# Checklists and custom fields

> Break a card into checklist items – each with its own owner and due date – and give a board custom fields such as budget, place or event date, shown on the card front and usable in filters and search.

Source: https://contals.com/docs/en/boards/checklists-and-fields/  
Last updated: 2026-10-16

Checklists break a card into small steps, and every item can have its own owner and due date. Custom fields add the information your board needs on every card – a budget, a place, a contact, an event date. Both are always on; no Power-Up is needed.

## Checklists

- **Add a checklist:** open the card → **Checklists** → **Add checklist**. A card can have several.
- **Add items:** type into **Add an item** and press Enter. Pasting several lines adds several items at once.
- **Tick an item** when it is done. The card front shows the progress, for example `2/5`. **Hide checked items** in the checklist menu keeps long lists short (on your device only).
- **Reorder:** drag an item, or use the item menu (**…**) → **Move up**, **Move down** or move it to another checklist of the card.
- **Make it a card:** item menu → **Convert to card** turns a step that grew into its own task into a card on the same board, right below the card it came from. The item stays as a link: it shows the new card's number, opens it with a click, and is ticked while the card is done – completing the card ticks it, and ticking the item completes the card. The item's owner and due date move to the card, which owns them from then on. **Unlink the card** in the item menu makes it a plain item again; if the card is archived, the item says so, and if it leaves the board, the item is a plain item again. [Undo](/docs/en/boards/undo/) takes a conversion back (the card goes to the archive).

## An owner and a due date per item

- Item menu (**…**) → **Assign** picks one person with access to the board; **Set due date** picks a day and, if you like, a time in your time zone. Both open right below the item – no dialog.
- The item then shows the person's avatar and a date chip: red when overdue, amber when due today, green when done. Click the chip to change the date.
- Volunteers and guests can take an open item with **I’ll do it** and hand it back with **Give it back** – handy for "who brings the chairs?".
- The new owner gets an item in the [inbox](/docs/en/finding/inbox/), and **My cards** lists the items assigned to you in a section of their own. The card front shows the next due item next to the progress.
- Dated items appear in the board's calendar (Calendar Power-Up), in the [workspace calendar](/docs/en/views/across-boards/) and in your [calendar subscription](/docs/en/views/across-boards/#subscribe-in-your-calendar-app).

## Custom fields

1. Open the board settings → **Custom fields**.
2. Enter a name (for example "Budget"), choose the **Field type** – **Text**, **Number**, **Date**, **Checkbox** or **Dropdown** – and click **Add field**. A dropdown gets its **Options**, each with a color.
3. Tick **On card front** to show the value on the card itself (dropdown values appear as colored pills).
4. Fill in the values in the card details under **Custom fields**.

Values can be used in the [board filter](/docs/en/boards/filters/) and in the [search](/docs/en/finding/search/) across boards – for example `Budget>=100` or `"Event date":2026-12-01..2026-12-31` – and they are part of every export. Deleting a field removes its values from all cards.

## Who may do what

| | Editors and admins | Volunteers and guests (contributors) |
|---|---|---|
| Add, rename, reorder and delete checklists and items | yes | on cards they created |
| Tick items | yes | yes |
| Assign items and set their due dates | yes | take an open item or give back their own |
| Define custom fields and fill in values | yes | no |

The server checks every change against these rules, whatever the screen shows.