How to add a custom State for WorkItems in Visual Studio Team Services

Question

I'm using Visual Studio Team Services (http://visualstudio.com/), with Visual Studio 2012.

I'd like to add a new State Value for WorkItems. After a search I discover that i can edit the process template to achieve that. I've tried the menu item "Team\Team Project Collection Settings\Process Template manager", but i'm getting the following message:

Visual Studio could not retrieve your user permissions from Team Foundation Server.

Contact your Team Foundation Server administrator to determine the cause of the error and the steps to correct the problem.

If the problem persists, contact Microsoft Product Support Services

Details: Access Denied: [email protected] needs the following permission(s) on the resource $ to perform this action: Administer

I've added my user to every adminstrator group i've found in tfs configuration, for the project and the collection, but i keep getting that message.

How can i add a custom state to WorkItems in Visual Studio Team Services?

Answer 1

Please note that the UI of VSTS has recently been changed. I'm updating my answer to reflect the latest changes but keeping an older copy too!

Update: As of 17th Oct 2018, on Team Services:

1. Account Home - Click on the Azure DevOps icon in the upper left corner.
2. Organization Settings - Click on this link in the lower left corner
3. Process - Click on Process in Boards Group in the list of settings
4. Select your process
5. Select the Work Item Type you want add the new state to
6. Click on States Menu item on the top
7. Click New State button

Adding a Gif below

For those who are still on the older UI , on Team Services...

1. Account Home - Click on the team services icon in the upper left corner.
2. Process - Mouse over the Gear icon and choose Process
3. Choose the process you are working in
4. Click on Product Backlog Item type
5. Click on the States tab (between Layout and Rules)

6. Click the New State link

   • Account Home can be accessed by clicking on the Azure DevOps icon (previously Team Service) in the top-left corner. This page is also the home page of you account and can be accessed by directly jumping using the URL. For example: youraccountname.visualstudio.com/
   • Process can be accessed from the UI as mentioned in steps above or by using the direct URL youraccountname.visualstudio.com/_settings/process

Hope it helps!

Thanks Microsoft for making it available!