.

   If you prefer, you can still update the state directly by opening your work item and clicking the State field to select Done.

   Both methods accomplish the same result - the drag and drop approach gives you a visual, intuitive way to move work through your workflow states.

You've successfully created and managed your first work item!

Practice with real work

Now create 2-3 more work items using actual tasks from your project. This gives you realistic data to work with as you learn more Plane features.

Examples:

• "Update company logo on homepage"
• "Research competitor pricing strategies"
• "Fix bug in user registration flow"
• "Create onboarding email template"

What's next?

You now understand the complete work item lifecycle and can effectively track work in Plane. You're ready to:

• Collaborate on work items to learn comments, mentions, and team communication