What the Unplanned section is
The Planningboard layout has two main areas: the Planningboard Area on the left (cards arranged in columns by Plan and rows by swimlane) and the Unplanned Section on the right. The Unplanned section acts as a backlog holding all work items that have not yet been assigned to a Plan. Cards sit here until you drag them onto the board.
Toggle the Unplanned section
The Unplanned section can be shown or hidden using the Show Unplanned toolbar button in the upper-left corner. Click it to toggle visibility without leaving the board.Filter cards in the Unplanned section
The Unplanned section provides several filtering controls to narrow the backlog to the cards you want to plan.Filter by assignee or team
- Click the funnel icon at the bottom of the Unplanned section.
- Select one or more assignees or teams from the list.
- The section updates immediately to show only matching cards.
Hide Verified work items
Click the upper-right button in the Unplanned section header to filter out work items with the status Verified. This keeps the backlog focused on actionable items.Filter out already-planned Verified work items
The Filter columns option hides Verified work items that are already planned on the board. This is useful when your query includes planned items (for example when Add Planned is enabled in the widget parameters) and you want to remove the clutter of done work.Plan cards from the Unplanned section
Drag and drop onto a Plan
- Find the card you want to plan in the Unplanned section.
- Drag it to the target cell on the board — the intersection of the Plan column and the appropriate swimlane row.
- Release to assign the work item to that Plan.
Use the Unplan action to return a card to backlog
To move a planned card back to the Unplanned section:- Hover over the card on the board.
- Click the Unplan item quick-action icon that appears in the upper-right corner of the card.
Configure what appears in the Unplanned section
The Unplanned section renders work items based on the widget’s work-item query and optional Queries configuration. To control which backlog items appear:
For the Unplanned sidebar specifically, two additional parameters control the parent hierarchy display:
See Configure Unplanned Sidebar and Configure Work Items Dataset for full parameter details.
Set up named Queries for the Unplanned section
Named Queries let team members switch quickly between filtered backlog views — for example, showing only items with a specific status or assigned to a specific component.- Open the widget parameters for your Planningboard.
- Navigate to the Queries section.
- Add a query with a name and a Lucene filter expression (for example:
status:reviewed). - Save the widget parameters.
Workflow: assign backlog items during sprint planning
Verify your results
After assigning cards from the Unplanned section, you should see:- The cards you dragged now appear as cells in the correct Plan column and swimlane row on the board.
- The Unplanned section no longer contains those cards (unless Add Planned is enabled in the widget parameters, in which case they remain visible but can be hidden using the Filter columns option).
- The capacity bar for the affected swimlane reflects the updated load.
- In Polarion, the work items’
plannedInfield is updated to the target Plan.
See also
- Configure Unplanned Sidebar — set up parent hierarchy depth, link roles, and named queries
- Configure Work Items Dataset — control the backlog query, type filters, and
Add Plannedbehavior - Drag and Drop Planning — detailed guide to drag-and-drop interactions on the board
- Basic Board Interactions — overview of toolbar controls and card actions
- Track Team Capacity — understand capacity bars and how they relate to the items you plan