To move a sticky-note board online, photograph your board, clear out anything you no longer need, recreate your columns in a digital tool, then add your remaining notes as cards. Most personal boards take about 30 minutes.
Should you switch?
Paper is great: it's visible all day and always available. Switching makes sense when these problems sound familiar:
| Problem with sticky notes | How a digital board helps |
|---|---|
| Notes fall off or fade | Cards stay where you put them |
| You run out of wall | Create more boards and columns |
| The board stays at home or the office | Open it in your browser wherever you use that computer |
| No room for details | Add descriptions, tags, due dates and priorities |
What you'll need
- A phone to photograph your board
- A digital Kanban tool. We'll use kanban.fit, which is free with no signup
- About 30 minutes
Step by step
1. Photograph your board
Take clear photos of each column. It's your backup and your checklist while you move things across.
2. Clear it out first
Throw away finished notes and anything you no longer intend to do. There's no reason to carry old work into a new system.
3. Set up your columns
Match what you already use. Your new board starts with To do, In progress and Done. Click a column's name to rename it, and use Add another column for anything extra, such as Waiting. A board can have up to 10 columns.
Prefer a head start? Open the personal Kanban template.
4. Add your cards
Click Add a card under a column, type the note's text and press Enter. There's no bulk import, so you'll add them one at a time, which is also a good moment to drop anything you hesitate over.
5. Add details where they help
Open Advanced Options when you create a card, or click a card later, to add tags, a due date, a priority or an assignee name. Don't fill these in for everything. Due dates on what's really time-sensitive are usually enough.
6. Set your own work-in-progress limit
Decide how many cards you'll allow in In progress at once. Three is a good start. kanban.fit shows each column's card count but won't stop you going over, so this one is up to you.
7. Recycle the paper
Give it a few days. Once you're confident nothing's missing, take down the old board.
Before you rely on it
On kanban.fit, boards are stored in your browser. That keeps them private and quick, but it has consequences:
- Clearing your browser's site data deletes your boards.
- Your board won't appear on other devices or in other browsers.
- There's no export yet, so keep your photos until you're settled, and keep a separate copy of anything important.
Read more about how no-signup boards work.
Frequently asked questions
Does a browser-based board sync across devices?
Not on kanban.fit. If you need that, a cloud tool such as Trello is a better fit.
Can I keep using paper as well?
Yes, but running both usually means one goes stale. Pick one as your source of truth.