Attachments on Kanban Cards: Simple & Secure

When collaborating with your team or external stakeholders it’s important to keep everything related to a Kanban card directly on the card. This increases efficiency by not having to ask or look for pieces of information about a card, that should just be readily available on the card.

We coach teams that use a Kanban board, that during the intake process of a new card, we expect all information needed to successfully deliver that card is actually on that card. This starts with a solid description, acceptance criteria, checklists with detailed tasks, as well as all the communication about the card done on the card using comments.

A very effective way to share information is to attach to everything that can be helpful to accomplish that card. Kanban Zone provides multiple ways to attach information on a card:

Attach from Cloud

The first three green icons above represent the most popular cloud storage services (Google Drive, DropBox, and OneDrive). This is a convenient tool when you have all your files neatly organized and stored in the cloud. You can simply direct users to use your cloud files instead of duplicating them as actual attachments on a card. By synching to cloud files you ensure a single version of the file that is always up to date.

Not only is this the most effective way to do attachments, it’s also the most secure way. Files stay protected using the permissions set within your cloud service.

Attach from Computer

The next green icon above represents the traditional way to attach files by browsing your computer (or mobile device) to attach a specific file that will now be also stored on Kanban Zone. Although the most straight forward approach, you do risk having multiple versions of the file. If changes are made to that file, you will need to re-attach the latest file.

We recommend this option when attaching final files that are exactly what is needed to use to complete the card. For example, a final logo, image, or a PDF document to post in a communication.

Attach from URL

The last green icon on the right with the anchor image is a quick way to create an attachment without actually attaching anything, but instead storing the link to the attachment. This option is similar to attaching from a cloud service but requires no integration or authentification to access the file.

We recently added this option based on customer feedback to create a quick and simple way to attach almost anything to a card. The only caveat with this option is that the URL must stay valid. If that URL changes or gets deleted then the attachment will not be able to display the attached information. We use this option to share something fast that is not critical for the completion of the card.

We are always looking for ways to improve your experience on Kanban Zone. Don’t hesitate to contact us to request additional cloud services for your attachment requirements.