Flowboard User Guide

1Getting started

Open https://localhost:7180 (when run from Visual Studio or dotnet run). You land on the sign-in page. All demo accounts share one password, shown in the next section. There is no self-registration and no email: an administrator creates every account.

2Demo logins

Password for every account: Flowboard@2026

No account has two-step verification turned on yet. Any user can enable it under Settings › Security; the next sign-in then asks for a 6-digit authenticator code. There is no Viewer-role account in the sample data; an administrator can change any user's role to Viewer to try read-only access.

3Roles and permissions

Flowboard has three layers. The system role caps what a person can ever do; the Workspace role and board role grant rights within that cap. The server enforces every rule; the browser only hides controls.

System roles (set by an administrator)

Workspace roles (Workspace › Members)

• Admin – Workspace settings, members, join requests, collections, logo, merge and delete; acts as admin on every board in the Workspace.
• Member – sees Workspace-visible boards, can create boards there (if their system role allows and Workspace settings permit), can join boards that allow self-join.
• Viewer – like a member but read-only on Workspace boards.
• Guest – only sees the boards they were explicitly added to.

Board roles (board › Share)

• Admin – board settings, visibility, background, labels, custom fields, automations, members and roles, close, reopen, delete the board, delete cards and lists.
• Member – create, edit, move, archive cards and lists; comment; add members when the board setting allows it; cannot delete cards (archive instead).
• Observer – read-only: no drag and drop, no card composer, no editing controls. Only when the board's commenting setting includes observers ("Members and observers" or "Workspace members") can an observer comment, react, watch and vote; with "Members" or "Disabled" the board is strictly view-only.

Board visibility

• Private – only board members.
• Workspace – every Workspace member (not guests) can open it; members and admins can join if "self-join" is on.
• Organisation – everyone signed in to Flowboard can open it (read-only unless they are members). An administrator can turn this option off.

4Sample data

The database is loaded with realistic demo content so every screen has something to show.

Workspaces

Boards

Personal data per user

• Layla – notifications of every type, 6 Inbox cards (Today / This week / Later), 4 Planner blocks this week, 3 saved searches, 3 Workspace views, starred boards.
• Ahmed, Sara, John – their own notifications, Inbox cards, Planner blocks, saved searches and starred boards, so the personal screens are not empty when you switch account.
• Mohammed, Fatima, Priya, Omar, Noura – a few notifications each and cards assigned to them on their boards.
• The audit log holds sign-ins and admin actions over the last two weeks, so the Administration dashboard chart shows activity.

Due dates are relative to the day the data was loaded, so "overdue", "due today" and "due this week" stay meaningful.

5Features at a glance

6How to use every screen

Step-by-step instructions for each page, in the order you meet them. Words in bold are the exact labels on screen. Where a control needs a role, the role is named.

The header (on every page)

• Home · My Work · Inbox · Planner · Workspaces · Templates – the main pages. The Workspaces chevron opens a menu with each Workspace and "All Workspaces".
• Search Flowboard (or press /) – type to see live results (cards, boards, people). Use the operator chips under the box, arrow keys to move, Enter to open, Esc to close. Enter on text opens the full search page.
• Create – Board, Board from template, Workspace view (a Table or Calendar across boards), Card in Inbox (title + Today / This week / Later), Workspace (Managers and admins).
• Bell – unread count; the list shows the latest notifications with quick actions (open, reply, change due date, mark read); Mark all read; See all opens the Notifications page.
• ? – Keyboard shortcuts, Getting started guide (in-app tour), Automation guide, and User guide (all features), which opens this page in a new tab. The sign-in page has the same link.
• Your avatar – Profile, Settings, Language, Administration (system admins), Sign out.
• Board switcher (press b or the icon at the far left) – Starred (drag to reorder), Recent and per-Workspace lists with a search box; the star on each row pins or unpins it.
• Floating bar (bottom right on small screens) – Inbox, Planner, last board, switch boards.

Home

• Up next – your cards with a due date, soonest first. Complete marks the card done on its board; Dismiss hides it from Home only. Click the title to open the card.
• Highlights – recent comments and changes on boards you are on. Reply opens the card with the comment box pre-filled with @name; 👍 adds a reaction.
• Checklist items – items assigned to you; tick them here.
• Starred boards / Recent boards / Workspaces – one click to open. Star a board from the board bar or the switcher.

My Work

• Tabs: Assigned, Checklist items, Due today, Due this week, Overdue, Completed.
• Group by due date or board. Tick the circle to complete a card or item; click a title to open it on its board.

