Key takeaways
Multi-dimensional planning surface: Combine swimlanes on the left with column grouping along the top, then layer in color coding and filters to segment work across as many dimensions as your planning context requires.
Adaptable to any workflow: The same view works for roadmap reviews, daily standups, status check-ins, and now/next/later planning - without duplicating data.
Flexible segmentation: Group by any field on either axis - teams, OKRs, products, status, time horizon, or any custom field.
Drag and drop: Move items between lanes and columns to instantly update their field values without leaving the view.
Cross-lane visibility: Items linked to multiple values appear in every relevant lane, so nothing is missed.
What is the Swimlanes view?
The Swimlanes View is a multi-dimensional planning surface that lets you visualize your work across two independent dimensions at once - rows and columns - each representing a different field.
Use it for roadmap reviews, planning sessions, stakeholder presentations, or any conversation where a single dimension isn't enough context. The same backlog can be arranged by team and quarter for a capacity discussion, or by product and status for an executive update - without changing the underlying data.
Layer in sorting, color highlighting, and filters to add further signal on top, and you have a fully configurable view that adapts to the conversation at hand.
Accessing the Swimlanes view
Follow these steps:
Click New view at the bottom of your workspace or portfolio.
Select Swimlanes view from the menu. A default view will open, ready to configure.
To use an existing Swimlanes View, select it from your list of views (or the Craft.io Guru).
Items without a value in the selected lane or column field will appear in an Unassigned group. You can assign them directly from the view without opening individual items.
Configuring your dimensions
The Swimlanes View gives you two independent dimensions to organize your work at the same time - a horizontal grouping and a vertical swimlane. Setting them up correctly is what turns a flat list into a meaningful planning canvas.
Groups (the top axis) control the horizontal columns across the top. Swimlanes (the left axis) control the horizontal rows running across the view. Together, they let you compare work across two dimensions simultaneously - for example, by Product across the top and by Quarter down the side.
Follow these steps:
Open your Swimlanes view
Click Group By in the view toolbar and select your first dimension - common choices include Product, Priority, or Timeframe
Click Swimlane and select your second dimension - common choices include Team, Status, or any custom field
None of these dimensions are fixed. Depending on your goal, the same data can be arranged very differently - by quarter and team for a planning session, or by product and status for a stakeholder review. Neither setup is permanent.
Visualization settings
Card layout
Each item is displayed as a card. Click Layout - found next to View settings in the toolbar - to select which fields appear on each card, such as status, assignee, priority, or any custom field. Card layout is configured per view, so a standup view can show minimal cards while a planning view shows full detail.
Hover over a card to see a summary of its key properties.
Click a card to open the full item properties panel.
Edit fields inline without leaving the view.
Switch to Compact mode for a condensed card view that shows item titles only. Useful when working with a high volume of items, presenting to a group, or when structure matters more than detail. Select Default to restore full card information at any time.
Color coding
Color highlighting lets you draw attention to specific items directly on the canvas - useful for flagging risks, priorities, or items that need discussion before a review session.
Follow these steps:
Click View settings in the top right of the view
Under Visualization, toggle on Present legend bar - this displays the color legend on the right side of the view
Hover over any item card and click the 3-dot menu
Select Highlight in current view and choose a color from the picker
In the legend panel on the right, click to add a label to each color
To remove a highlight, open the same 3-dot menu, select Highlight in current view, and deselect the color.
Each highlight and its label is saved to the view, so the context stays visible for anyone reviewing it.
Organizing and filtering items
Filters
Filters narrow down which items appear in the view based on any field - status, priority, product, assignee, or any custom field. The lane and column structure stays intact regardless of what is filtered in or out.
Follow these steps:
Click Filters in the view toolbar
Select the field you want to filter by - status, priority, product, assignee, or any custom field
Choose your value or values
The lane and column structure stays intact regardless of what is filtered in or out. Filters can be saved as part of the view so you do not need to re-apply them each session.
Sorting
Items within each cell can be sorted by rank, status, importance, or any other field. Sorting applies uniformly across all cells in the view.
Follow these steps:
Click Sort by in the view toolbar
Choose from Sort by Functionality - Rank or Hierarchy - or select any field under Sort by Fields
To add visual structure, toggle on Present sort dividers at the bottom of the dropdown
With sort dividers on, items within each cell are separated into labeled sub-groups based on your sort field - for example, sorting by Status will display headers like "Ready for dev" and "Under consideration" inside each cell.
Drag and drop
Items in the Swimlanes view sit at the intersection of a group and a swimlane. You can drag and drop items between cells to update both field values at once.
Move between columns - drag a card horizontally to update its column field value. For example, moving a feature from one product column to another updates the product assignment immediately
Move between lanes - drag a card vertically to update its lane field value. For example, moving a feature from one team's lane to another updates the team assignment
Changes are saved immediately. You can also update field values directly from the item properties panel if you prefer not to drag.
Multi-value items and cross-lane visibility
If an item belongs to more than one value in the lane or column field - for example, a feature associated with two OKRs - it appears in every relevant lane simultaneously. Nothing is hidden because it also belongs elsewhere.
Dragging a multi-value item from one lane updates that specific assignment while keeping all other memberships intact.
This makes OKR-based Swimlanes especially useful for leadership reviews: every feature contributing to multiple strategic objectives stays visible across all relevant lanes, with no manual duplication needed.
Practical use cases
Daily standup: Set swimlanes to Assignee and columns to Status. Each team member has a lane; each status stage has a column. The team walks the matrix in sequence, updates items inline, and flags blockers - no separate documents needed.
Status review: Set swimlanes to Product and columns to Status. Leadership sees which products have work in progress, which are blocked, and which are on track - across every product in a single view. Filter to the current quarter to keep the discussion focused.
Now / Next / Later planning: Set swimlanes to Team or Product and columns to a Time horizon field (Now, Next, Later). Drag items between columns to reprioritize in real time. Teams often use this format when the goal is alignment on direction, not precise scheduling.
Cross-team roadmap review: Set swimlanes to Objective (or Key Result) and columns to Time horizon or Release. Items linked to multiple OKRs appear in every relevant lane simultaneously, so executives can see exactly how delivery maps to goals - without a separate view per objective.
Sharing, collaboration, and staying aligned
Once your Swimlanes view is configured, it becomes a communication tool for cross-functional alignment - not just a planning artifact.
Share with internal and external audiences via direct export or Live Share. Live Share gives stakeholders a real-time window into the view without requiring a Craft.io account.
Teams can comment directly on items to surface risks or decisions in context.
Drag-and-drop changes are reflected immediately for all collaborators with access.
Build a habit of saving recurring configurations as separate named views. A standup view, a roadmap review view, and an executive view can all point to the same underlying data - with different axes, filters, and color settings for each audience.
What comes next?
Now that you understand how the Swimlanes view works, the next step is putting it into practice and building views that work for your specific audiences.
Experiment with different lane and column combinations to find the configurations that resonate with each audience.
Build a dedicated executive roadmap view using OKR-based swimlanes, a time horizon column, and color coding by team or status.
Share the view via Live Share so stakeholders stay aligned between planning sessions without requiring a Craft.io account.
Need more guidance? 🙋 Our LIVE support team (at the bottom right corner of your screen) replies to ANY question!