# Write down what a column actually means

"In Review" means one thing to the person who moved the card there and another
to the person who has to pick it up. Write the rule down once, on the column,
where anyone can read it without asking.

## Before you start

A named board in the AnyKanban hub, and a work item type selected on
**General**. The Columns section starts from the states of that type, one
column each.

## Steps

1. Open the board and select **Settings**.
2. Open **Columns** in the left rail, under **Board**.
3. Select the column in the strip of column tabs, say **In Review**,
   and type into the **Definition of done** box below it. The box is
   multi-line and takes a small subset of markdown; the placeholder says as
   much.
4. For the demo's regulatory program board, the one across several
   projects, the text on **In Review** reads:

   ```
   **Reviewed** by the process owner

   - impact on the regulatory deadline confirmed
   - affected systems listed
   ```

5. Select **Save**.

## What you should see

An info icon appears right after that column's name in the header, before the
item count. Hover it, or
give it keyboard focus, and a tooltip opens with the text rendered: the bold
run is bold, the dashes are a bullet list. Columns without a text carry no
icon.

The supported subset is `**bold**`, `*italic*`, `` `code` ``, links written as
`[text](https://…)`, headings with `#`, `##` or `###`, `-` or `*` bullets, `1.`
numbered lists, and blank lines between paragraphs. Anything else is shown as
the literal text you typed.

![The definition of done, shown from the column header](https://anykanban.com/docs/_img/definition-of-done-popover.png)

## Notes

Empty texts are discarded on save, so clearing the box removes the icon.
Removed-category states, the demo's **Rejected** among them, are not offered in
the Columns section at all and therefore cannot carry a definition of done. The icon is
also not rendered on a collapsed column, since a collapsed column has no room
for a header.

## Related

- [Cap work in progress in a column](https://anykanban.com/docs/shape-the-board/cap-work-in-progress/)
- [Separate "being worked" from "ready to move on"](https://anykanban.com/docs/shape-the-board/split-a-column/)
- [Collapse the parts of the board you are not using](https://anykanban.com/docs/shape-the-board/collapse-what-you-are-not-working-on/)