Auto generated dates clarification

English Forum Tips and Tricks
1

Hello!

I am trying to utilize the Asana function to auto populate due dates out of a template.

The template is equipped with the start and end date for the project, but does not have any other dates populated.

Do I need to have ALL tasks/subtasks/etc populated with a date in order for the dates to be populated into the new project? I haven’t seen this clarified anywhere in any of the Asana documents or on the forum.

Thanks in advance!

2

Hi @Jessica_Back, thanks for reaching out and sorry for the confusion!

The due dates in your new project will be automatically scheduled if there are set dates (tasks with due date or date range) in the custom template.

  • If you use a start date, the task with the earliest due date in your project start date will be shifted to the selected start date.
  • If you use an end date, the task with the latest due date in your project end date will be shifted to the selected end date.

If you add due dates or date rage to your project (in your progress tab), those dates will be also automatically scheduled. You can find some use cases in this article.

I hope this helps!

3

Thanks!

We have around 300 tasks and subtasks in our projects. Will all of these also be populated with dates?

To be very clear, I’m not talking about just the start date of a project and/or end date of a project. I’m talking about all dates in between.

Thanks!

4

If your template project has 300 tasks and these tasks have set dates (due dates or date range), when you create a new project from the template and select to schedule tasks using a start date or end date, the tasks will be duplicated and the dates for all the tasks with set dates will be automatically re-scheduled.

In regards to the subtasks, these will need to be associated with the template project first.

Let me know if this fully answer your question!

5

You’re getting there!
I have manually associated each task and subtask to the template project.
If these tasks and subtasks do not have a date, then the new project will NOT have a date either, correct?

So in effect, the template project must be populated with dates for each task, subtask, sub-subtask, etc, and all of these have to be associated to the template project in order for the project created out of the template to be auto-populated. Correct?

6

Hello! Still hoping to get confirmation that all tasks, subtasks, and sub-subtasks need to have dates in the template in order for dates to show up in the project created out of that template.

Please confirm.

Your help is appreciated!

7

Hi Jessica,

Yes, that’s correct.

8

Thanks for the clarification! I appreciate it.