Is there anyway of filing and storing reports, documents, contracts etc in a safe searchable filing environment in Asana? At the moment we store everything on our main Google Drive.
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One or more files can be linked (like in the Description) to Google Drive (or other file storage app) or attached directly to any task in Asana. For non-trivial applications, Google Drive (or other) is recommended.
You can use all the organizing features of Asana (e.g., Teams, Projects (including multi-homing), Sections, Tasks, Subtasks (even Sub-Sub-Subtasks), Tags, Custom Fields, Search, Advanced Search, Search Reports, etc.) to create your own customized filing system that gives you ultimate flexibility.
Asanaâs permission model allows you to control access flexibly, and if linking, you can use the file storage appâs permission model.
Having said all that, there are features of Google Drive and other file storage solutions that Asana does not possess, as well.
Hope that gives you some ideas,
Larry
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Hi @Jayne,
Are you using the Google drive box to attach document links to the tasks? If I were you, I would use Google storage to store your files based on the permissions and just attach the links to the tasks. That way you donât need to worry about security in Asana. Just a suggestion though.
Katie
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Asana is really unsuitable for document management, in my experience over the last 2 years. It lacks almost every feature you might want, including sorting, filtering, renaming, seeing even basic details like creation date. I recommend using it only for files that are strongly linked to an Asana task, and even there youâre usually better off using just a link to an actual file management system.
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I updated my post based on @Katie_Reynolds and @Stephanie_Oberg to be a little more robust/generic. I was responding very specifically to the question, but I feel itâs better to make the answer a little more balanced than it was; thanks.
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I left out an important file management feature: Search. File names are not searchable in my experience (let alone their contents). So if I have a file named âSpecification for ImportantCustomer 29 March 2017â, I cannot search anywhere for the filename. One must hope that the filename is also present in a task associated with that file, as then I can search for that task. In the absence of search, youâd better have some rock solid workarounds to actually find files of interest. Iâll leave it to others to decide for themselves as to whether a âfile management systemâ that does not even allow searching by file name can be considered viable.
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Thanks all, first time for me using the Asana Community Forum and itâs really worked well.
@Stephanie_Oberg, I think youâve âhit the nail on the headâ, Iâll need to research a decent âfile management systemâ. Wishful thinking that I could keep everything in one app with suitable search functions! Blue skys!
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Another important fact about Files, this time those in ConversationsâŠapparently they can never, ever be deleted. See Remove Files Posted in Conversations/Comments - #3 by Marty_Potter So even if the file is obsolete, erroneous, sensitive, misleading, redundant, just plain worse than uselessâŠif it was uploaded as part of a Conversation, itâs there FOR-EV-ER. (TBH I have not tested this myself to confirm the report of others, butâŠthenâŠI donât think I want to. 
)
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@Stephanie_Oberg Thanks for the tip! Something defiinitely to keep in mind. I think we are firmly in the mindset here that if you need to attach something that can be considered sensitive then just put a link to the OneDrive or password protected Google doc area in the description rather than attaching the file. Anyone that has access to that project should also have access to the file behind another password if needed. Canât be too careful!
Katie