A meeting agenda is more than a list of items — it's a structured outline that walks the meeting from Call to Order through Adjournment. The structure itself (the sections and their order) is what makes an agenda readable, predictable, and useful to citizens reviewing it on the public portal.
This article covers the structural side of agenda building: creating the agenda from a template, the section layout you'll see, the Edit Sections mode for adjusting that layout, and the auto-numbering controls. The companion article — Building the Agenda: Placing Legislative Items — covers how to actually fill those sections with items. Two articles for two distinct kinds of work; you'll use both in succession when building a real agenda.
Where to find it
From a meeting's Overview tab, click the Agenda tab in the meeting page navigation, or click Create Agenda in the Meeting Actions sidebar (if no agenda exists yet).
[IMAGE: A meeting page with the Agenda tab selected, showing the agenda builder]
The Agenda tab is locked if your government doesn't have the Agenda module (hasAgenda flag). You'll see a lock icon on the tab. If you need access, reach out to your Govinity account team.
Creating the agenda from a template
If the meeting doesn't have an agenda yet, you'll see a zero-state card with an Add Agenda button. Click it to open the Create Agenda dialog.
[IMAGE: The Create Agenda dialog showing template options with the meeting body's default highlighted]
The dialog shows every active agenda template, with the meeting body's default template badged. Below the template cards is a None option for starting blank.
A small but important detail: if the meeting body has an associated default template and the meeting was created without explicitly overriding it, the agenda is created immediately without showing the dialog. You skip straight to the agenda builder. So if you create a meeting and click into the Agenda tab and a built agenda is just there — that's why.
Once the agenda exists, you can't pick a different template from this page — to switch, you'd have to delete the agenda first (use the trash icon on the Agenda Progress card on the Overview tab) and create a new one.
The two-column layout
After the agenda is created, the page splits into two columns:
[IMAGE: The agenda page with the sections list on the left and the legislative items picker on the right]
Left column — Meeting Agenda, the section tree with items inside each section.
Right column — the Legislative Items picker (Scheduled for Introduction / In Process / Search tabs) for finding items to place.
This article focuses on the left column. The right column is covered in Building the Agenda: Placing Legislative Items.
After the agenda is finalized, the layout changes: the right column switches from the items picker to the Meeting Documents viewer, showing the generated agenda outline and package PDFs. You can no longer place new items.
The top action row
Across the top of the agenda builder sit five action buttons that govern the agenda's lifecycle and structure:
[IMAGE: The agenda top action row showing Auto Number Sections, Edit Sections, Generate Document, Finalize Agenda, Publish Agenda buttons]
Auto Number Sections (hash icon) — applies the agenda template's outline numbering configuration to every section. Disabled if the template has no outline numbering config. Covered later in this article.
Edit Sections (pencil icon) — switches to Edit Sections mode for adjusting the section tree. Covered later in this article.
Generate Document — generates (or re-generates) the Agenda Outline PDF. Covered in Finalizing and Publishing the Agenda.
Finalize Agenda (lock icon) — locks the agenda's structure. Covered in Finalizing and Publishing the Agenda.
Publish Agenda (send icon) — only appears after finalization. Covered in Finalizing and Publishing the Agenda.
For now, focus on the first two — Auto Number and Edit Sections.
Reading the agenda's sections
The left column lists every section in the agenda, in order. Each section is rendered as a row showing:
A section number (editable inline with a pencil-to-edit affordance).
A section title (e.g., "Call to Order", "Public Comment", "Consent Agenda", "Regular Business").
A section description (rich text, optional).
The items within the section (if any).
[IMAGE: A section row with its number, title, description, and items inside]
Sections that are configured to accept items (a property set by the template) show an Add Legislation Item button at the bottom for adding items. Sections that don't accept items (Call to Order, Adjournment, etc.) show no add button — they're structural and not meant to hold legislative items.
Section properties — what the template controls
A few section properties are configured by the agenda template (in Admin → Agenda Templates) and aren't editable from the meeting agenda builder:
acceptsItems— whether legislative items can be placed in this section.automaticAssignmentRules— rules that auto-place items based on item type, custom field values, or other criteria when the agenda is first built.displayType— how the section renders (text-based, table-based, etc.).Conditional — whether the section appears only when certain conditions are met.
These template-controlled properties are why "Call to Order" and "Adjournment" don't have an Add button — the template has flagged them as not-accepting-items. If you want different structural behavior on a section, the template is where to make the change. See Managing Agenda Templates in the admin docs.
What is editable from the meeting agenda builder: section number, title, description, and order. We'll get into those next.
Edit Sections mode
When you click Edit Sections, the layout switches: the two-column items picker disappears, and you enter a full-screen tree view where every section becomes a draggable, editable card.
[IMAGE: Edit Sections mode showing the draggable tree with editable section cards]
What you can do
Reorder — grab the grip handle on the left of any section and drag it up or down. The Up/Down arrow buttons on each card also work for one-step moves.
Nest — drag a section into another section to make it a child (up to 3 levels deep). Govinity warns you visually when you're trying to nest beyond the max depth.
Rename — edit the section's title inline. Title is required; you can't save a section with a blank title.
Edit description — the description field is a small rich-text editor supporting bold, italic, underline, bulleted lists, and numbered lists.
Override section number — manually edit the section number text field. Useful when auto-numbering doesn't quite match your government's preferred format.
Delete — click the trash icon to remove the section. The section's items go back to the right-column picker as unplaced.
