How to Copy a Board in Trello (2026 Guide)

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Copying a Trello board is the standard way to spin up a new instance of a recurring project, every sprint, every marketing campaign, every onboarding cycle. The mechanics are simple, but Trello’s copy operation deliberately leaves a few things behind. Here’s exactly what gets copied, what doesn’t, and how to handle the gaps in 2026.

1. Copy a Board

Every Trello plan supports board copying, including Free.

Steps

  1. Open the board you want to copy.
  2. Click Show menu in the top-right.
  3. Click More.
  4. Click Copy board.
  5. In the dialog:
    • Set the Title for the new board.
    • Choose the Workspace to create it in.
    • Set Visibility (Private, Workspace, or Public).
    • Optionally pick a background.
  6. Click Create.

Trello creates the new board and opens it. The copy includes:

  • All lists, in the same order.
  • All active cards (not archived), title, description, position, labels, due dates, checklists, custom field values, attachments, cover image.
  • All labels defined on the original board.
  • Butler rules and automations scoped to the board.
  • Power-Ups that are enabled (you may need to authorize them again on the copy).

What does not copy:

ItemWhy
CommentsExcluded by Trello to keep copies “clean”
Card membersMembers are not auto-assigned on the copy (you assign on the new board)
Activity historyEach card on the copy starts with fresh activity
Archived cardsOnly active cards are duplicated
Archived listsSame as cards: only active lists
Subscribers / watchersCard subscriptions reset
Card votesCleared on copy

The copy keeps card structure but drops social signal. If you copy a board to start a new sprint, the cards have all the right titles, labels, and checklists, but the discussion that happened on the original is left behind on the original. That’s usually what you want.

2. Save a Board as a Template

If you copy the same board every sprint or every quarter, save it as a template instead. Templates make the source explicit and let other people in your Workspace reuse the structure.

Make a board into a template

  1. Open the board.
  2. Click Show menu > More.
  3. Click Make template.
  4. Fill in:
    • Template title.
    • Description: what the template is for.
    • Categories (Engineering, Marketing, HR, Personal, etc.).
  5. Click Create template.

The board is now a template. It still works like a normal board, you can edit it, but it has a “template” badge and a Create board from template button at the top.

Create a new board from your template

  1. Click Show menu > Create board from template (on the template), or
  2. From the Boards page sidebar, click Templates > Workspace templates > pick yours > Create board from template.

Each new board is a standalone copy. Future edits to the template do not propagate to boards already created from it.

Templates vs. Copy. A copy is a one-time fork of a specific board, with all its current state. A template is a reusable starting point you maintain. Use copy for an ad-hoc duplication. Use templates when you’ll create new boards from the same starting point repeatedly.

You don’t have to build a template from scratch. Trello has a curated gallery of community and Trello-built templates.

  1. Go to the Boards page.
  2. In the left sidebar, click Templates.
  3. Browse by category, Project Management, Engineering, Marketing, HR & Operations, Sales, Personal, Education, Remote Work.
  4. Click any template card to preview the lists, cards, and Power-Ups.
  5. Click Create board from template.
  6. Set the title and Workspace, then click Create.

Popular gallery templates come pre-loaded with example checklists, Butler rules, and labels, useful as a starting point even if you customize heavily.

4. What to Do When Copy Doesn’t Include What You Need

Three common gaps and how to handle each:

You need the comments

There’s no native way to bring comments along. Options:

  1. Export as JSON first: keep the JSON file as a record of the original conversation.
  2. Print the board to PDF before copying, preserves the visual state.
  3. Manually paste key comments as descriptions on the new copy if specific decisions need to live on the new board.

You need card members assigned

After the copy:

  1. Open the new board.
  2. Use Butler to bulk-assign, Automation > Rules > trigger: when a card is added to list “X”, action: add @username to the card.
  3. Or run a one-time Card Button action on each list: add specified members to all cards in list.

You need archived cards in the copy

Trello’s copy excludes archived cards by design. Workaround:

  1. Restore the archived cards on the original board first (Show menu > More > Archived items > Send to board).
  2. Run the copy.
  3. Re-archive the cards on the original.

This is awkward but it’s the only way short of using the API to programmatically replicate archived cards.

5. Limits and Plan Considerations

DetailLimit
Boards per Free WorkspaceUp to 10 boards
Boards per Standard / Premium / EnterpriseUnlimited
Number of times you can copy a boardNo documented hard limit
Workspace templates (saved as template)Premium and Enterprise: appear in the Workspace template list
Public/community templatesAny plan can copy from the public gallery
Butler rules in copied boardCarried over; runs against the new Workspace’s plan limits (Free 250/mo, Standard 1,000/mo, Premium/Enterprise unlimited)

If you’re on Free and you’ve hit the 10-board cap, copying another board will fail until you archive (or delete) one of your existing boards.

Quick Reference

ActionWhere to startIncludesSkips
Copy a boardShow menu > More > Copy boardLists, active cards, labels, Butler rulesComments, members, activity, archived cards
Make a templateShow menu > More > Make templateSame as Copy, marked as reusableSame as Copy
Copy from template galleryBoards page > TemplatesPre-built starter contentn/a
Copy a single listList menu > Copy listCards, descriptions, labelsComments, members

Which Approach Should You Use?

  • One-time fork of a specific board? Copy board.
  • Recurring process you’ll start fresh many times? Save as a template.
  • Starting from scratch? Browse the Trello template gallery and copy a relevant one.
  • Need comments preserved? Export JSON first, then copy.

Stop Rebuilding the Same Board Every Sprint

Copying a board is fast, but the cards inside still need to be filled with current details: which features ship, who owns what, which customers raised which issues. Carly is an AI assistant that connects to 200+ apps including Trello and can populate cards from your roadmap, tickets, and meeting notes for you.

More Trello guides: How to archive a card in Trello · How to export a Trello board · Best AI workflow automation tools

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