Leveling Up Your Cards

If your head is still spinning from all the things you can do with a card, buckle up because we’re just getting started. While adding members, dates, and labels is most common, there are many other things you can include in your Trello cards to make them more powerful.

In this chapter, we’ll discuss how to add files, links, and any other attachments to your cards. We’ll also talk about locations, checklists, and card covers and how to use all of those fields to give even more context to your cards. In case you think of an input we haven’t already mentioned, you’ll learn how to create custom fields to store any other info you can imagine.

Attachments

While you can add a lot of info to a Trello card description or through some of the other fields we’ve already talked about, sometimes you’ll have data or files that live in other places. This is where attachments come in handy.

Why use attachments?

I’m not naïve enough to think that Trello is the only tool you’ll ever use. Heck, even I still use other things such as spreadsheets to organize financial info or Canva to create images for blog posts, and even Google Docs or Confluence to collaborate with others through text. Attachments make it possible to keep everything in one place, without needing to sacrifice using the best tool for the job. You’ll also be using multiple Trello cards and boards that relate to each other, so being able to quickly get to relevant items while you’re working on a card is critical.

Attaching items to a card

The easiest way to attach items to a card is to drag and drop a file or paste...

Custom fields

We’ve already discussed a lot of specific fields for a card. You can define dates, assign members, update a description with any info you’d like, attach files, and more! But sometimes, you still just need something else.

This is where custom fields come in! Trello users on Standard, Premium, and Enterprise plans can create custom fields to track additional information about a task or project. This field is particularly useful for tracking information that is specific to your organization or workflow.

Custom fields are set at the board level and appear on every card on the board. You can't set fields to only show on certain cards, or make them appear on the front of the card unless they’re filled in. You also have the option to remove them from the card front altogether if you prefer.

I use custom fields on just about every board that I create. While you can use labels to add information and details about a card, I find custom fields...

Checklists

The checklist feature lets you create a list of subtasks that need to be completed in relation to the task or project. This field is particularly useful for breaking down complex tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces.

Why use checklists?

Checklists are helpful for ensuring you follow a specific set of tasks for routine procedures or making sure you don’t forget any essential parts of a task. They’re also a great way to delegate responsibilities if you have multiple members assigned to a card.

Adding a checklist

To add a checklist to a card, open the card and select the Checklist button from the Add to card menu.

Figure 3.19 – Checklist creation modal

If you’ve already created a checklist in the current board, you can select it from the dropdown to create a duplicate version with the same items as in the current card. Otherwise, you can simply give it a title and click the blue Add button.

.

...

Locations

Many of the fields we’ve discussed are available on other productivity and project management tools, but this one is not something I've seen anywhere else!

This field type stores a location value from Google Maps as a field in your cards. While this may not be useful for every board, if you work with location data for jobs or are planning events or trips, this field will prove invaluable for helping you literally map out your workflow.

Note that this field is only available for Premium and Enterprise workspaces.

Why use location?

Although not every board will need to use location, it can be incredibly handy if you need to see multiple locations and how they relate to each other. With the Map view, you can view all of these cards plotted on a map and see how close they are in relation to others. It’s perfect for planning an order delivery, creating itineraries for trips, or organizing an address book.

Setting a location on a card

To set...

Covers

Card covers are the perfect way to make your board more visual. These covers are displayed behind or above the card title. There are two types of covers you can add to your cards: colors and images.

Why use card covers?

Card covers are a great way to style your boards. Colors are useful for creating sections or headers in your lists. Images are useful for visualizing important aspects of a card. They also work well for organizing galleries of images for products, portfolios, or anything else that’s visually dependent.

Adding a card cover

To add a cover to a card, click the Cover button on the Add to card menu on the right side of a card. If you’ve already added an image to the card, Trello might have automatically set that image as the cover. In that case, the Cover menu will be at the top of the card, in the bottom-right corner of the displayed image. Once you click Cover, it will open a menu.

Figure 3.27 – Card cover...

Link cards

If you create a Trello card with a link as the name, the card gets a bit fancy. Trello integrates with certain tools to embed links on your board, making it even easier to interact with other tools you use.

For example, if you paste a YouTube video link as a card name, the card shows an embedded YouTube video on your Trello board.

Figure 3.30 – YouTube video embedded Trello card

A thumbnail appears with the video and the title below, as well as a Full screen view button. Clicking the button opens a YouTube video player, allowing you to watch the video from YouTube without leaving your Trello screen.

Try this out with other links you use regularly! Creating a new card with a Google Sheets or Google Doc link as the name allows you to preview and edit the Google Doc without leaving Trello.

Learn more about service link cards support on this page: support.atlassian.com/trello/docs/link-cards/.

Disabling link cards

If you ever...

Summary

Now you can truly put anything you need in your Trello cards. You’ve learned how to attach items—whether digital files or links or other Trello cards! You can literally map out data in your boards by adding location fields to cards. Your worries about delegation and quality assurance are gone because you can add checklists to your cards.

You’re well on your way to becoming a Trello expert since you can confidently navigate your cards! Now, it’s time to talk about how we use all of these attributes of cards to analyze our cards in different views in Trello.