Ability to copy sections including all tasks in that section

[Stephen_Mogowski]

Just read this entire thread. This is incredibly poor customer support.

The lack of this particular feature suggests that the developers are somehow not understanding how their software is being utilized by their paying customers.

I would recommend Asana start implementing these changes or else our team will be looking elsewhere for solutions.

[Kate_Barry]

So wait, if something is not voted on well it doesn’t not get attention? Maybe we should tell us that in BIG BOLD letters somewhere. i read the forum, see there is no fix and move on. This has happened, 10 out of 10 times.

[Andrea_Mayer]

Welcome to the Asana Community Forum @Kate_Barry!

No no, there is a lot more that goes into whether Asana considers implementing a feature or not. You can read about it here:

**Read me first** How you can give feedback and what we do next

Submit and vote on Asana product feedback. See details below for how your votes will impact Asana’s product roadmap. While Asana is unable to guarantee each request, we do take each request into consideration and thank you for your feedback. How we’re listening to your product feedback. We have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of organic product feedback you have submitted here in the Community. Many of you have asked what happens with the feedback after you submit it and we’re here …

[Els_Van_de_Veire]

Another big Asana fail.

[Andrew_Chapman1]

After just reading a “workaround” for copying a section in the Asana forum FROM FOUR YEARS AGO — which no longer works — it’s totally inexcusable that this feature/option isn’t available yet. Copying a section is a blatantly obvious need. Workarounds are acceptable for a short period of time, but come on… FOUR YEARS?!?

[Andrew_Chapman1]

I think there should be an explanation posted as to WHY you haven’t implemented this after more than six years.
Is copying a section really rocket science at Asana?

[Heather_Dowling]

Would love to see the ability to have section templates. We have an instructional design use case, and our projects often run over years of development. Initially we want to set up a project with each development phase as a section and milestones, but now show every task in the later sections as it becomes overwhelming, and doesn’t give an accurate reflection of progress for the part of the project you are in. We do want to be able to copy in the tasks for that section once we get to that phase of the project, from a template. If those tasks within the section template could have dependencies set up in the template and conditional dates so they can auto-populate the timeline then that would be ideal. Is section templates on the roadmap for development in Asana? It seems like a popular request.

[Ash_Walker]

yeah, this really needs a fix, especially as the move multiuple to new project feature is no longer a feature in asana… please fix

[Misty_Erickson]

I would like to see this feature as well. There are a few projects I would with that I would like to copy the section with dependencies, notes, etc. Coping the tasks does not keep the dependencies nor the assigned users, which I would like to have as well. It would really make it more efficient to have this capability.

[Charlie_Cavallaro_US]

My team would also really benefit from this feature. Am honestly surprised it doesn’t exist especially given how long this has apparently been a known issue

[Toyin_Onabanjo-Edge]

Hi - I wanted to follow up on the request that many Asana users have requested to inquire about the status of providing section templates.

[Bella_Massey]

Please can we have an update? This was requested so long ago and it seems more like a ‘forgotten’ basic function rather than a feature decision.

[Matthew_Balazs]

Not addressing this request is inexcusable. We have a new project and team that just spun up, and this feature is now necessary for us. Our license is set to renew next month, and I am seriously considering switching platforms, after spending two years with Asana… something I do not want to do. Customer support at the top of the thread claims the feature was rolling out soon back in 2017. It’s now 2024. Perhaps those in 2036 will have the solution they are looking for.

[Andrea_Mayer]

Welcome to the Asana Community Forum @Charlie_Cavallaro_US

Have a look through this post where you will also find the relevant product feedback requests to upvote:
https://forum.asana.com/t/how-can-i-duplicate-copy-a-section/344802/2?u=andrea_mayer

[finfred]

This is unacceptable. This is such a basic function for rinse and repeat projects where you need the same tasks in the same order on multiple occassions within the same project.

SEE HERE:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qu9mSDg26aOelhq8H59EyET9LqSIBXF4/view?usp=sharing
This is what duplicating tasks should look like. It’s not that hard. Alt + drag and drop.

Instead it’s PAINFULLY SLOW.

And to add to that, the responsiveness of Asana is just plain bad. How is this program, web based, and relatively simple so clunky and slow?? No copy paste, no undo, no easily duplicating tasks without loading bars and weird pop-ups. Seriously, you guys should hire the Figma devs and get them to take a look at whatever is going on behind the pretty UI.

[Alison13]

I HAVE A HACK FOR THIS.

We have a main template that we use to start all of our projects. This gets updated from time-to-time, so some of our sections can be out of date when we come to use them.

The way to get around this is:

1. Make a copy of your newest template and call it MOVE SECTIONS.
2. Open both your project and the MOVE SECTIONS project in separate windows (two screens helps to do this easier).
3. In the MOVE SECTIONS project, select all of the tasks within the section that you wish to copy (select the top task and hold shift whilst you select the bottom task.
4. tab-P. This will open a little box on your screen.
5. Select + Add to projects - type in your project name and select it when it comes up on the screen. The default location will be Recently assigned, but there will be a drop-down arrow which you can use to select the section in your current project that you want to move your tasks to.
6. Go to the right hand side of the little box and select the x to Remove task from MOVE SECTIONS.

This will put all of your new tasks into an existing project, and will not lose any of the dependencies, milestones etc that you have set up.

Two things to remember:

a) Set up you section before you do step 5 or;
a) If you are updating a section with new tasks, delete all of the old tasks before you begin.

[Phil_Seeman]

FYI all,

The ability to duplicate a section is now available:

Duplicate sections in your project!

Hi! I’m Christine, Forum Leader, Services Partner, and avid Asana users for 10 years now! I’m excited to be part of this feature announcement! Asana is introducing the capability to duplicate sections in projects! This new feature will allow you to duplicate all tasks within a section of a project and shift due dates automatically, if necessary, saving you a ton of time & work! With this new feature you can expect to be able to decide which task details to include, such as assignees, task des…