Hi all,
New to Asana and picking it up quite quickly.
I’ve organised a project by the kanban column view. I’d like to know if it’s possible to assign a task automatically to a person by placing into a specific column named by individuals.
Thanks
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That is a good idea, but I do not believe this is now possible. Auto-assign in general does not apply. It is however an interesting idea that could bring efficiencies especially to small teams! 
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Hi, I have the same request, extended to auto complete if the task is moved to a column named “completed”… Looks like a basic functionnality missing OMO.
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Another good workflow. I do not believe asana has such automated workflows, but both are great ideas!
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This should be moved to the feedback section so we can vote it up. And I completely agree, automated workflows should be added, it takes a dumb/static board and gives it life with logic. While I get some things have to be done manually, there are plenty of processes that could be automated via a workflow. The lack of these, is the primary reason I won’t use the kanban boads.
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Rashad - did you find a solution for this?
I am attempting the following:
When a task is moved to a section, I want Asana to create a sub-task, and, assign that sub-task to a user based on a custom field (or tag).
Any help would be much appreciated.
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Hello @Ben_Halliday1
Absolutely, there is now a feature called Rules. You can create a rule where an assignee is added to the task as soon as it moves to a certain section.
Check out the feature here: Using Rules in Asana | Product Guide • Asana Product Guide
Here is a quick screen shot of how you can create the rule: it takes 10 seconds and your rule is live
It is worth noting that the feature is available for Business and Enterprise customers.
Rashad,
Thanks for the quick response!
The challenge here is - I want to choose the sub-task assignee based on a tag or custom field result.
I need to create the same sub-task every time a task is moved to a section, but the user that is assigned to the role for that task will change (we have a large team operating on the same Kanban board).
I need to solve:
- Trigger = A task is moved to a Section
- Action = Create a New Sub-Task (solved)
- Action 2 = Assign Sub Task to a User (Challenge)
We have multiple users for each role.
Story - When a Task is moved to a Section, I want Asana to create a new Sub-Task and assign the Sub-Task to the correct processor. The correct processor can be found in the Custom Field, “Processors” which contains the names of all processors, and has the correct processor already selected. So asana would see that “Custom Field - Processor = John” and assign the new sub-task to “John”
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Hey @Ben_Halliday1
No worries at all. Glad I am able to assist. You can certainly achieve the above but it will take another rule and a short workaround. Currently I do not think you can create a rule to be triggered from a subtask.
But here is an easy solution (I hope).
Determine the duration processor 1 needs to complete their task - it does not need to be specific, but have a baseline in mind.
Create a rule that when a task is moved into a section, subtask 1 and subtask 2 are created.
In the creation of this rule, you can already specify:
Subtask one - assigned to person 1 with 7 days due date from creation
Subtask two - assigned to person 2 with 14 days due date from creation
This way, at least something is automatically set up for you with respective people.
I think, if I understood your case correctly, the ultimate solution would be for a trigger to also apply to subtask - something I am not sure is in the pipeline at all due to the structural set up of asana with task being the core. Ultimately, you want a rule that has subtask being a trigger, when a tag is assigned or a custom field is selected, an assignee is given.
I can see the usability of this feature, but for now, I suggest have some kind of pre-mapped scenarios of who gets what subtask. This way you can built the automation to a certain degree.
Hope this helps!
Rashad
Thank you, Rashad
Appears there is no flexibility on who gets assigned… you can only assign to one person or no-one every time.
I understand the sub-task limitation with asana’s core (has been a highly requested feature for years…), but I don’t understand why Assignee cannot be changed based on a trigger.
Thank you again for trying here, much appreciated!
Ben Halliday | NMLS-2177712
Co-Founder & CEO
C: 713-818-4974
www.ZippyMH.com
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain proprietary, business-confidential, and/or privileged material. If you are not the intended recipient of this message you are hereby notified that any use, review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, reproduction, or any action taken in reliance upon this message is strictly prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.
@Ben_Halliday1 FYI our Flowsana integration can do this - it has full support for triggers and actions in subtasks in its rules.
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Fantastic! Thanks a lot @Phil_Seeman 
Phill – can Flowsana assign a subtask to a user (3 possible users per sub-task) based on a tag in the parent level?
That’s what we’re trying to solve for.
Ah, that’s a good one, @Ben_Halliday1 - no, at the moment, Flowsana rules operate on the task that was changed, not one of its subtasks. I understand your use case. Question: how would it know which subtask to modify?
EDIT: Actually @Ben_Halliday1 I might have a way to do it in Flowsana. I see you also filed a support ticket on this, so Ill give you the details there, as it’s a bit complicated…