Adding a new section
At the top of Edit Sections mode, an Add Section button inserts a new section seeded with placeholder content — title "New Section," description "New Section Description." You'll typically:
Click Add Section.
Type the new section's title (replacing "New Section").
Optionally add a description.
Drag the new section into position in the tree.
The new section is added at the root level. Drag it under another section if you want it nested.
A caveat: the Add Section button creates a section with default properties (acceptsItems: true, displayType: 'text'). You can't change those properties from this UI — they come from the template. If you need a structural section like "Recess" (which shouldn't accept items), you'd need to add that to the template instead (or just add it here and not place any items in it).
Saving or cancelling
At the top of the Edit Sections mode, two buttons:
Cancel — exits Edit Sections mode without saving. Any pending changes (renames, reorders, additions) are discarded.
Save — validates the form (every section must have a non-blank title) and commits the new section structure. The page returns to the default two-column layout.
Save is destructive in the sense that it replaces the entire section list — including any auto-numbering you previously applied. So plan to re-run Auto Number Sections after Save if you'd been using it.
Auto-numbering sections
The Auto Number Sections button applies the agenda template's outline numbering configuration to every section automatically. Examples of common numbering schemes:
A, B, C — letters for top-level sections.
I, II, III — Roman numerals.
1, 2, 3 — Arabic numerals at top, then "1.a, 1.b, 1.c" for sub-sections.
[IMAGE: A section list with auto-numbered sections showing A. Call to Order, B. Public Comment, etc.]
The numbering config is set on the template, not the meeting agenda. If your government's templates have outline numbering configured (and most do), this button is the easiest way to apply consistent section numbers. Click once and every section gets numbered automatically.
If the template has no outline numbering configuration, the button is disabled with a tooltip: "No outline numbering configuration available." In that case, you can still manually enter section numbers using the pencil-to-edit affordance next to each section number.
Manual section number override
Even with Auto Number applied, you can override any individual section's number by clicking the pencil icon next to the section number and typing a custom value. Common reasons to override:
The section is conditional and shouldn't increment the numbering.
You want a section that breaks the numbering pattern (e.g., an unnumbered "Closed Session" between Item B and Item C).
The auto-number conflicts with a numbering scheme your government has historically used.
Manual overrides persist until you click Auto Number Sections again (which re-applies the template's configuration and wipes manual overrides).
Conditional sections
Some templates include conditional sections — sections that only render in the agenda if specific conditions are met. For example, a template might have a "Public Hearings" section that only appears if at least one item on the agenda is configured as a Public Hearing.
When conditional sections are configured but empty (no matching items have been added), they appear with a muted note: "Conditional section without items won't be auto-numbered." This is a heads-up that the section will be hidden in the final published agenda unless items are placed into it.
A note on lock behavior
Once you click Finalize Agenda (covered in Finalizing and Publishing the Agenda), every editing capability described above goes away. You can no longer:
Edit Sections (the button is hidden).
Add Sections.
Rename, reorder, or delete existing sections.
Add new items to sections.
Manually adjust section or item numbers.
To make changes after finalization, you'd click Undo Finalize in the Finalized alert that appears at the top of the agenda. Then the editing controls come back. After your changes, re-finalize and re-publish.
Common patterns
A few patterns that come up in real agenda-building work:
"My template is a good starting point but I need to add one more section for this special meeting." Click Edit Sections. Click Add Section. Type the title. Drag into position. Save. Auto Number again.
"I want to rename a default section temporarily for this meeting only." Edit Sections. Click into the section's title. Type the new name. Save. The change is scoped to this meeting; future meetings will use the template's original section names.
"I need to delete a section that doesn't apply to this meeting." Edit Sections. Click the trash icon on the section. Confirm. Save. The section is gone for this meeting only.
"The auto-numbering put my Consent Agenda as item B but I want it as item A." Edit Sections. Drag the Consent Agenda section above the current Item A. Save. Auto Number again — the Consent Agenda is now A.
"I want to nest a sub-section under Regular Business." Edit Sections. Drag the section onto Regular Business (drop on it, not next to it). The section becomes a child, indented one level. Save.
Common questions
Can I create a new section type (like "Recess" that doesn't accept items)? Not from the meeting agenda builder. You can add any section here, but its properties default to "accepts items." To create a section type with different properties (no items, conditional, special display), define it on the agenda template under Admin → Agenda Templates.
Can I move a section into a different agenda? No. Sections are scoped to a single agenda. Templates are how you keep a consistent structure across agendas.
What's the maximum nesting depth? 3 levels. Section → Sub-section → Sub-sub-section. Govinity prevents drops that would go deeper.
Does deleting a section delete its items? No — the items go back to the right-column item picker as unplaced. The items themselves are not deleted; only their placement in this agenda is removed.
Can I drag a section between agendas? No. Each agenda's section tree is independent.
What if my template has no outline numbering and I want to number sections? Manually edit each section's number using the pencil affordance. Or configure outline numbering on the template (admin work) so Auto Number Sections becomes available.
What to read next
Building the Agenda: Placing Legislative Items — fill the sections you just structured.
Finalizing and Publishing the Agenda — once items are in place and structure is right, take the agenda live.
Managing Agenda Templates (admin) — change the template-level properties that govern section behavior.
Need help?
If Edit Sections mode won't save, the most common cause is a section with a blank title — every section needs at least one character. If Auto Number Sections is disabled, the template has no outline numbering configuration; either ask an admin to add one or use manual section numbers. For anything else, reach out to Govinity support.