🎓 Academy training: Automating workflows in Asana

[Yasmin_Small]

Hi everyone,

Welcome and thank you for attending the Automating workflows in Asana webinar!

We’re so glad you joined us! This space is your go-to home to keep the momentum going. Revisit what you learned, ask follow-up questions, or connect with others who are exploring how to streamline their work with workflows and automations in Asana.

Missed the live session? No worries! You can dive in whenever you’re ready.

Watch the recording below:

At minute 7 in the video, the facilitator encourages you to follow along by importing a project into Asana. Use the link below to do so. Try them in order until one works for your Asana instance:

1. Option 1: Project import link for US Data Center users

2. Option 2: Project import link for EU Data Center users

3. Option 3: Project import link for AU Data Center users

Join the conversation!

This is your space! Here are a few ways to get involved:

• Got a question? No question is too small, drop it below and the community (or our team!) will jump in to help.
• Picked up a handy tip? Share what’s working for you so others can learn from your experience.

Hit Reply below to jump in. We’re all here to learn together!

Key next step:

Ready to level up? Continue your learning journey by signing up for the webinar Getting started with AI Studio. You’ll learn how to build smart, no-code, AI-powered workflows to automate your busy work.

Check out these additional resources:

• Skill badge: Asana Foundations
• Video series: Automations
• Help Center articles: Rules
• Forum post: 5-Step Method Anyone Can to Build Workflows in Asana
  • Review these Forum basics if you are new to the Forum

We can’t wait to hear from you. See you in the thread!

[Iren_Vilaniso]

Hello everyone Welcome to the Post Training Hub!
Below are some of the key questions raised during today’s session:

Q: Can I create a rule and assign the approval task to a guest?
Yes. In Asana, you can create a rule that assigns an approval task to a guest as long as the guest has already been added to the project. The rule works the same as it does for any other user. However, if the guest does not have access to the project, the assignment will not go through.

Q: How do I delete a project?
Open the project, click the project name at the top, then open the dropdown menu. From there, select “Delete project” or “Move to trash,” depending on your permissions. Once in the trash, the project is no longer active and can usually be restored within a limited time.
If you don’t see the delete option, it usually means you don’t have the right permissions, or the project is part of a portfolio or template setup.

Q: Can a form submission be added to an existing Excel, Word, or PDF document with automation?
In Asana, form submissions create tasks, but they don’t directly update Excel, Word, or PDF files. To do this, you’ll need an automation tool like Zapier, which can take the form data and automatically add it to an Excel sheet, fill a Word template, or populate a PDF.

Q: Can you change the display format of the date (e.g., 4/11/2026 instead of “Tuesday”)?
No, Asana does not allow you to customize the date display format. The platform automatically adjusts how dates appear based on context. Even if it shows a day like “Tuesday,” the full date is still stored; you can usually hover over it or open the task to see the exact date.

Thanks so much for the great participation today!
Feel free to drop more questions here anytime as you continue exploring Asana!

[Iren_Vilaniso]

Hello everyone, welcome to the Post Training Hub, and thank you for joining today’s Automating Workflows in Asana session!

Sharing one of the great questions asked earlier:

Q: How can I set project dates to only include working days?

To make your project dates use work days only, set a project schedule for work days.

1. Open the project, click the drop-down next to the project name, then choose “Edit project settings”.
2. Go to Scheduling, then choose Business days (M-F).

This will make scheduling skip non-working days.

Thanks again for attending! Feel free to drop any questions here. I’m happy to help answer them.

[Irish_Makimura]

Thank you, everyone, for attending today’s APAC session!

One of the questions asked during the session was:

Q: How do I delete a branch?
A: Click into the 3dots found on the right side of the condition card you want to delete → click Delete.

[Jodi_Parks]

I love the integration of rules and forms in Asana! This is super helpful moving forward with marketing requests on my team!

[Colleen_Newton_Pause]

Thanks for the great session today, Ren!
I’m working on setting up a workflow for our student blogging process and am hoping to find a way to automate part of it.

Here’s what I’m trying to do:
When a student Blogger submits their post (via a form), a task is created. I’d like a rule to automatically generate a subtask for review, assign it a due date, and assign that subtask to the correct student intern (reviewer).

The tricky part is that each student intern is responsible for a specific group of bloggers (about 5 each). So the subtask assignee would need to depend on either:

• who the parent task is assigned to, or

• who submitted the form (the Blogger)

Example:
If Blogger A submits, the review subtask should automatically be assigned to Intern 1.
If Blogger B submits, it should go to Intern 2, and so on.