Inbox

• Type a title in Add a card, choose Today / This week / Later, press Enter. Inbox cards are private to you.
• Filter – keyword, due date (today / this week / overdue) and created (today / this week); Clear resets.
• Card ⋯ menu – Move to board, Set due date, Cover, Add checklist, Move to Today / This week / Later, Delete (with Undo in the toast).
• Click a card to edit its title; the dialog also has Move to board, Dates, Checklist.
• Drag a card between the three buckets, or drop it on a list in the board pane on the right (your most recently opened board) to turn it into a real card there. Open board jumps to that board.

Planner and focus blocks

The Planner is your personal week. A focus block is a slot of time you reserve for work; it belongs to you only, is never shown to other people, and never changes a card's due date.

• Today, ‹ › move through weeks; Day / 3 days / Work week change the range. The red line is now.
• From your boards (left) lists the cards assigned to you that are not yet planned; From Inbox lists your Inbox cards.
• Plan a card: drag it from the left list onto a half-hour slot. A 60-minute block is created with the card's title and the card is linked to it (the block shows the card with a link icon; the card disappears from the left list because it is now planned).
• Link more cards to a block: drag another card from the left list and drop it on the block itself. The block lists every linked card; the dialog shows them as chips you can click to open the card on its board. This is what "Linked cards – Drag cards onto the block to link them" means.
• Plan an Inbox card: drag it into a slot; a block with that title is created (Inbox cards are not board cards, so they are not linked).
• Focus block button (top right) or clicking an empty slot area: create a block by hand with Title, Start and Duration (30–180 min).
• Move a block: drag it to another slot or day. Edit: click it, change title, start or duration, Save. Delete block removes only the block – linked cards stay on their boards and come back to the left list.
• Blocks are saved to your account, so they follow you to any browser.

Creating and finding boards

• Create › Board: background, title, Workspace, visibility (Private / Workspace / Organisation), optional template; you become board admin. Users cannot create boards (Managers and admins can).
• Templates page: preview a template (lists, sample cards), Use template to create a board from it; board admins can Make template from the board menu and edit template boards.
• Find boards on Home, in the switcher, under Workspace › Boards (sort A–Z / recent, search, collections, View closed boards) or with search.

The board (Kanban view)

• Board bar: click the title to rename (admins); ★ star; visibility button (admins); view links Kanban · Table · Calendar · Timeline · Dashboard; Automation; board buttons (e.g. Archive completed); member avatars → Share; Filter; ⋯ menu drawer.
• Share: add people by name, username or email; set their board role (Admin / Member / Observer); remove; allow self-join for Workspace members; Copy link.
• Filter: keyword, members (incl. "me"), status, due (overdue / today / week / no date / complete), labels, activity, list, start date, custom fields; Match any / all; Save as view to keep a filter (views are listed in the same panel); Clear all. Press x to clear, q for "only my cards".
• Add another list (right end) – type a name, Enter. Click a list title to rename; drag the list header to reorder; the chevron collapses it (collapsed lists still accept dropped cards).
• List ⋯ menu: Add card, Copy list, Move list (to a position or another board), Move all cards in this list, Sort by… (created, name, due, start, first member, first label, custom field; ascending/descending), Watch, Set WIP limit (header turns red when exceeded), list colour, automation shortcuts, Collapse, Archive all cards, Archive this list, Delete list (admins).
• Add a card (bottom of a list or list menu): type a title and press Enter; Shift+Enter opens the new card. Shortcuts inside the title: @username adds a member, #label adds a label, ^top / ^bottom sets the position, and words like tomorrow, friday 3pm, 12 oct set the due date (the words stay in the title; click Don't set in the hint to skip the date). Typing --- creates a separator. Pasting a board link creates a board card.
• Drag cards between lists and within a list. Drop a card on a collapsed list to move it there.
• Card front: the circle marks complete; labels (click one to toggle label names on all cards, or press ;); badges for dates, checklist (click the badge to expand the checklist inline and tick items), comments, attachments, votes; member avatars; the pencil (hover) or right-click opens quick edit (rename, labels, members, cover, dates, move, copy, mirror, make template, convert to separator, archive, open).
• Multi-select: Shift+click up to 20 cards; the bar at the bottom offers Move, Copy, labels, members, archive; Esc clears.
• Undo: every change shows a toast with Undo; press z (undo) or Shift+z (redo).

Board menu (⋯)

• About – description (Markdown), admins, permissions summary, Change permissions.
• Settings – commenting (disabled / members / observers / Workspace), adding members (admins / all), self-join, Workspace editing, card display (covers, labels, badges), card aging (regular / pirate), voting.
• Background – colours, gradients, presets, upload an image, tile/cover, light/dark text.
• Labels – create (name, description, colour or none), search, edit, delete; colourblind-friendly mode; show label names.
• Custom Fields – up to 50 fields: text, number, date, dropdown (options), checkbox; "show on card front"; drag to reorder; a field's type cannot change once created.
• Stickers – drag an emoji onto a card; upload your own.
• Activity – all / comments.
• Archived items – cards and lists: search, Send to board, Delete permanently.
• Print, export and share – print, JSON, CSV, PDF, copy board link.
• Copy board, Watch, Star, Make template, Close board, Leave board, Delete board (close first; type the name to confirm).

