Sign up for free and invite others to collaborate in Azure Boards

Azure DevOps Services

Sign up for an Azure DevOps and Azure Boards to start planning and tracking work. We walk you through the sign-up process for Azure Boards. Follow these steps when you want to accomplish the following tasks:

• Create a private or public project with Azure Boards enabled services
• Track work using the Basic, Agile, Scrum, or CMMI process for tracking work
• Create a Git or Team Foundation Version control (TFVC) repository for managing your code
• Invite others to contribute to your project

To sign up and enable all Azure DevOps Services, see Sign up, sign in to Azure DevOps. To learn more about the choices available to you, see these articles:

• What is Azure Boards?
• Choose a process work tracking work
• Choose the right version control for your project.

Choose your sign-up option

1. From your web browser, open the Azure Boards sign-up page. Supported web browsers include the latest versions of Edge, Internet Explorer, Safari (Mac), Firefox, and Chrome.

   

2. Choose one of the following buttons based on the account you want to use.

   • Start free: Choose this option when:
     • You have a Microsoft account and will sign in using your account email address, phone number, or Skype ID. If you're a Visual Studio subscriber and you get Azure DevOps as a benefit, use the Microsoft account associated with your subscription. Go to Sign up with a personal Microsoft account
     • You want to sign up using a general email address you want to use. Continue to Sign up by creating an account using your email address.

     Tip

     You can sign up with any valid email address. Signing up for Azure Boards enables your email address as a Microsoft account.

   • Start free with GitHub: Choose this option if you have an existing GitHub account. Then go to Sign up with a GitHub account.

3. If you've already signed up or have an organization set up to use Azure Boards, choose the Sign in link.

   

Sign up by creating an account using your email address

1. To sign up with a valid email address, choose Create one!. Enter the email address you want to use.

   

2. Enter the email address you want to use and then choose Next.

   

   Or, you choose Get a new email address to create an Outlook or Hotmail account at this time. To learn more, see create a Microsoft account.

3. Enter the password you want to use with your Azure Boards Microsoft account and then choose Next.

   

4. Choose the region and specify your birthday to complete your account registration and then choose Next.

   

5. Enter the code sent to your email address to verify your account and then choose Next.

   

6. Check your email account and enter the code provided. Choose Next.

   

   An organization is created based on your account name. Sign in to your organization at any time by entering https://dev.azure.com/{yourorganization} in your web portal. You can change the organization name as indicated in Change organization or project settings later in this article.

7. Also, a project is created based on your account name. You can change the project name later. To get started with Azure DevOps, choose Continue.

   

   • Project name: Can't contain special characters (such as /: \ ~ & % ; @ ' " ? < > | # $ * } { , + = [ ]), can't begin with an underscore, can't begin or end with a period, and must be 64 characters or less.
   • Visibility: Choose Public if you want to create an open-source project. Otherwise, choose Private, so only people who you give access to can view your project.

8. Your next step is to start using your Kanban board to track issues and tasks, or invite other users to collaborate with your project.

Sign up with a personal Microsoft account

If you have a Microsoft account or Azure Active Directory organizational account, follow these steps to sign up for Azure Boards.

1. Enter your email address, phone number, or Skype ID for your Microsoft account. If you're a Visual Studio subscriber and you get Azure DevOps as a benefit, use the Microsoft account associated with your subscription. Select Next.

   

2. Enter your password and select Sign in.

   

3. To get started with Azure Boards, select Continue.

   

4. An organization is suggested based on the account you used to sign in. You can modify the account name. Choose the region where you want your projects hosted. Then enter the characters you see into the text box, and then choose Continue.

   

   An organization is created based on the name entered in the Name your Azure DevOps organization box.

   Use the following URL to sign in to your organization at any time:

   https://dev.azure.com/{yourorganization}

   You can change the organization name as indicated in Change organization or project settings later in this article.

5. To complete your sign-up process, go to create a project.

Sign up with a GitHub account

If you have a GitHub account, follow these steps to sign up for Azure Boards.

1. From the Azure Boards sign-up page, choose Start Boards free with GitHub.

   

2. Enter your GitHub account credentials, and then select Sign in.

   

3. Select Authorize Microsoft corporation.

   

   For more information about GitHub authentication, see FAQs.

4. Choose Continue.

   

   An organization is created based on your GitHub account.

   Use the following URL to sign in to your organization at any time:

   https://dev.azure.com/{yourorganization}

   You can change the organization name as indicated in Change organization or project settings later in this article.

5. To complete your sign-up process, go to create a project.

Create a project

If you signed up for Azure DevOps with an existing Microsoft account or GitHub identity, you're automatically prompted to create a project. You can create either a public or private project. To learn more about public projects, see What is a public project?.

1. Enter a name for your project, select the visibility, and optionally provide a description. Then choose Create project.

   

   • Project name: Can't contain special characters (such as / : \ ~ & % ; @ ' " ? < > | # $ * } { , + = [ ]), can't begin with an underscore, can't begin or end with a period, and must be 64 characters or less.
   • Visibility: Choose Public if you want to create an open-source project. Otherwise, choose Private, so only people who you give access to can view your project.

2. Your Kanban board automatically appears. You're now set to start tracking issues, tasks, and features, or invite other users to collaborate with your project.

   

Create a project with Advanced options

Your first project is automatically created using the Basic process and a Git repository. If you want to use the Agile, Scrum, or CMMI process and a different repository, you can create another project and choose the process by expanding the Advanced settings. You can then delete the project with the process you don't want to use.

1. Select Azure DevOps to open the Projects page, and then select New project.

   

2. Fill out the form, expand Advanced to choose the options available for Version control and Work item process.

   

3. Choose Create to complete the action.

Invite team members to your project

You can add and invite others to work on your project by adding their email address to your organization and project.

1. From your project web portal, choose the Azure DevOps icon, and then select Organization settings.

   

2. Select Users > Add new users.

   

3. Complete the form by entering or selecting the following information:

   • Users: Enter the email addresses (Microsoft accounts) or GitHub IDs for the users. You can add several email addresses by separating them with a semicolon (;). An email address appears in red when it's accepted.
   • Access level: Assign one of the following access levels:
     • Basic: Assign to users who must have access to all Azure Boards features. You can grant up to five users Basic access for free.
     • Stakeholder: Assign to users who will have limited access to features to view, add, and modify work items. You can assign an unlimited amount of users Stakeholder access for free.
   • Add to project: Select the project you named in the preceding procedure.
   • Azure DevOps Groups: Select one of the following security groups, which will determine the permissions the users have to perform select tasks (To learn more, see Default permissions and access for Azure Boards.):
     • Project Readers: Assign to users who only require read-only access.
     • Project Contributors: Assign to users who will contribute fully to the project.
     • Project Administrators: Assign to users who will configure project resources.

   Note

   Add email addresses for personal Microsoft accounts and IDs for GitHub accounts unless you plan to use Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) to authenticate users and control organization access. If a user doesn't have a Microsoft or GitHub account, ask the user to sign up for a Microsoft account or a GitHub account.

4. When you're done, select Add to complete your invitation.

For more information, see Add users or groups to a team or project and Add organization users for Azure DevOps Services.

Change your organization or project settings

You can rename and delete your organization, or change the organization location. To learn more, see the following articles:

• Manage organizations
• Rename an organization
• Change the location of your organization

You can rename your project or change its visibility. To learn more about managing projects, see the following articles:

• Manage projects
• Rename a project
• Delete a project
• Change the project visibility, public or private

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Related articles

• Manage projects
• Manage organizations
• About access levels
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