| title | View and add work items | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| titleSuffix | Azure Boards | ||
| description | Learn how to view and filter work items like user stories, issues, and bugs, as well as create them. | ||
| ms.custom | boards-work-items, devx-track-azurecli, engagement-fy23 | ||
| f1_keywords |
|
||
| ms.service | azure-devops-boards | ||
| ms.assetid | EBDE0739-FAE6-4BEA-8F59-E9D20AFE5FE8 | ||
| ai-usage | ai-assisted | ||
| ms.author | chcomley | ||
| author | chcomley | ||
| ms.topic | quickstart | ||
| monikerRange | <=azure-devops | ||
| ms.update | 90-days | ||
| ms.date | 01/12/2026 |
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This article shows how to view, filter, and create work items (user stories, issues, bugs, tasks). It covers the most common ways to add work items: the web portal, Boards/Backlogs/Sprints pages, Visual Studio, and the Azure DevOps CLI.
What you learn:
- How to open and navigate the Work items page.
- How to filter and save personal views.
- How to add work items from different entry points (web, boards, Visual Studio, CLI).
To create test cases and link them to user stories, see Add, run, and update inline tests and Create test plans and test suites.
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There are three common ways to open the Work items page.
From your project, choose Boards > Work items.
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Open Visual Studio, Team Explorer, and choose Work Items. To switch between the modern and legacy Work Items experience, see Set the Work Items experience in Visual Studio.
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If you don't see Work Items, you aren't connected to a project. Use the Connect to a Project dialog (use CTRL+Shift to select multiple options) and then choose Connect.
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The Azure DevOps CLI lets you list and operate on work items (for Azure DevOps Services). It doesn't open the web UI. See the following CLI section for examples.
Note
The available work item types depend on the process chosen when the project was created—Agile, Basic, Scrum, or CMMI. Backlog items might be called user stories, issues, product backlog items, or requirements depending on the process.
For more information, see About processes and process templates.
Use the Work items page to quickly find items assigned to you, items you're following, items that mention you, and more. Each pivot has interactive filters and the page remembers your filter settings per pivot.
Use the pivot menu to select a focus (for example, "Assigned to me") and then apply filters to narrow results.
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- Assigned to me: Items assigned to you (sorted by last update). Items in the Removed state are excluded.
- Following: Items you're following.
- Mentioned: Items mentioning you (last 30 days).
- My activity: Items you recently viewed or updated.
- My team(s): Items your team members recently viewed or updated.
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Other pivots:
- **Recently updated—items updated recently in the project.
- **Recently completed—items completed/closed in the project.
- **Recently created—items created in the last 30 days.
You can sort by any column (use Column Options). For more, see Change column options.
Double-click the work item title or open the context menu and choose Open. The work item opens in a browser with the full form.
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- Assign to me: Set Assigned To to your account.
- New Branch...: Create a branch linked to the work item. See Drive Git development.
- Complete work item: Set the State to Completed/Done/Closed.
- Relate to changes: Link the work item to recent commits.
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You can inspect work items with the Azure DevOps CLI. Example:
az boards work-item show --id 864 --open --output table --org https://dev.azure.com/MyOrganizationName/
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Filter each work item pivot view by entering a keyword or using fields like work item type (Types), State, Area Path, and Tags. The page remembers your filters for each pivot, providing personalized views across all pivots. For more information, see Filter backlogs, boards, queries, and plans.
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No az boards command applies to filtering. Azure DevOps CLI commands are only valid for Azure DevOps Services.
You can add work items from the Work Items page or from a Boards, Backlogs, or Sprints page in the web portal, from Visual Studio, or by using the Azure DevOps CLI.
Note
New work items are assigned to the last Area Path and Iteration Path selected by the user.
Select New Work Item and choose the work item type from the drop-down menu. For example, here we choose User Story.
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Tip
Work items you add are automatically assigned to the current team's area and iteration paths. To change the team context, see Switch project or team focus. Enter a title and save the work item. You must save it before changing its initial default state.
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Select New Work Item and choose the work item type you want. For example, we choose User Story.
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A browser window opens, displaying the work item form for you to complete.
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Enter a title and then Save the work item. You must save it before changing its initial default state.
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Add tags to any work item to filter backlogs, queries, and work item lists. Users with Basic access can create new tags, while users with Stakeholder access can only add existing tags.
Do the following steps to add a work item from your Boards, Backlogs, or Sprints page.
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From your Boards, Backlogs, or Sprints page, choose the :::image type="icon" source="../../media/icons/blue-add.png" border="false"::: plus icon or + New Work Item. The following example shows creating a work item from a board.
:::image type="content" source="media/new-work-item-button.png" alt-text="Screenshot showing highlighted New item button, for creating a work item.":::
[!NOTE] Depending on the process chosen when the project was created—Agile, Basic, Scrum, or CMMI—the types of work items you can create are different. For example, backlog items might be called user stories (Agile), issues (Basic) product backlog items (Scrum), or requirements (CMMI). All four are similar: they describe the customer value to deliver and the work to be performed.
For more information, see About processes and process templates.
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Select a work item type from the dropdown menu, enter a title, and then select Enter. From a board, for example, you can also select Add to top. Before you can change the state from its initial default, save it.
You can add tags to any work item to filter backlogs and queries.
Added work items are automatically scoped to your team's default area path and iteration path. To change the team context, see Switch project or team focus.
Create as many work items as you need of the type you need to track the work you want to manage.
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Open Visual Studio, Team Explorer, and then choose Work Items.
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If you don't see the Work Items option, you need to connect to a project and not just a repository. From the Connect to a Project dialog. Use CTRL-Shift to select your options and then choose Connect.[!div class="mx-imgBorder"]
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Choose New Work Item and select the work item type you want.
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When you work within Visual Studio 2017 or later version, a browser window opens with the work item form to complete. If you work within Visual Studio 2015 or earlier version, a work item form opens within Visual Studio.
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From the web portal, you can open any view, filtered view, or selected set of work items as a query. Choose Open in Queries or the Open selected items in Queries option from the context menu.
Queries provide the following features and more:
- Edit one or more fields of several work items
- Add or remove tags from several work items
- Change the work item type
- Delete work items
- Apply work item templates
For more information, see Bulk modify work items. For more information about queries, see Use the query editor to list and manage queries and Query fields, operators, and macros.
Use the following three controls to manage your views in the web portal.
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Control Function View/hide completed items Turn filtering On/Off /
Enter or exit full screen mode
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