Has anyone found a way to:

• Map parent task assignees (or form submitters) to specific subtask assignees?

• Or create rules that route subtasks based on those relationships?

Would love to hear how others have handled something like this, or if there’s a creative workaround!

Thanks so much

[Jodi_Parks]

Ren said something about an otter badge we could earn for joining the training today, where can I find information about it? I’m excited!

[Irish_Makimura]

Amazing question @Colleen_Newton_Pause!

Variables can definitely do the trick for you

If you want the Assignee of the parent task to be the Subtask Assignee
Choose Variable → Assignee

If you want the Submitter to be the Subtask Assignee
Choose Variable → Task creator

[Iren_Vilaniso]

@Jodi_Parks

Ren said something about an otter badge we could earn for joining the training today, where can I find information about it? I’m excited!

Welcome to the community, Jodi!

Glad you’re enjoying the rules and forms from the training. They’re especially helpful for marketing teams because they standardize incoming requests, automatically route work to the right people, and reduce manual follow-ups making the whole intake process much more efficient.

Your Otterly badge is now visible on your profile. Congratulations on earning it!

[slc10072]

Can someone explain the purpose of the ‘Flowsana’ app? When I tried to use a form to create a project with a project template, there was no template on my account. I tried to find a way to copy a project generally and ended up with a request to connect to Flowsana. I’m not an admin for my account, so I can’t simply connect it myself.

Also, an otter badge would be lovely.

[Iren_Vilaniso]

Welcome to the community @slc10072!

Flowsana is a third-party integration that extends Asana’s automation capabilities. When you see the message “Authentication required. Connect to Flowsana”, it means a rule or workflow is trying to use a Flowsana action, but it can’t run until someone with the right permissions connects and authorizes the integration.

Since you’re not an admin, you won’t be able to connect it yourself; an admin or someone with integration permissions would need to complete that setup first.

On the template side, it’s also expected that you may not see or be able to use certain templates if you don’t have the right access. Template owners control permissions, and only users with “Can use” access can create projects from those templates.

So in your case, two things are likely happening:

• The rule requires an admin to connect and authorize Flowsana
• You may need an admin or template owner to grant you “Can use” access to the template you’re trying to work with

Alternatively, you can use Asana’s built-in options:

• Duplicate a project manually (click the caret next to the project title > Duplicate)
• Or use standard Asana project templates (if enabled in your organization)
  
  
  
  
  

Also, your Otter badge is on its way and should appear on your profile within the next 24 hours!

[Irish_Makimura]

Thank you, everyone, for attending the APAC session today!

Let me know if you have questions when you’re building out your rules

[Eduardo_Cordoba]

Use Time Off as a Trigger/Condition for Task Rescheduling and Risk Alerts

Use case

Tasks are automatically assigned to Operations team members through rules, with Start and Due dates calculated based on request type and information submitted through forms.

Team members record PTO and other time off directly in Asana using the built-in Time Off feature.

Current behavior

When a task overlaps with a team member’s recorded time off, Asana displays a warning icon on the Due Date field and shows the conflicting dates when hovered over.

However:

• The task remains scheduled within the original timeframe.

• No automatic warning is sent to the project manager.

• No rescheduling options are suggested.

• Tasks that overlap only on the Start Date or during the execution period may not be easily identified.

• New PTO added after a task has been scheduled can create delivery risks without any notification.

As a result, project managers must manually review assignee calendars and reschedule affected work.

Requested capability

Allow Time Off to be used as a condition or trigger in automation rules.

Examples:

• When a task is assigned and overlaps with recorded time off, notify the project manager.

• When a task is assigned and overlaps with recorded time off, suggest alternative dates.

• When a task is assigned and overlaps with recorded time off, automatically adjust Start and Due dates based on predefined rules depending on the number of days off.

• When new time off is added that affects scheduled tasks, notify the project manager and task owner.

• Create reports or dashboards highlighting tasks impacted by upcoming PTO.

Why this matters

For teams using Asana for intake management, workload planning, and SLA-driven operations, time off directly impacts delivery capacity. Since PTO is already stored within Asana, making it available to automation rules would help reduce manual scheduling effort, improve visibility, and prevent avoidable delays.

[Iren_Vilaniso]

Hi @Eduardo_Cordoba, welcome to the community!