The card (click any card)

• Title – click to edit, Enter saves. The crumb "in list …" moves the card. Top-right: Watch (eye), Actions, hide/show the comments panel, close (Esc).
• Add menu or the buttons under the title: Labels (search, tick, create new, colourblind mode), Dates (start, due with time, reminder from "at time" to 1 week before, repeat daily/weekly/monthly/yearly, Save / Remove), Checklist (title, optionally copy items from another checklist), Members (search board members), Attachment (files, a link, another card or board), Custom Fields, Cover (colour, size, dark text, attachment image, upload, remove), Stickers.
• Checklists – add items (one per line to add several), tick, hide/show checked, drag to reorder, rename the checklist, item menu: assign, due date, convert to card, delete; delete the checklist.
• Attachments – preview, download, make cover, rename, delete.
• Description – editor with formatting toolbar and Markdown; Save / Cancel.
• Comments – write with emoji and @mention pickers, attach a file with the paperclip, Save; on a comment: react, reply, edit, copy link, delete. The panel also shows the card's activity (Show details).
• Card buttons at the bottom (e.g. Start task) run an automation on this card. Add button opens the automation page.
• Actions – Join/Leave, Watch, Mark complete, Vote (when voting is on), Move, Copy, Mirror (a live copy on another board), Make template, Share (copy link), Print, Archive → Send to board or Delete.
• A template card shows a banner with Create card from template. A mirror card shows where it comes from and can be unlinked.

Table, Calendar, Timeline, Dashboard

• Table – one row per card; edit list, labels, members, dates and custom fields in place; sort by any column; Columns chooses what is shown; the filter panel applies here too.
• Calendar – month / week / day; cards by due date; drag an event to another day to reschedule (the time of day is kept); click a day's + to add a card due that day; the filter applies.
• Timeline – bars from start to due date; drag to move or resize; zoom (day → year), Today, group by list / member / label / due date, Not scheduled shows cards without dates so you can drag them onto the timeline.
• Dashboard – KPI tiles (open, overdue, due this week, completed) and charts: cards per list / member / label / due date / priority (pie or bar), created vs completed trend (line). Add tile, change chart type, Remove tile; the layout is saved per user.

Search operators

Combine free text with: @me or @username (member), #label or label:name, board:name, list:name, type:card|board|person, due:day · due:week · due:overdue · due:complete, created:week, edited:day · edited:week, has:attachments · has:cover · has:description, is:open · is:archived · is:starred, sort:due · sort:created · sort:edited. Put - in front to exclude (-list:Done). Save search keeps the query in the left column of the search page.

Workspaces

• Workspaces page – tiles with member count and boards; Create Workspace (Managers and admins); workspaces you are not in show Request to join when they are visible to the organisation.
• Overview – description, boards, members, recent activity.
• Boards – tiles (star, ⋯ › add to a collection, move to another Workspace, open); sort and search; Collections chips filter the tiles (double-click a chip to rename or delete it, New collection to add one); View closed boards → Reopen or Delete.
• Members – segments Members / Guests / Join requests; filter by name; change a member's Workspace role (Admin / Member / Viewer); Remove; Leave on your own row (the last admin cannot leave); Invite members by name, username or email; approve or decline join requests.
• Table and Calendar – choose up to 20 boards, filter, and see all their cards in one table or calendar; New view saves the selection (private or shared with the Workspace).
• Activity – everything that happened across the Workspace's boards; filter by board, person and type.
• Settings (Workspace admins) – name, short name, description, visibility, guests allowed, invite link, restrict members to an email domain, who may create boards / delete boards, logo, Create export (ZIP), Merge into another Workspace, Delete Workspace (type the name).

Notifications

• Bell → latest items; Notifications page → all of them with filters (unread, mentions, due dates, comments, boards) and per-item actions: open, Reply, Change due date, mark read / unread, Mark all read.
• What triggers a notification and who receives it is in section 7; switches are in Settings › Notifications.

Profile and settings

• Profile – name, username (used in @mentions), job title, bio, photo (Change photo / Remove).
• Settings › Account – change password (current + new twice; 10+ characters with a number and a symbol); recent sign-ins; Sign out of this device.
• Notifications – one switch per type; desktop notifications; auto-watch new cards; watching summary.
• Appearance – Light / Dark / Match system; label names on cards; compact cards; reduce motion.
• Accessibility – colourblind-friendly patterns; keyboard shortcuts on/off; View all shortcuts.
• Preferences – language (English / العربية), time zone, day-first dates, 24-hour time, first day of week, suggestions.
• Security – two-step verification (set up with QR code / key, turn off with password), recent sign-ins.
• My activity – your recent actions.

