Mastering the ClickUp Hierarchy

The ClickUp Hierarchy is the foundation of how work is organized, connected, and scaled in your account. Understanding each level helps you set up projects, teams, and workflows in a way that stays clear and flexible as you grow.

This how-to guide walks you step-by-step through every part of the Hierarchy so you can structure your work with confidence.

What is the ClickUp Hierarchy?

The Hierarchy is a multi-level structure that moves from broad account settings down to the individual actions completed by your team. Each level adds more detail and focus. Together, they keep your information organized, searchable, and easy to manage.

At a high level, the Hierarchy includes:

• Workspace
• Spaces
• Folders
• Lists
• Tasks and Subtasks
• Views

Each level is designed for a specific purpose, from organizing departments to tracking the smallest deliverables.

How to navigate your ClickUp Workspace

The Workspace is the top level of your account and represents your entire organization or company instance. From here you manage global settings and high-level structure.

Step 1: Understand the Workspace level in ClickUp

Your Workspace typically represents one organization or business. All Spaces, Folders, Lists, and tasks live inside this Workspace. Workspace-level controls usually include:

• Company-wide settings
• Members and guests
• Billing and permissions
• Default options for features and tools

Keep the Workspace focused on organizational-wide administration rather than daily task management.

Step 2: Configure Workspace settings

1. Open your account settings from the main navigation.
2. Review Workspace name and logo so people recognize where they are working.
3. Set member roles and access levels to match your internal policies.
4. Enable only the features and ClickApps your teams truly need, so the interface stays clean.

Setting up the Workspace correctly gives you a stable foundation before adding team structures.

How to organize Spaces in ClickUp

Spaces are the next level down and divide your Workspace into large areas. Use them to separate departments, business units, or major functions.

Step 3: Plan your Spaces

Before creating anything, decide how you want to group your work. Common approaches include:

• By department, such as Marketing, Sales, Product, HR
• By business line, such as Client Services or Internal Projects
• By geography, such as North America, EMEA, APAC

Choose a structure that matches how your organization thinks about ownership and responsibilities.

Step 4: Create a new Space

1. From the main navigation, open the Spaces area.
2. Select the option to add a new Space.
3. Name the Space clearly, for example “Product Team” or “Client Delivery”.
4. Pick a color and icon so it is easy to identify at a glance.
5. Set default views, statuses, and ClickApps that will apply inside the Space.

Spaces help you maintain clear boundaries between large categories of work while still keeping everything in a single Workspace.

How to structure Folders in ClickUp

Folders live inside Spaces and group related Lists. They give you an extra layer of organization when a Space contains several different initiatives or programs.

Step 5: Decide when to use Folders

Use Folders when you need to group Lists by a shared theme, such as:

• Ongoing programs within a department
• Client groups or portfolios
• Large projects made up of multiple phases

If a Space is small and simple, you can work directly with Lists and skip Folders.

Step 6: Create a Folder

1. Open the Space where you want the Folder to live.
2. Choose the option to add a new Folder.
3. Give the Folder a descriptive name, such as “Q3 Campaigns” or “Customer Onboarding”.
4. Set default settings or statuses for Lists you plan to place in this Folder.

Folders help keep your Space tidy so you can quickly navigate to the correct group of Lists.

How to build Lists in ClickUp

Lists are where work becomes concrete and trackable. Every task belongs to a List, which usually represents a project, backlog, sprint, or process stage.

Step 7: Choose a clear purpose for each List

Before adding Lists, decide what each one will represent. Common examples include:

• Project lists, such as “Website Redesign”
• Process lists, such as “Bug Intake”
• Time-based lists, such as “Sprint 12” or “January Content”
• Responsibility lists, such as “Support Queue”

Avoid creating too many overlapping Lists. Each List should have one obvious purpose.

Step 8: Create and configure a List

1. Open the Space or Folder where the List will live.
2. Select the option to add a new List.
3. Name the List based on its purpose, like “Release Backlog”.
4. Set custom statuses that match this workflow, such as To Do, In Progress, In Review, Closed.
5. Add any custom fields needed to capture important data, like priority, estimate, or owner.

Once Lists are created, your team can start adding and managing tasks inside them.

How to manage tasks in ClickUp

Tasks are the core action items your team works on every day. They hold descriptions, assignees, due dates, attachments, and more.

Step 9: Create tasks and subtasks

1. Open the List where you want to create a task.
2. Click to add a new task and give it a clear, action-oriented name.
3. Add a detailed description outlining what needs to be done.
4. Assign the task to one or more owners and set start and due dates.
5. Add subtasks if the work includes several smaller steps that need tracking.

Subtasks are helpful when the main task is larger and needs to be broken down for clarity or delegation.

Step 10: Use task details effectively

Inside each task you can:

• Add comments to collaborate with your team.
• Attach files or link to documents and resources.
• Update custom fields, such as priority or effort.
• Change status as work progresses through your workflow.

Consistent task details make reporting, tracking, and search more reliable across the entire Hierarchy.

How to work with views in ClickUp

Views let you see the same tasks in different formats without changing where they live in the Hierarchy. They are available at multiple levels, including Spaces, Folders, Lists, and sometimes at the Workspace level.

Step 11: Choose the right view types

Common view types include:

• List view for simple, spreadsheet-style task management.
• Board view for drag-and-drop workflows by status.
• Calendar view for date-focused planning.
• Gantt or timeline view for scheduling dependencies.
• Table or other specialized views for detailed reporting.

Select views that match how your team prefers to visualize work while keeping source data in the same List or Folder.

Step 12: Customize and save views

1. Open the level you want to configure, such as a specific List.
2. Choose a view type and adjust filters, sorting, and grouping.
3. Select which fields to display so people see the most relevant information.
4. Save the view and decide whether to make it private or share it with the team.

Thoughtfully designed views help each team member focus on what matters without changing the underlying structure.

Best practices for setting up your ClickUp Hierarchy

To keep your environment scalable and easy to use, follow these practical tips:

• Use clear naming conventions at every level.
• Limit Spaces to broad, well-understood categories.
• Introduce Folders only where they add clarity, not clutter.
• Keep Lists focused and purposeful.
• Standardize statuses across similar Spaces or teams.
• Review and clean up old Lists and tasks regularly.

Establishing these patterns early helps new team members understand how work is organized and where to put new items.

Where to learn more about ClickUp

For deeper, official documentation on the Hierarchy, you can read the Intro to the Hierarchy article provided by the platform itself.

If you need strategic guidance on structuring your setup, optimizing workflows, or designing scalable processes, you can also explore expert consulting services at Consultevo.

By understanding and intentionally configuring each level of the Hierarchy, you can turn your environment into a clear, powerful system for managing every project, process, and team.

Need Help With ClickUp?

If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your ClickUp workspace, work with ConsultEvo — trusted ClickUp Solution Partners.

Get Help

“`