Thanks for taking the time to share this detailed use case. At the moment, Asana rules currently rely on task-based triggers, conditions, and fields. They can’t use Time Off data as a native trigger or condition, so overlaps with PTO won’t automatically notify, reschedule, or adjust dates.

You can approximate this with a workaround:

• Use a custom field to track availability or PTO status manually.
• Build rules like:
a. Trigger: task assigned or due date set
b. Condition: custom field indicates unavailable
c. Action: add comment, notify PM, or shift dates
• Use projects or dashboards to surface tasks by that field.
This requires manual updates or automation since Time Off isn’t directly connected to rules.

A practical workaround is to use a custom field to represent “unavailable” status, then build rules that react when tasks are assigned or due dates are set.

1. In the project, go to Customize → Fields and add a custom field like “Availability” (multi-select works well for “PTO” and “Available”).
2. Create a rule: When “Due date is set” or “Field is changed” → Check if “Availability = PTO” → Do this “Add a comment” tagging the PM and task owner.
3. For reporting, build a dashboard widget that filters tasks by “Availability = PTO” so PMs can quickly spot impacted work. Another option is using Workload alongside this to visually spot capacity gaps when someone is out.

This won’t auto-reschedule dates, but it does create a consistent way to flag and report PTO conflicts using rules.

This is a great feature request, and I can see how it would benefit teams managing workloads, capacity, and SLA-driven processes. There’s already a product feedback topic related to using Time Off data more proactively in workflows, so I’d recommend adding your details and upvoting here: New Rule Condition: Assignee is Out of Office (including My Tasks availability)

Hope that helps! I’m here if you need anything else.

[Iren_Vilaniso]

Hi everyone! Welcome to the Post Training Hub, and thanks for attending today’s Automating Workflows in Asana session!

Here’s one of the great questions that came up during today’s session:
Q: Is there a way to manually trigger the rule?

A: Yes. You can run a rule manually by adding a manual trigger to it.

1. In the project, go to Customize → Rules → Create custom rule.
2. Under Triggers, select Rule is run manually and give it a label, then Publish rule.
3. To run it, right click a task (or open the task menu) and choose Run a rule, then pick your manual trigger label.

Note: only project admins and editors can view and run manual triggers.

Wishing you success with your automations, and don’t hesitate to ask if any questions come up along the way.

[Irish_Makimura]

Thank you, everyone, for attending today’s APAC session!

You can now attach files directly in your chat with AI while building rules.

This makes it easier to share screenshots, process docs, examples, or other reference files when you want help setting up a rule. Adding a file can give AI more context about your workflow and help it suggest the right setup faster.

That said, a quick text description is still helpful, especially if you want to explain what the file shows or what outcome you’re trying to achieve.

If you have a file that helps explain the rule, attach it and add a short note about what you want the rule to do.

[Iren_Vilaniso]

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Post-Training Hub!

Q: Can someone submit an Asana form without an Asana account or license?

A: Yes. Anyone can submit an Asana form without an Asana account or license.

• You simply share the form link with them.
• They can open the link and fill out the form in their browser.
• After submission, the response appears as a task in the project for your team to track.

So external users, customers, or teammates without Asana access can still submit requests through the form link.

Thank you all for your great participation today! If any other questions come up as you continue using Asana, feel free to post them here anytime.

[Iren_Vilaniso]

Hello everyone! Ren here Welcome to the Post-Training Hub!

This is one of the key questions raised during today’s session:

Q: Can I create a rule that converts a task into a project and adds it to a portfolio?
A: Yes, you can automate converting a task into a project using a rule, and then organize the resulting project within a portfolio.

How to set it up:

1. Create a section or custom field like “Convert to Project”.
2. Go to Customize → Rules → + Add.
3. Trigger: When task moves to “Convert to Project” section (or field changes).
4. Action: Convert task to project (you can use a blank project or a template). Then, add it to a portfolio below.
   
   

If any questions come up as you continue exploring Asana, feel free to drop them here anytime.

[Iren_Vilaniso]

Welcome to Automating Workflows in Asana Post-Training Hub!

Thanks again for joining today’s session!

Quick check-in:

• What’s the first workflow or process you’d like to automate in Asana?
• Are there any automation features (such as Rules, Forms, or workflow design) you’d like to explore further?
• Do you have any use cases or challenges where you’d like to see how automation can help?

Feel free to continue sharing your questions, ideas, and workflows below. We’re here to help you get the most out of Asana and can’t wait to see the workflows you build!