Content:
1. Introduction to the "Kanbanize for Sheets" add-on
2. Getting Started
3. How to Update your Board Data?
4. How to Create New Cards?
5. How to Create Subtasks?
6. How to Create and Update Timeline Initiatives?
7. How to Delete Card Details?
1. Introduction to the "Kanbanize for Sheets" add-on
With our Add-on for Google Sheets named "Kanbanize for Sheets", users can easily:
- export board data (both cards and initiatives)
- update board data (both cards and initiatives)
- create new cards and initiatives
Disclaimer: Kanbanize recommends that you perform a test with the Add-on functionality on a dedicated test Board to ensure correct use and to minimize the risk of unexpected results.
2. Getting Started
First, you have to install the add-on.
Open a new or existing Google spreadsheet in your browser. Select the Ads-ons menu and click Get add-ons.
In the Add-on Store, search for "Kanbanize for Sheets" and install the plugin.
After the installation process, go to the Add-ons menu again to see your new extension and click on it to start importing/exporting data via the extension menu.
Once it is launched, follow the following steps to get started with the add-on.
Step 1: Enter your Kanbanize credentials as follows:
-> URL: This is your domain name (https://yourdomainname.kanbanize.com)
-> API Key: generate an API key from My account and paste it into the field.
Step 2: Then click the “Connect ” button to connect to your account.
Once logged in, you will be shown the following menu:
- There are 3 different windows: Export/Import, Reports, and Settings.
- In the Export/Export window, you can select the desired board from your Kanbanize Account.
Note: Only the Boards you are assigned to will be visualized. - In case you have been assigned to a new board/a board’s name has been changed, you can refresh the list of boards by clicking this button.
- From this menu, you can control what data you want to be exported from the board. Once you click on it, you will be shown a dropdown of all Regular and Custom fields that are available on the selected board.
- Once you have configured the above configurations, you have to select 'Extract' to get the information into the spreadsheet.
- The Update button sends any changes you make to the document to be applied in Kanbanize. You will see a window detailing the changes you have made that you will have to approve before importing those changes into Kanbanize.
From the Reports window, you can export any saved reports (from the Reporting Functionality) in your Kanbanize Account into the Sheet.
- Select the desired Report from the ones configured in your Kanbanize account.
- If you create a new Report in Kanbanize that you wish to extract, refresh the list of reports, so it shows up in the drop-down list.
- After selecting the desired report, you need to click on Extract to get the data in the sheet.
Note: a new sheet will be created for each new report exported from Kanbanize.
From the Settings window, you can modify the following options:
- Date format - this format can be configured to be different than the one used in Kanbanize and will apply to all Date fields that are exported.
- Time format: you can toggle between the 12h and 24h clock format.
- Light mode - you can use light mode when loading times become longer. When in light mode, the system will extract the IDs of most elements instead of their values. For example, instead of the name of the Owner, you will get the User ID of the Owner.
- Allow delete items - this configuration adds a new column next to the cards that are displayed, using which you can delete cards. You cannot delete cards using the Add-on unless this setting is toggled on.
- Allow delete links - when toggled on, this configuration allows you to delete the links between the cards on your Kanbanize Board using the Add-on. You cannot delete links using the Add-in unless this setting is toggled on.
3. How to Update your Board Data?
You can update cards and initiatives in any of the boards which are available in the board dropdown menu.
To update your cards or initiatives, first, you have to export the board data along with the properties you want to change. Then input the new values in the cells to replace the old values and click the Update button in the Add-on menu.
Important: Make sure you have selected the field which you want to edit in the Add-ons menu to the right of the screen, when importing the information.
These are all the data fields you can export with the Add-on:
Blocked, Blocked reason, Board parent, Co-owners, Color, Column, Column Name*, Created at, Custom id, Cycle time, Deadline, Description, External link, Lane, Lane Name*, Links, Logged time, Owner, Position, Priority, Reporter, Size, Subtask details, Tags, Timeline initiative details, Title, Type, Updated at, Work item, Workflow Name*.
These are the editable properties:
Title, Description, Type, Owner, Co-owners, Subtasks Details, Color, Priority, Size, Deadline, External link, Tags, Blocked, Blocked reason, Column name**, Lane name**, Custom fields, Links*, and Watchers.
If you try to edit any of the other properties, the changes won't be reflected.
*Important: The Column Name, Lane Name, and Workflow Name fields are not editable, and they only display the information about the card's location. You should use the Column and Lane fields to move the cards.
Note 1: When you enter a new value, you should keep the formatting of the original text.
Note 2: "Tags" are separated by a comma. Already existing multiple-word tags for the board will be recognized by the add-on and imported as expected. Inputting a multiple-word tag (e.g. "test tag") that does not yet exist will create two new tags instead ("test" and "tag") so it is recommended that tags are managed via the UI beforehand.
Note 3*: Users can link cards via the Add-on. Just insert the IDs of the cards that you want to link in the respective Link column:
For example (img.2), for a card ID50, we are adding relative cards with IDs: 30, 31, 48, 99.
Note 4**: Using the column/lane parameters, it is only possible to move cards from one column/lane to another within the same workflow. It is currently not possible to move a card/initiative from one workflow/board to another.
The allowed formats for the IDs are as follows:
- 43,31,48,99 (using comma to separate the IDs)
- 43; 31; 48; 99 (using a semicolon to separate the IDs)
- each ID on a new line (select Alt+enter to insert a line break).
You can easily edit or delete a link by editing the cell or the line that contains the linked ids.
4. How to Create New Cards?
Users can create new cards, initiatives, and subtasks using the add-on.
Create a new item/multiple items by entering the card values in the empty rows below the respective column headers in the spreadsheet. Just leave the ID field empty!
When importing empty/blank values, the system will get the default system ones i.e. None.
To create the new items, click the Update button of the add-on, and the cards will get created on the board.
5. How to Create Subtasks?
In order to create a subtask, you should have the following fields extracted via the add-in:
Links, Subtask Details, and Work item.
Once you have extracted those, you can create a subtask by clicking on the Work Item cell of the respective row and choosing 'Subtask'.
By default, the add-on will suggest a parent for this subtask and will automatically populate the Parents cell - this would always be the first card/initiative on top of the row, where the subtask is being created.
If the previous row is not yet populated with an already created card, the cell will be populated with the value of the row for that card.
The 'Parents' cell can be modified in order to associate the subtask with another card/initiative.
6. How to Create and Update Timeline Initiatives?
Once you enter your Kanbanize credentials (URL and API key), select which card properties you want to export.
Once you export the selected properties, you can add a new row with the corresponding values for the Timeline Initiative i.e. Title, Workflow, Column name, Planned Start Date, Planned End Date, Start Date, End Date, Track.
Please note the following:
- To create a Timeline initiative in "Requested", you need to specify the Planned start and Planned End dates.
- To create a Timeline initiative "In progress", you need to specify the Start date and Planned end date.
- To create a Timeline initiative in "Done", you need to specify the Start date and End date.
* The allowed date formats are as follows: MM/DD/YYYY, DD-MM-YYYY, YYYY-MM-DD
7. How to Delete Card Details?
By default, the system allows users to delete cards values via the add-on, but they cannot delete the cards themselves. If you want to be able to delete cards and card links, you need to have the following settings enabled:
To delete anything in Kanbanize, you have to click the Update button from the add-on. You will not delete anything unless you update through the Add-on.