Summary
Roadmap items support much more than just a title and description. You can add hero images, rich formatted content with embedded media, set projected release dates with multiple display formats (exact dates, fuzzy timeframes, or quarters), assign internal team owners and members for tracking, add external links to related resources, and associate items with categories for customer filtering. All content saves automatically in real-time as you edit.
What you can add to roadmap items
Hero image
Add a visual header image to make roadmap items more engaging
Supports JPG, PNG, and GIF formats with a maximum size of 10MB
Recommended aspect ratio of 5:3 for optimal display
Great for product mockups, feature screenshots, or branded graphics
Rich content with formatting
Use the rich text editor (identical to the announcement editor) to format your description
Add bold, italic, strikethrough, headings, and text alignment
Insert links, code blocks, blockquotes, and horizontal rules
Create bulleted and numbered lists to organize information
Embed images, videos, and other media directly in the content
Add emojis, tables, and custom HTML if needed
Stage assignment
Select which stage the item is currently in (In planning, In Development, Shipping, Complete, or your custom stages)
Only items in published stages are visible to customers
Projected release date
Set a target completion date to give customers timeline expectations
Choose how dates are displayed on your public roadmap:
Do not display: Hide the date completely from customers
Exact: Show the specific date (e.g., "April 24, 2026")
Fuzzy: Show just the month and year (e.g., "April 2026")
Quarterly: Show the quarter (e.g., "Q2 - 2026")
These are displayed under "Projected Done" on a roadmap item.
Project release date example:
Team assignment (internal only)
You can add an Owner and Members to your roadmap. These are only shown on your internal roadmap in your LaunchNotes workspace and are not shown to customers.
Owner: Assign a single team member as the owner/lead for this roadmap item
Members: Add multiple team members who are involved with or stakeholders in this work
Roadmap updates to team members
If you add an update to a roadmap item, owners and members will receive an email notification about the update. In the below example, a user sent an update for the roadmap item "Hubspot Integration" and the team members would have received this email.
External links (shown externally)
Add links to related resources like design mockups, technical specs, or project documentation
Click + Add Link to include relevant URLs
Links appear on the roadmap item for both internal teams and customers
Links example on roadmap item:
Categories
Associate roadmap items with one or more categories to help customers filter
Categories align roadmap items with your product structure (like "Mobile App" or "API")
Customers can view all roadmap items in a specific category
Useful for customers who only care about certain product areas
Notes & important info
Content updates save automatically: You don't need to click a save button—changes persist as you type
Hero images are optional but recommended: Visual elements make roadmap items more engaging and help customers quickly identify features
Date display format applies per item: You can show exact dates for some items and hide dates for others based on confidence level
Team fields are completely private: Customers never see Owner or Members assignments—these are purely for internal coordination
Links appear publicly: Any links you add will be visible to customers viewing your published roadmap
Category filtering improves customer experience: If you have multiple product lines or feature areas, categories help customers focus on what's relevant to them
The rich text editor matches announcements: If you're familiar with creating announcements, the roadmap item editor works identically
Troubleshooting
Hero image won't upload: Verify the file is under 10MB and in JPG, PNG, or GIF format. Try resizing or compressing the image if needed
Can't assign a team member: Verify the person has been added as a user in your LaunchNotes workspace under Settings > Team
Categories aren't showing up: Make sure you've created categories under Settings > Categories before trying to assign them to roadmap items
Date is showing when I want it hidden: Change the "Display on roadmap" setting from "Exact," "Fuzzy," or "Quarterly" to "Do not display"
External link isn't clickable: Verify you've entered the complete URL including https:// or http://
Content isn't appearing on my public roadmap: Check that the roadmap item is in a published stage (not an unpublished one)