Meet the new BigPicture navigation
A faster, smarter, and more intuitive way to work is here. We’ve redesigned BigPicture navigation to give you a smoother experience and better access to what matters most.
→ Discover what’s new, explore key improvements, and review feature name updates on the New navigation page.
→ The rollout will happen gradually, and the previous navigation will be retired in October 2026.
Task color
Task color (old navigation)
Color-coding your tasks can make your team more productive. You can use colors to indicate the status of your work items, categorize them to distinguish between teams and departments or highlight the tasks of high importance.
Take it to the next level and manually color your tasks to fit your organization's needs. Pick from various colors and switch between the two views at any time.
The feature is available in the Gantt and Resources modules.
Gantt module:
Resources module:
Status-based colors
Use this option to display the status category color directly on the taskbar. This way, you'll always see the task status on the timeline - even without the Status field column in view or when you hide the task list.
Status coloring only pertains to Jira issues. Color changes will not apply to non-Jira tasks, such as projects, sprints, components, versions, or backlogs. Basic tasks also have color statuses.
By default, the following colors are assigned to task statuses:
Grey - To Do
Blue - In Progress
Green - Done
Manual task colors
Gantt module
If you want manual colors to be visible on the timeline:
Go to the Task bar menu at the top.
Set task color to Manual.
Right-click anywhere on the task (either in the task structure or the timeline - don't click on the task key) and pick a color from a pop-up menu.
To change the color for multiple tasks, select all relevant tasks and use the Editor slider panel to make the change for all selected tasks.
Resources module
If you want manual colors to be visible on the grid, enable relevant settings.
In the Resources module, expand the View drop-down menu.
Under the Task color section, click Manual.
Right-click on a task and pick a color from a pop-up menu.
Constraints
View settings can override task color (in both status and manual modes). In particular, the Overdue and Critical path views require overriding the task color setup.
Calendar module - heatmap
Color coding is also realized by the heatmap in the Calendar module.
Task color (new navigation)
Color-coding your tasks can make your team more productive. You can use colors to indicate the status of your work items, categorize them to distinguish between teams and departments, or highlight the tasks of high importance.
Take it to the next level and manually color your tasks to fit your organization's needs. Pick from various colors and switch between the two views at any time.
The feature is available in the Gantt and Resources modules.
Gantt module:
Resources module:
Status-based colors
Use this option to display the status category color directly on the taskbar. This way, you'll always see the task status on the timeline - even without the Status field column in view or when you hide the task list.
Status coloring only pertains to Jira work items. Color changes will not apply to non-Jira tasks, such as projects, sprints, components, versions, or backlogs. BigPicture tasks also have color statuses.
By default, the following colors are assigned to task statuses:
Gray (To Do)
Blue (In Progress)
Green (Done)
Manual task colors
Task colors are set to status-based by default. If you change the task color to manual in the Gantt module, this change will not affect the Resources module, and the other war around.
If the Task color is set to Status and you change it to manual by right-clicking it or using the editor slider, a system dialog will appear for confirmation. Click Set color to manual to automatically switch the Task color setting to Manual.
Gantt module
First, enable manual task colors.
Open a dropdown under View and go to Tasks Labels > Task color.
Set task color to Manual.
Next, change the color of a task. Right-click the task or taskbar (anywhere but the task name and task key) and select a color from a color palette.
Alternatively, click More options (…) on the editor slider and select a color.
If you want to change the color for multiple tasks, multi-select all relevant tasks. Then, right-click any selected task to open a context menu or open the editor slider panel and select a color.
Resources module
First, enable manual task colors.
Open a dropdown under View and go to Task color.
Set task color to Manual.
Next, change the color of a task. Right-click the taskbar and select a color from the task color context menu.
Constraints
Task indicators can override task color (in both status and manual modes). In particular, the Parent task conflicts, Overdue tasks, and Critical path require overriding the task color setup.
Color-coded heatmap
You can also find the color-coding feature in the heatmap of the Calendar module.