---
title: "Creating and Managing Card Designs in Ontraccr"
url: "https://help.ontraccr.com/en/article/creating-and-managing-card-designs-in-ontraccr"
language: "en"
last_updated: "2025-05-27T10:52:26.313Z"
---

# Creating and Managing Card Designs in Ontraccr

## **🧩 Creating and Managing Card Designs in Ontraccr**  
 

### **Overview**

**Card Designs** define the layout and structure of a board card — including its fields, sections, and data capture. Each board must use a specific card design. These designs are **customizable**, reusable, and support features like numbering, logic, and permissions.

* * *

## **🎯 Why Use Custom Card Designs?**

Use card designs when you need to:

-   Structure cards for **specific workflows** (e.g., estimating, recruiting, service, equipment)
-   Capture **consistent data** across cards
-   Control **field layout**, **required inputs**, and **user permissions**
-   Reuse the same layout across multiple boards

* * *

## **🧩 How to Create or Edit a Card Design**

1.  Go to **Settings > Boards**
2.  Click **Add** or select an existing one to edit
3.  Enter a **Card Title**, **Card Number Anchor**, and select whether to **use Card Number as Card Title**
4.  Add fields and sections as needed (see below)

✅ Once created, this card design becomes available during board setup.

* * *

### 🧱 What You Can Include in a Card Design

-   **Text fields** (short or long)
-   **Dropdowns** (single or multi-select)
-   **Dates, numbers, checkboxes**
-   **Linked fields** (e.g., connect to a project, user, equipment, or client)
-   **Section headers** to group related fields
-   **Conditional logic** (show/hide based on other field values)
-   **Field and section permissions** (view/edit control by role/division)

* * *

## **📄 Assigning a Card Design to a Board**

When creating a new board:

-   Select a **Card Type** (this is the card design)
-   The board will now use this layout for all cards
-   **You cannot change the card type after board creation — you can, however, change the design of the current card type attributed to your board.**

* * *

## **✅ Example Use Case**

-   You create a card design called “Job Candidate”
-   It includes:
    -   Name, Email, Role Applied For
    -   Scorecard section
    -   Linked Project field
-   This design is used across HR boards for onboarding and hiring

* * *

## **🧠 Tips & Edge Cases**

-   Designs are **reusable** across multiple boards with the same workflow
-   If you need different fields for different stages, consider using **conditional logic**
-   Use **linked fields** for automations, analytics, and workflows
-   Once a board is using a design, it **can’t be swapped to use another card type** — choose carefully during setup