Adding subtasks via csv

Adding another name to the list of people who are eagerly awaiting this functionality. :slight_smile:

1 Like

Still keeping a close eye on this @Jeff_Wilson; I’m hoping to have some good news soon!

Great news guys! Just got word that the feature has been fully rolled out so you can now import subtasks to Asana via the CSV importer! :tada:Thanks again for your patience, we hope you enjoy it!

4 Likes

This is great, thanks Marie. Now - any instructions on how to format the CSV? :slight_smile:

2 Likes

I’m having the same problem. How do we format the “subtask” in the CSV file?

Hey @Jeff_Wilson and @Eric_Higuchi! We will add this feature to our Guide article soon, but in the meantime, try following these steps:

  1. Access the project you want to add tasks to (in my example Project B)
  2. Click on the “…” dots menu next to this project
  3. Select “Add tasks via > CSV”
  4. Select your CSV file (in my example called "Project A) and click upload
  5. At that stage you will be required to map out the fields of your csv to fit the Asana project
  6. On my CSV file, subtasks are indicated in the “Parent task” column.

  1. So in Asana I’m associating with “Parent task” with “Subtask of”
  2. After importing my CSV, all subtasks are automatically showing under their respective parent task

Hope this helps! :slight_smile:

1 Like

Fantastic news, thanks Marie. I’ll putting this through it’s paces later on today for sure!

And since software users are all take, take, take I’ll add: Any plans to enhance this further to include dependencies? :wink:

1 Like

I hope this is something we can in a close future @Alex_Thut! Will make sure to let you know when I hear something!

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth but having tested this functionality it seems very slow to me. The main reason one would want to add tasks and subtasks via csv would be for bulk uploads (otherwise you’d just use a template task and copy that…). When adding 395 tasks, with 27 subtasks each (some 11k+ things in total) I had to cancel it after 3 hours as it hadn’t even got half way and I’m not prepared to stay at work until 8pm… I’m going to run it in 4 smaller batches tomorrow but wonder if there is some way to speed it up with a patch?
I appreciate my use case is likely an extreme end of the scale but just wanted to offer feedback on my first attempt :frowning:

1 Like

Hi @Marie! I tried to reproduce the same steps and I didn’t get subtasks to be under a task. I noticed that your snapshot of the CSV file says ‘Project_A’, but on the next snapshot, the subtasks were linked to ‘Project_B’. It’s quite confusing…:thinking::confused:

1 Like

Hi @Cecilia_Costa!

Project A is in the name of my CSV doc, containing all tasks I’m importing in my Asana project called “Project B”. I’ve also tried to clarify my previous post. Does that help?

Yes @Marie, that helps me understanding why they have different project names, but I’m still not getting the subtasks under a task, even using your sample to test it :frowning: :exploding_head:

Aside from including dependencies, I’d love to see mapping capabilities for tags and a dedicated Description field!

2 Likes

Today I was playing with importing data from csv. It works really nice and smooth, subtasks work fine, but I must tell that it will be extremely helpful if you release dependencies update soon :wink: I’m looking forward to it!

2 Likes

I have just run into a problem regarding the subtask import function. I am trying to import subtasks to an existing task. The import wizard tells me that i have an issue and tells me: Unsupported values. “SO-11074” is not a valid choice

Any ideers to what i am doing wrong?

Hi @CHDK are you using a Mac? I had the same problem and just had to change the encoding option. Let me know if this works!

1 Like

Hey Asana, any updates on importing subtask dependencies via CSV import? @Marie @Michael_A

Not at the moment @Jeremy_P , but I would recommend creating a thread in the #productfeedback category to allow other users to vote for this feature request too. On my end, I’ll make sure to keep you posted when I have an update!

1 Like

Can you direct me on how to change the encoding options?

I have a simple but urgent question about sub-tasks. I associated the same list of ‘sections & sub-tasks’ to multiple tasks on a project ( in board view ).
How we use the board:

  • Columns show the progress of a task “proposal” through the workflow
  • Each task on my board was a the name of a Proposal my team was reviewing
  • the sub-tasks were the screening checklist (same for every proposal)

In Sep 2018, I imported a .csv with one of the columns being ‘sub-tasks’ and the result was that each task in the board had the same checklist (ie. each project had a checklist of criteria). Now that i am trying to use the same format this is no longer working. It now, must be on the same row as the initial task name. (that makes it so that I have multiple rows with the same Proposal name - very difficult to import via CSV.)