---
canonical_url: "https://buildwithwave.com/docs/workflows/track-jobs-with-statuses"
title: "Track every job with job statuses"
description: "Give each job a status your whole team understands, move it as the work moves, and add statuses of your own to match how your company operates."
group: "workflows"
lane: "how-to"
status: "published"
publishedAt: 2026-10-09
updatedAt: 2026-10-09
sidebarOrder: 100
tags: ["workflow"]
relatedSlugs:
  - "jobs/jobs-board"
  - "jobs/job-workspace"
  - "account/roles"
  - "workflows/run-your-team-in-wave"
  - "workflows/put-wave-to-work"
sidebarLabel: "Job statuses"
---

A job status tells your whole company where a job stands, at a glance. Everyone on your team can read the board, move jobs and shape the statuses to match how you work, so the office and the field stay on the same page.

## The statuses you start with

The Jobs board opens with **Assigned to me**, your own active jobs, then these status columns, with a **Cancelled** column at the end:

- **New**: no estimate started yet.
- **Pending**: the job is waiting before an estimate starts.
- **Estimating**: the job's first estimate is underway.
- **In Progress**: the work is underway.
- **Completed**: the job's first estimate is finished, or your team marked the job done.

**Assigned to me** is a view, not a status. Each of its cards also stays in its status column.

Wave moves a job forward when its first estimate starts and finishes, and your team can move it at any time. See [The Jobs board](/docs/jobs/jobs-board) for the full picture.

## Make the statuses your own

Anyone on your team can rename a status, drag the headers to reorder them and add up to 5 statuses of your own with **+ Add column**. A status name can be 1 to 40 characters. Names and order are shared by the whole company, so everyone sees the same board.

Teams use their own statuses for jobs that are on hold or for steps only their team has, such as **On hold**, **In review** or **In audit**. Name yours whatever your team already says out loud.

## Move a job

Pick whichever way is fastest:

- **Drag the card** to another column on the Jobs board.
- **Select several jobs** with Shift and drag, then move the group.
- **Use the status control** at the top of a job on a computer.
- **Tell Wave**, for example "move the Park job to In Progress". This works for the built-in statuses. For a status you added, use the board or the job's status control.

See [The Jobs board](/docs/jobs/jobs-board) for the keyboard shortcuts and the phone layout.

## A team routine that works

1. The person who takes the call creates the job. It lands in **New**.
2. Whoever starts the first estimate sees the job move to **Estimating** on its own.
3. When the estimate is finished or exported, the job moves to **Completed**. Move it to **In Progress** when the work starts, or to one of your own statuses if you track more steps.
4. Anyone who changes the plan moves the card and leaves a Job note with the reason. See [Job notes](/docs/collaboration/internal-notes).

## Cancel, reopen and archive

Anyone can cancel a job by dragging it into **Cancelled** or by telling Wave, and reopen it the same way. An Admin can archive a job with **Archive…** in the **Job actions** (⋮) menu. See [Cancel or reopen a job](/docs/jobs/cancel-reopen-archive).

## Tip

On a computer, hide the columns you rarely use with **Columns**. It changes only your own view, so your teammates keep theirs.

## Related

- [The Jobs board](/docs/jobs/jobs-board)
- [Inside a job](/docs/jobs/job-workspace)
- [User roles](/docs/account/roles)
- [Run your company together in Wave](/docs/workflows/run-your-team-in-wave)
- [Put Wave to work in your workflow](/docs/workflows/put-wave-to-work)