Automation rule not triggering

[David_Stamm]

I have created an automation rule to move the task to another project when it becomes overdue and is completed. I am not able to get this to run, despite having due dates on tasks in the past. What am I missing?

[Herve_Buisset]

Maybe the problem is that rules run at midnight and will not include tasks with older due dates?

[Richard_Sather]

Hi @David_Stamm , to add to @Herve_Buisset advice, you could also consolidate your 2 actions into 1 by selecting ‘Move to another project’ instead of ‘Add to another project’.

This is a good tip if you are on the Advanced tier which has a monthly limit of 25k actions.

[David_Stamm]

Thanks Richard. I made that change and Ill see if that makes a difference when the rules run tonight. Fingers crossed.

[Richard_Sather]

Um, that won’t make a difference, that will just reduce the amount of actions you are using each month

What will trigger your rule, is to have a task due today and let it become overdue at midnight.

[David_Stamm]

That is the core question. I have had the rule in place, and overdue tasks present, but it was never triggered. The only change now is consolidating the DO THIS part of the rule into a MOVE.

I’ve checked and there aren’t any custom fields in either of the projects, so I don’t think that is the issue. Are there any ways to diagnose or understand why a rule isn’t firing?

[Richard_Sather]

@David_Stamm , is your condition met? i.e. when the task becomes overdue at midnight, is it also in the ‘Complete’ Section at that moment in time?

Perhaps remove that Check if condition to make sure the rule is triggering without that.

[lpb]

The rule behavior is expected because “Task is overdue” won’t fire on completed tasks. See this and scroll down to Notes on task overdue triggers:

Rule triggers

Perhaps a saved search or reporting/dashboard chart would be an alternative for you, depending; it’s not clear exactly what kind of state/event you’re trying to capture here.

Thanks,

Larry

[Richard_Sather]

Ah of course, @lpb!

I missed that fact that tasks were in a complete state. I was thinking they were simply placed in a ‘Complete’ section (remaining incomplete, in order to move on to the next project).

[David_Stamm]

Larry, Thank you. That is a rationale explanation why this isn’t triggering. I’ve marked a few tasks incomplete and adjusted their due dates to evaluate this.