Run a Project on a Kanban Board on Mac

To run a project on a kanban board on a Mac, make a board with the columns your work really passes through, write each piece of work as a card, and move cards from left to right as they progress. PixoNotes gives you that board as a native Mac app, and any card can later be opened as a full ticket with an ID and sub-tasks, without converting anything.

Start a project from a template

Press ⌃⌘N, or choose New Project at the bottom of the sidebar. A window opens where you name the project and choose what to start with. No notes come with any of the options, so you begin with an empty board.

As you type the name, PixoNotes makes a prefix from it for note IDs and tells you what they will look like, for example "Notes will be WL-1, WL-2". You can change it later. Press Return to create the board or Esc to cancel. The free plan includes 2 boards, and Pro lifts that limit. See the pricing page for the plans.

Columns that fit the way you work

A column is a stage, so name yours after what is true of your project and not after a template. You can add as many columns as you like, even on the free plan.

• Rename a column by double-clicking its name, and drag a column to change the order.
• Colour each column header so the board can be read at a glance.
• Set a card limit on a column such as Doing. The count turns orange when you go over it, which is a gentle nudge to finish something first.
• Collapse a column you are not using, or sort it by priority or colour.
• Copy a column as a list to paste into a message or a document.

If you delete a column, its cards move to the neighbouring column, so nothing is lost by accident. Deleted notes also wait in Recently Deleted for 30 days, and Undo with ⌘Z covers moves, deletes and changes.

Cards: fast to write, easy to read

Every card is a note. Press ⌘N for a new one, or use Add Note, which stays open so you can enter card after card. The same typed shortcuts as in quick capture work here: #orange for colour, @doing for the column, +label, !p1 for priority and due:fri for a due date. They are described in the stickies guide.

A card shows its ID, a one-line title, labels, a priority chip, the due date (red when it is late), checklist progress, a pin if the note is on the desktop and a dot for its colour. Cards in Done get a green tick. Switch between Compact and Detailed with ⇧⌘E, or press the arrow on one card to expand it in place, with tick boxes working and code coloured.

Reading the board at a glance

The stats row above the columns shows the total, one tile for each column, Overdue when something is late, Progress, This Week and a Focus tile that points at your most important unfinished card. You can hide the row. The filter bar narrows the board by priority, label or colour, and search finds any word across all your boards.

One note, two places

Pin a card and it becomes a real sticky on your desktop. It is the same note, so edits show in both places. The features page shows how this fits with the rest of the app.

Open a note as a ticket

When a card grows, you do not need a different tool. Double-click it, or press ⌘O, or choose Open as Ticket from the right-click menu. The board gives way to a full page for the same note. Back to Board or Esc returns you, and ⌘[ and ⌘] step to the previous and next note.

The ticket page has tabs for Details, Notes, Files, Code, AI and History. On the Details tab you will find:

• the Description, which is the note itself
• Acceptance Criteria, with tick boxes
• Sub-tasks, with ticks, a progress bar and dates
• Design and Reference tiles for files and links

On the right are the due date, priority, column and labels, a timer with a button to log time, linked notes or web addresses, and the History of what changed and when. You can drop any file onto the page, up to 25 MB each, and it is copied in beside your library. A quick one-line note never shows any of this until you open it.

IDs and sub-tasks that stay tidy

Each board has a prefix made from its name, and notes count up from one: for example DEV-1, DEV-2. Numbers are never reused. IDs show on cards and on the ticket, you can copy one with a click, and search finds them. To change a prefix, right-click the board and choose Change ID Prefix. It previews the new IDs and warns you if the prefix is already taken.

If you move a note to another board it gets a new ID, and the old one still finds it. If two Macs working offline took the same number, the later note is renumbered after sync, and its old ID still finds it too.

Sub-tasks suit work you can split into steps. Tick them off and the progress bar and History move with you. With Apple Intelligence, which is part of Pro and runs on your Mac, Generate Plan can write sub-tasks for you from the note. See the AI page for what it does.

To try it, download PixoNotes. It needs macOS 26 or later on an Apple Silicon Mac. Pro costs $2.99 a month or $19.90 a year.

Questions people ask

Is a card different from a note?

No. Every card is a note, and a note can be pinned to the desktop as a sticky or opened as a ticket. Nothing is converted, so you never copy text between tools to move up a level.

Can I use the board without paying?

Yes. The free plan includes 2 boards with any number of columns, plus notes, code and every copy format. Pro adds more boards, sync across Macs, more stickies, Apple Intelligence and text tools.

Can I share a board with a team?

No. PixoNotes is built for one person's notes and projects. It has no team features, comments or assignees. You can export a whole board as Markdown to send to someone.

What happens if I rename the ID prefix?

Notes on that board take the new prefix, and PixoNotes previews the new IDs before you confirm. Numbers are never reused, so each ID still points to one note.