Board Viewer

Reporting and access to information is one of the fundamental functions for any manager to establish. When considering the workflow of a board, part of the process is establishing access permissions that will positively influence the outcome and reporting of the board and its tasks. 

Do you have a scenario where certain parties require access to a board, but purely for viewing purposes? Someone who might need access to an overview of the tasks, without actually contributing towards the content? In this instance the user would be assigned as a "Board Viewer."

A Board Viewer will have “Read-only” access to a board, with the ability to view the backlog, the board itself, and to add comments in the chat channels - Keeping them up to date on all the work, but unable to make any updates.

In this article we will cover:

• How to set the permission for a board viewer 
• How to access boards as a board viewer
• Which areas a board viewer can access on a board 

Setting board viewer access on a new board

First you will need to create a board to access the board settings. Continue by setting up a list of members/users that will have read only access.

The Board Viewer field in the board settings will provide the manager/ board owner the ability to set which users can have read only access to the board's information. 

The following permissioning roles are available per board:

• Board Owners: owners have manage/edit/view rights to a board.
• Board Members: members have edit/view rights to a board.
• Board Viewers: viewers have read/view only rights to a board.  

Accessing boards as a board viewer

Every board where you have been assigned as a board viewer, will be classified under the "Boards you can view only" section. This is accessed from the Boards page (the top navigation panel). 

• From this page, the board viewer can access the board by selecting the Open Board option. 

Areas on a board with access

As a board viewer, the read only access rights will allow you to view all information on a board, with no rights to editing functionality, apart from commenting on tasks. 

NOTE: Board viewers will only be able to view task details. However, if they are assigned as an assignee of a particular task, they will be able to edit certain task dialog fields. The editable fields will include: 

- Title; Description; Checklist; Attachments; and Comments

On the board, you will still have all viewing feature functionality in the backlog and with the tasks on the board. You will also be able to export to excel from both the board & backlog.

When opening up a board task as a board viewer, you will be able to view all details on the board card, yet only with access to add comments.