Stories are the standard unit of work in Shortcut. Stories are where collaboration and documentation for said unit of work happens.
There are several options at your disposal to take actions with stories. These actions allow you to work with stories to increase collaboration, organization and visibility of the work that matters to your team. Stories can be shared, archived, and even edited in bulk. We'll go over these actions below.
By default, all Stories have unique IDs. These IDs allow you to link to specific Stories using URLs.
In addition to URLs, the story dialog also supports linking to individual stories using
sc-123
or #123
.
This turns into...
You can also send URLs to specific stories by grabbing the permanent link in the upper right-hand corner of the expanded story, or by copying and pasting the URL in the address bar of your browser.
Editing a story is as simple as clicking on the content or button you wish to change. This section, however, will focus on the process to edit multiple stories in bulk. You can start the process to bulk edit stories in 2 ways:
1. Go to the Stories Page and hover over the Story card you want to edit and click on the checkbox that appears in the upper right corner. Select as many Stories as you want.
An Edit # Stories button should appear in the upper left corner (next to the Shortcut icon):
OR
2. Navigate within a specific section (Project, Epic, Label, or Iteration) of Shortcut and select stories from the Table view.
For example, if you wish to bulk edit all of the stories with a particular label, you'd navigate to that label's page, and select multiple (or all) stories via the check box in the left-hand corner of the table. Regardless of which section you're in, the stories table view is the same across Shortcut:
After selecting the stories you wish via either of the 2 aforementioned ways, you will now be prompted to change their details. Make your new selection(s), and click Update # Stories:
You can navigate through Stories in Shortcut using the Next and Previous arrows. Next/Previous Navigation works in slightly different ways on different pages:
On the Stories page: when you open a Story, the arrows will toggle you up and down the currently visible Stories in the corresponding workflow state column.
Note
To keep the UI fast, Shortcut only loads the first 30 stories of each workflow state in the stories page at a time. If you have more than 30 stories in state column, arrow navigation will take you up until the 30th story unless you scroll down the state to load the rest.
On the Epic page: the arrows will move you up and down all the Stories in that Epic.
On the Status page: the arrows will move you through the Stories for the selected team member.
On your Dashboard: the arrows will take you through your current stories.
If you want to copy the information in an existing Story into a new Story, click on the Story Actions menu (found in the ellipsis menu in the upper right of the Story dialogue) and then select Duplicate Story.
A new Story draft will open with copied fields and Tasks, but not files or comments. You can make edits as needed and then press Save Story.
If you would like to convert the Story to an Epic, click on the Story Actions menu (found in the ellipsis menu in the upper right of the Story dialogue) and then select Convert Story to Epic.
A prompt will open stating "This Story will be converted to an Epic and then archived. You will be able to find the original Story in a comment on the Epic."
Once confirmed, the Story will be Archived and you will be redirected to the new Epic.
Additional Details:
- Any Tasks associated with the Story Card will become Stories in the Epic created.
- Any Task Owners assigned will become the respective Story Owners.
- If no Task Owner is assigned, no Story Owner is assigned.
- Metadata transfer:
- The Workflow and Project on the Story becomes the Workflow and Project on the Stories converted from Tasks.
- The Team on the Story becomes the Team on the Epic.
- The Story Owner becomes the Epic Owner.
- Story Labels become Epic Labels.
- Followers on Story become followers on the Epic.
- Comments from Story will not transfer to Epic
- The User who converts Story to Epic becomes the Epic Requestor.
- Epic Requestor also becomes the Requestor for the Stories created.
Archiving in Shortcut can be used to archive uncompleted or duplicate Stories, and you can archive Stories one at a time or in bulk.
Note
Archived stories are not included within any Reports.
Archiving a Single Story
To archive just one Story, click on the ellipsis icon in the upper right-hand corner of the Story card and select Archive Story.
Your Story will be instantly sent to the archives. Once your Story is archived, only then can it be permanently deleted via the red "Delete" button that will appear on the Story.
Archived Stories can be accessed using their individual permalink or by searching in the Search Stories input field.
Unarchiving a Story
To unarchive a story, simply click the Unarchive button shown in the banner at the top of the story.
Archiving Multiple Stories
First, hover over the Story card you want to archive and click on the checkbox that appears in the upper right corner. Select as many Stories as you want.
Then, click on the Edit Stories button in the upper left (next to the Shortcut icon):
Now click on the Archived field towards the bottom of the drop-down menu.
Select Yes.
Click Update # stories.
Your Stories will be sent to the archives, and you'll see a green success message in the bottom right of Shortcut.
In order to delete a single Story, you can click into the card. Drop into the card's menu by clicking on the ellipsis icon and then selecting Archive from the Menu. Once archived, the Story will present a button giving you the option to delete it.
You can also use the bulk delete instructions to delete one or more Stories.
To bulk archive & delete Stories
The Edit Multiple feature allows you to quickly delete several Stories by following these steps:
First, hover over the Story card you want to archive and click on the checkbox that appears in the upper right corner. Select as many Stories as you want.
Then, click on the Edit Stories button in the upper left (next to the Shortcut icon):
Once in the Edit Multiple menu, click on the More Options menu in the lower right corner of the drop-down menu, and select Archive & delete # stories:
If the Stories you've selected are already archived, the menu will say Delete # Stories instead:
If the Stories are not yet archived, you will be prompted to archive first. Click Archive # stories.
Once Stories are archived (or if they already were), you will be prompted to delete Stories. Click Delete # Stories.
You'll again be prompted by a browser dialogue for a final confirmation that you want the Stories to be deleted. Click Ok if you wish to proceed.
Updated