Card sort templates you can paste into a study
By UXbeam · Information architecture tools since 2021 · Published September 20, 2026
Three card sets, each with category lists for a closed or hybrid variant, participant instructions, and a plain statement of what the exercise can and cannot tell you. Everything is in the exact format the UXbeam setup page accepts: one card per line, an optional description after ||, one category per line. Copy a block, paste it, launch.
How to use these
Copy a card set
Use the button on the block, or select the text. Descriptions after
||are optional; delete them if you want participants to work from names alone.Paste into a new card sort
Create a card sort (free, no credit card) and paste the cards into the Items field. For an open sort, leave Categories empty.
For a closed or hybrid sort, paste a category set
Paste the categories into the Categories field. For hybrid, tick Allow testers to add new categories.
Choose the two settings that matter
Randomize card order (and category order). Decide whether to require every card to be sorted; the notes under each template say when that matters.
Share the link
Participants need no account and sort on a laptop or desktop. Results and the full analysis build as they finish.
Template 1 · Online store (15 cards)
The example set built into UXbeam's setup page. Fifteen cards is the minimum UXbeam accepts and a good size for a pilot, a training exercise, or a first look at whether service items (tracking, returns, payment) separate from products in your audience's mind.
Headphones Laptop stands Phone cases Gift cards Running shoes Winter jackets Coffee makers Desk lamps Backpacks Order tracking || Check where my order is Returns || How to send an item back Shipping options Payment methods Account settings Customer support
Shop Orders & delivery Payments Account & support
Shop Orders & delivery Account
- What it can tell you
- Whether products and service tasks separate cleanly; whether Gift cards is a product or a way to pay; whether Returns lives with orders or with help. The hybrid variant deliberately omits payments and support so participants can name them.
- What it cannot
- Whether anyone could find Returns from a menu of four labels without seeing the card. Fifteen cards also gives a shallow structure: expect one level, not a hierarchy.
- Settings
- Require all cards sorted for the closed variant so the placement table is complete. For hybrid, allow unsorted cards so you can tell could not place from created a home.
Template 2 · Connected car companion app (26 cards)
The card set from the connected car case study: the remote features a companion app typically offers. In that study, an open sort found that most participants grouped by vehicle system while about a quarter organized around proximity and access, and the two structures were then tree tested against each other. Run open if you want to see which rule your audience reaches for; run closed against the system-menu categories if you want to check how well the industry convention fits.
Show Vehicle Location Vehicle Charging Status Remote Vehicle Access Battery Charge Status Charging Schedule Warm-up Vehicle Temperature Adjustment Remote Temperature Control Climate Control Seat Warmers Heated Steering Wheel Rear Defrost Connected to Wi-Fi Fuel Level Lock/Unlock Vehicle Tire Pressure Monitoring Start Engine Remote Engine Start/Stop Use phone as a Key Lock and Start Vehicle Status Reports Open Trunk Car Notifications Sentry Mode Schedule Maintenance Scheduled Departure Time
Vehicle Status Climate Control Remote Access Charging Notifications Maintenance
- What it can tell you
- Open: whether your participants organize by system (climate, charging, access) or by situation (what you do from outside the car, what you do from far away), and whether near-duplicate cards such as Start Engine and Remote Engine Start/Stop are read as one thing. Closed: how well the system-menu convention used in the audited apps fits your participants.
- What it cannot
- A closed sort against these six categories cannot surface the proximity pattern at all, because it does not offer it. Neither variant tells you which structure performs; in the case study that took a tree test with the same eight tasks against both.
- Note
- The set contains deliberate near-duplicates from the original inventory. Keep them if you want to measure whether participants merge them; remove them if you want a cleaner sort.
Template 3 · Government services around life transitions (20 cards)
The card set from the government services case study, written so that several organizing principles can compete: each card can be read by topic (housing, education, work, care), by task (find, apply, compare, understand, challenge), by audience or by life event. Run open to see which rule dominates. The two closed variants below are the two rules that appeared in the study, offered as separate category sets: running one of them makes the other invisible, which is the teaching point.
Find financial help after losing your job Apply for funding to retrain for a new career Compare courses that fit around full-time work Check whether a qualification is recognized by employers Get childcare support while attending training Understand how benefits may change when starting work Appeal a decision about training support Find local support for starting a small business Find accessible housing after developing a disability Apply for help adapting a home for mobility needs Understand tenancy rights before moving into a rented home Compare childcare options before returning to work Find support for caring for an older relative Arrange an assessment of a relative's care needs Challenge a decision about disability support Register with local health services after moving Find school support for a child with additional needs Compare education options after compulsory schooling Understand pension options before stopping work Report a death and find out what must be done next
Housing Education Employment Childcare Care Financial support
Find Apply Compare Understand Challenge
- What it can tell you
- Open: which organizing principle your audience applies to public services, and whether more than one appears. Closed A versus closed B, on separate participants: which rule produces cleaner placements. Hybrid with variant A: whether people add task-style categories when only topics are offered.
- What it cannot
- The cards are written for a general adult public and describe generic services. Replace them with your own service names before drawing conclusions about a specific site.
- Settings
- Randomize card order; the cards are listed here roughly by life event, which would anchor the sort. Allow unsorted cards in the closed variants: a card nobody can place under either rule is useful evidence that neither scheme handles it well.
Participant instructions
UXbeam shows the sort instruction on screen: Sort the items into as many categories as needed for an open sort, Sort each item into one of the categories below for closed, and Sort each item into a category below, or add a new one if needed for hybrid. What you write is the message that carries the link. Three versions, with the placeholders to fill:
We are working out how [product] should be organized and would like your help. You will see about [N] items. Drag the ones that belong together into groups, make as many groups as you like, and give each group a name that makes sense to you. There are no right answers; go with your first instinct. It takes about [M] minutes, needs no account, and works best on a laptop or desktop. [link]
We are checking where things should live in [product] and would like your help. You will see about [N] items and [K] section names. Drag each item into the section where you would expect to find it. There are no right answers; go with your first instinct. It takes about [M] minutes, needs no account, and works best on a laptop or desktop. [link]
We are checking how [product] should be organized and would like your help. You will see about [N] items and a few section names we are considering. Drag each item into the section where you would expect it. If something does not fit anywhere, add a section of your own and call it whatever makes sense to you; that is genuinely useful to us. It takes about [M] minutes, needs no account, and works best on a laptop or desktop. [link]
Two things to leave out. Do not list the categories in the message; participants should meet them next to the cards. Do not say validate, new navigation or we think, which invites agreement rather than sorting.
Writing your own card set
- 15 to 60 cards. UXbeam's limits. Large card sets increase participant effort; sample a very large inventory or split it into focused studies.
- One concept per card, in the user's words. Order tracking, not OMS status view.
- No section names inside card names. Billing settings answers the question for the participant.
- One level of granularity, unless you want a hierarchy back.
- Descriptions for the genuinely ambiguous. After
||. Participants can reveal them, and UXbeam reports how often each description was opened, which can flag card names worth reviewing. - Write the closed categories you would ship. A sort tests placement under those exact words.