Launch
Use the VisualBacklog link in the project navigation to launch it.
Navigate
Pan
Using the mouse:
Click on the background pane and drag to pan
Scroll to pan up and down
Scroll+Shiftto pan left and rightScroll+Alt/Optionto pan up and down
Using the trackpad:
Click on the background pane and drag to pan
Use your two fingers to pan
Drag
Click and hold on and issue/project node then drag it to move it around.
Zoom
Mouse
Hold down Control and scroll up / down to zoom in/out
Trackpad
Hold down Control and scroll up / down using you too fingers
Focus
Hold Alt/Option and click on a board, project or issue to focus on it.
Hold down Alt/Option and click on a the background pane to zoom out.
Load / Filter data
Load
Use the source dropwdown 
to select the source data of VisualBacklog, you can choose from a list of:
Project: fetches the current project’s issues in addition to their external dependencies/dependents (if
External issuesoption is selected in the project
filter).Board: uses the corresponding board’s JQL filter to fetch issues and their external dependencies/dependents (if
External issuesoption is selected in the project filter).
Filter
Use the data filters on the top of VisualBacklog to filter the issues/projects you want to work with.
Search
Use the Search bar to locate issue, projects, boards and prioritisation tracks on the graph.
Plan
Link Issues
Create issues
View/Edit Issues
Prioritise
Prioritisation tracks
Use the issue link dropdown
to filter out issue links that do not correspond to a dependency relationship e.g. duplicatesorclonesand keep only those that do e.g.blocksEnable the prioritisation tracks option
located in the Layout Configuration panel on the right of VisualBacklog’s screen.
Voilà! VisualBacklog groups the issues on the board into prioritisation tracks that are numbered and ordered by the ascending order of priority.
Bottlenecks
Use the issue link dropdown
to filter out issue links that do not correspond to a dependency relationship e.g. duplicatesorclonesand keep only those that do e.g.blocks.OPTIONAL enable the prioritisation tracks.
Enable the bottlenecks option
located in the Layout Configuration panel on the right of VisualBacklog’s screen.
There you go! bottlenecks are highlighted while non bottlenecks are faded. A bottleneck is a not-done issue that is also a dependency of another issue located on a forward prioritisation tracks.
Thanks to the prioritisation tracks and the bottlenecks options, prioritising work becomes easier. when both options are enabled, non faded issues on the left most track are the issues that must be prioritised first before moving to the next track and so on.
Compact mode
This option comes handy when working on a large graph of issues. It shortens the distance between the issues to fit more of them on the screen. This helps understand the dependencies at a quick glance without the need to zoom/pan.
Please note that you cant edit the issue link labels when compact mode is enabled.
And More…
Checkout our comprehensive guide to learn more.
Customise
Use the Layout Controls on the left of the Search Bar to customise the graph’s:
Save / Reset
Save the Data Filters and Layout Configuration using the Save / Reset buttons
on the top right corner of the viewport.
Prioritise
Visual Backlog groups the issue graph into layers of issues sorted by priority from the highest to the lowest.
Horizontal Layout
Set the Layout Direction to Horizontal using the Layout Direction Button
Filter out issues without epics (issues without epics are always drawn on the first layer anyway)
Filter out issue links that are not dependencies and keep only the ones that represent real dependencies between issues e.g: filter out relates link and select blocks link
Prioritise! assign priority to your issues or schedule them for un upcoming sprint. Issues will be grouped into columns ordered from the left to the right by descending priority.
double click an issue to open issue modal
edit the relevant fields e.g. sprint, priority
close the modal (Visual Backlog picks up the changes on modal closing)
Vertical Layout
Set the Layout Direction to Vertical using the Layout Direction Button
Filter out issues without epics (issues without epics are always drawn on the first layer anyway)
Filter out issue links that are not dependencies and keep only the ones that represent real dependencies between issues e.g: filter out relates link and select blocks link
Prioritise! assign priority to your issues or schedule them for un upcoming sprint. Issues will be grouped into rows ordered from the top to the bottom by descending priority.
double click an issue to open issue modal
edit the relevant fields e.g. sprint, priority
close the modal (Visual Backlog picks up the changes on modal closing)
Create issue links
Drag and drop
Create issue links with Visual Backlog by following those simple steps
Identify the issues to be linked: in this example, we want a blocks link from
GIBRAL-27toGIBRAL-29If the issues are far from each other, do not hesitate to reposition them close to each other. Don’t worry about the layout, Visual Backlog will take care of fixing that
Drag and Drop a connection from the right port of
GIBRAL-27to the left port ofGIBRAL-29Select an issue link from the drop down, in this case it is a blocks link
Voilà! Visual Backlog will refresh the data and reposition the issues to reflect the new state.
Issue modal
Alternatively, you can use the issue modal and edit issue links as you would do in Jira. Double click on of the issues and edit the issue links accordingly.
Edit issue links
Issue links can be edited by editing the dropdown of that particular link.
Alternatively, they can be edited using the issue modal. See above.
Delete issue links
You can delete an issue link by clicking on the X label on the right of the link value you want to delete.
Alternatively, you can also use the issue modal.See above.