Administration (system admins)

• Dashboard – users, boards, cards and overdue counts, sign-ins over 14 days, storage used, recent admin actions, Open audit log.
• Users – search and status filter; Add user (name, username, email, job title, temporary password, system role, Workspace, "require password change"); per row: change role, Edit, Reset password (one-time temporary password shown once), Reset two-step, Deactivate / Reactivate, Delete; Export CSV.
• Roles and Permissions – the matrices, plus installation defaults (default board visibility, default commenting, allow Organisation-wide boards) which save automatically.
• Workspaces and Boards – every Workspace and board including private ones; open, reopen closed boards, change admins.
• Audit log – search, filter by user, type and date range, paging, Export CSV.
• System settings – organisation name, attachment size limit and blocked file types, session timeout, minimum password length, lockout threshold, require two-step, default theme, audit retention, background image library (add / remove); Save settings.

7Who gets updates

Notifications are created on the server when a board is saved. You never receive notifications about your own actions (reminders and automation messages are the exception). Each type can be switched off in Settings › Notifications.

How to follow things

• Watch a card – eye icon on the card back or press s. New cards you create are watched automatically (Settings › Notifications › Watching).
• Watch a list – list menu › Watch. You then hear about every card added to, moved into or commented on in that list.
• Watch a board – board menu › Watch. You hear about comments, moves and attachments on every card.
• Desktop notifications – Settings › Notifications › Enable. Shown while a Flowboard tab is open in the background.

8Complete flows

A. Administrator onboards a new person

B. Manager sets up a project

C. Team member's daily work

D. Forgotten password

E. Two-step verification

F. Closing, deleting and exporting a board

• Board admin: board menu › Close board. Closed boards are read-only and listed under Workspace › Boards › View closed boards, where they can be reopened or deleted (type the exact name to confirm).
• Board menu › Print, export and share: JSON, CSV (with custom fields) or PDF. Workspace › Settings › Create export for a ZIP of all boards.

9Automation

Open a board › Automation (or the board menu). Only board admins (Managers and system admins) can create or change automations; members can run buttons.

Actions available: move / copy the card to a list, archive, add or remove members, join, add or remove labels, add checklist ("Title: item one, item two"), check items, set / remove due date, set start date to now, mark complete or incomplete, set custom field ("Priority: High"), set cover colour, add sticker, post comment, add link, create a card, sort a list, move a list, send an in-app notification.

Variables in text: {cardname}, {cardlink}, {listname}, {boardname}, {date}, {duedate}, {username}, {member}, {label}, {checklistitem}, {attachment}, {comment}, {nextworkingday}, {field:Name}.

Every run is written to the Run log with success or the reason it could not run. Automations are stored in English so they keep working when the interface is in Arabic.

10Settings and language

• Profile – name, username (used for @mentions), job title, bio, photo.
• Account – change password (10+ characters with a number and a symbol), recent sign-ins, sign out.
• Notifications – one switch per notification type, desktop notifications, auto-watch rules.
• Appearance – Light, Dark or Match system; label names on card fronts; compact cards; reduce motion.
• Accessibility – colourblind-friendly patterns on labels and covers; keyboard shortcuts on/off; reduce motion.
• Preferences – Language: English or العربية (also from the account menu and the sign-in page; layout stays left-to-right), time zone, day-first dates, 24-hour time, first day of the week, suggestions.
• Security – two-step verification, recent sign-ins.
• My activity – your recent actions across boards.

Preferences are saved to your account, so they follow you to any browser.

11Administration (system admins only)

• Dashboard – users, boards, cards, overdue counts; sign-ins over 14 days; storage used by attachments; recent admin actions.
• Users – search, add, edit, change system role, reset password, reset two-step, deactivate / reactivate, delete, export CSV.
• Roles and Permissions – the matrices explained in section 3, plus installation defaults (default board visibility, default commenting, allow Organisation boards).
• Workspaces and Boards – every Workspace and board, including private ones; reopen closed boards; change board admins.
• Audit log – every sign-in, failed sign-in, role change, setting change, board close/delete and more; search, filter by user, type and date; export CSV.
• System settings – organisation name, attachment size limit and blocked file types, session timeout, minimum password length, lockout threshold, require two-step, default theme, audit retention, and the board background image library.

12Keyboard shortcuts

Press ? anywhere for the full list. Shortcuts are ignored while typing and can be switched off in Settings › Accessibility.

13Known limitations in this demo build

• No email is sent; everything arrives in the notification centre.
• Changes by other people appear on reload; notifications are polled every minute.
• If two people save the same board at once, the second save is refused and the latest version is loaded.
• The layout stays left-to-right in Arabic by agreement.