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Feature

Types

Types give your documents a defined set of fields, so everything of the same type shares one structure.

TL;DR

Create a Bug type with priority and assignee fields, a Client type with contact info, or a Decision type with rationale. Add a workflow to turn a type into a kanban board with custom states. Attach skills to a type so every document of that type gets one-click AI actions in its toolbar.

  • Ask AI chat to create any type you need, with fields and workflow — no templates required
  • Define custom types with fields (text, link, date, member, options) to structure any document
  • Options fields carry a fixed list of values and render as chips you can filter on
  • Add a workflow to enable status tracking with a kanban board
  • Attach skills to a type so they appear as quick actions on every entry
  • AI instructions per type guide how the AI works with entries of this type
  • The type page shows all entries as a list or kanban board
  • Color-coded type cards appear on space home pages

Creating a type

The fastest way to create a type is to ask AI. In any AI chat, describe what you want to track ("a Bug type with priority, assignee, and steps to reproduce") and the AI will create it, with fields, workflow, and AI instructions. No templates to pick from, no pre-made catalogue. Every type you need, you can just ask for.

To create one manually, select "Type" from the create menu. Give it a name, add fields, and optionally enable a workflow. Types can live in a space or at the organization level.

The type page

Every type has a page showing all documents with that type assigned. The page displays differently depending on whether the type has a workflow.

Without a workflow: A simple list of entries sorted by last updated, with a button to create new entries. An option to "Convert to workflow" is available if you want to add status tracking later.

With a workflow: A tabbed view with three tabs:

  • Active: A kanban board with columns for each workflow state
  • Completed: Entries marked as done
  • Later: Entries deferred for later

Drag entries between tabs to change their state. The "+" button creates a new entry that opens as an inline card.

The kanban board

When a type has a workflow, the Active tab shows a kanban board. Columns represent workflow states. Drag cards between columns to change status. Columns can be resized and reordered.

Cards open in an inline popover when clicked, so you can review and edit without leaving the board. Each card also carries an assignee avatar on its trailing edge, with a dashed placeholder when no one is assigned. Click it to open a searchable people picker, type a name, and reassign the card without opening it. The same picker backs the assignee shown in a card's detail view.

Attribute columns and filters

A type's entries table, and its workflow board with the Completed and Later tables, can surface each of the type's fields as its own column and filter.

  • Columns: Member fields render as avatar chips, Options fields as value chips, and Link fields as the referenced titles. Date and text fields flatten to text. Empty cells keep the grid aligned.
  • Filter bar: A pill bar sits next to the search field. Member fields open a people picker, Link fields a typeahead picker limited to the field's target types, Date fields a range picker, and Options fields a checklist of the field's values. Filters apply to the entries table and to the workflow view at once, and they live in the URL, so a filtered view is shareable and Back and Forward step through it.
  • Display menu: A Display dropdown next to the search field toggles individual columns. Member, link, and date fields are on by default, along with the base columns; free-text fields are off.

The AI can filter its own searches on the same fields, so "Bugs reported this month" resolves to one scoped query. See Search results in chat.

Configuring a type

Navigate to the type configuration page from the overflow menu on the type page. Configuration includes:

Fields

Fields add structured data to every document with this type. Five field types are available:

  • Text: Plain text values
  • Link: References to other documents. You can configure which types are valid link targets and set a custom reverse label (the name shown in backlinks).
  • Date: Date values
  • Member: References to members of your organization
  • Options: A fixed list of values to pick from. See Options fields

Each field can be configured as single-value or multi-value.

Add fields from the configuration page by typing a name and clicking "Add." Remove fields from the dropdown menu on each field.

Options fields

An Options field carries a fixed set of values, so everything of the type is classified the same way. Severity, tier, category, and priority are what it is for. Lifecycle stages belong on a workflow's states instead.

Define the values on the field in the type editor. Add value appends one, and each value can be renamed or reordered. A field with no values yet reads "No values defined on this field."

On a document the field offers Select value, with a search box once the list is long. Values render as chips in tables, cards, type pages, and published pages, and can be single or multi select like any other field.

Renaming or removing a value leaves documents that already carry it untouched. A value that is no longer on the field is grouped under No longer offered in pickers and filters, so an existing document keeps reading correctly.

You can ask AI chat to add an Options field to a type, set a value on a document, or filter a search by one.

Workflows

A workflow adds status tracking to the type. Click "Add Workflow" in the configuration to enable it.

Every workflow has four base states:

  • Inbox: Where new entries land by default
  • In Progress: The active state. You can rename it, but it cannot be removed.
  • Completed: Done
  • Later: Deferred

Between Inbox and Completed you can add more states, including several custom "in progress" ones. Click "Customise statuses" to add, rename, reorder, or remove the states you add. These become the columns on the kanban board.

Remove the workflow entirely with "Remove Workflow" to return the type to a simple list.

AI instructions

Custom instructions the AI follows when working with entries of this type. For example, "When creating bugs, always include steps to reproduce and expected behavior."

Color

A hue slider that colors the type badge throughout the interface. When the type lives in a space, the color is inherited from the space.

Skills

Attach skills to a type. Attached skills are available from the Send to menu on every document with this type. This is how you add domain-specific AI actions to your workflow: attach a "Create GitHub issue" skill to a Bug type, and every bug can file one in a click.

Assigning types to documents

Any document can have a type. Assign one from:

  • The ⋮ menu on a doc, in the full panel or in a peek ("Set type")
  • A slash command in the doc title
  • The create menu (creating a typed entry directly)

A type is not permanent. Open the document in its full panel and its ⋮ menu offers Change type to pick a different one and Remove type to leave it untyped. That menu is the only place either lives: a peek's ⋮ assigns a type to an untyped document but carries no type option once the document has one, and the title slash command only assigns.

Values from the old type are kept rather than discarded. They sit on the document as leftover fields, grouped under the type they came from and read-only, and become editable again if you change back. Task state and assignees carry over; a custom workflow state belonging to the old type does not.

Archiving a type

Archive a type from the "..." menu on its type page; a confirmation dialog appears first. An archived type and all its items drop out of every menu, picker, type palette, list, Library view, and search result, including semantic search, and the change takes effect immediately without a reload. Existing items keep their type assignment and show a muted "(archived)" label in place of the normal type badge. The type page shows a callout explaining the state, with an "Unarchive" button that makes the type available again everywhere.

To find an archived type again, open Recently archived under Organization in Settings. It lists every type you have archived, newest first, with how long ago each was archived. Click a row to open that type's page, where you can Unarchive it.

Where to go next

Build a shared issue tracker with a typeCreate an Issue type so your team tracks work the same way: shared fields, one board, and the AI filing new issues in, complete and consistent, from a meeting or a chat.
How to work with your team in TanaThe recommended way for a product or tech team to work in Tana together: how meetings turn into finished work, where to capture, when to add spaces and types, and what a productive day looks like.
Manage your context with spaces and typesHow items, spaces, and types fit together in Tana, when to reach for each, and how where something lives decides who on your team can see and work on it.
Types - Tana Learn