Bug? "Convert task to project" rule ignores trigger date & calculates dates backward

[Holly_Brousseau]

The Issue

When an intake task is converted into a project via a Rule action (Convert task to project using [Template]), all relative tasks in the newly spawned project anchor to a static past date (Feb 18) instead of calculating relative to Today (the day the rule was triggered).

Setup Details

• Project Template: Configured to use relative task schedules (After project start date). Task #1 is set to On project start date (or 0 days after), and downstream tasks range up to 110 days after.

• Project Settings: Dependency auto-shifting is set to Maintain buffer.

• Intake Rule Stack: Triggered on Approval status change $\rightarrow$ sets name, applies custom fields, sends email, and converts task using the template.

What We Have Tried

1. Changing Schedule Direction in Template: Verified the template schedule type is set to “After project start date” (and not “Before project due date”). Re-applied and saved to all tasks.

2. Setting Dates in Rule Stack: Attempted to set/change the intake task’s due date prior to conversion to force an anchor date.

3. Removing All Dates from Rule & Intake Task: Completely removed all date actions from the rule stack so the intake task had zero dates attached at conversion time.

4. Re-saving / Creating Fresh Templates: Created a brand new project template today using relative dates to rule out legacy metadata caching.

5. Adjusting Anchor Task in Live Project: Manually updating Task #1’s due date from Feb 18 to Today inside the newly converted project.

The Result

No matter what we do, the conversion rule skips the project start date prompt and defaults Task #1 to Feb 18 (calculating backward roughly 110 days from today).

Has anyone encountered this backward calculation/cached anchor date bug with the Convert task to project rule action, and is there a known workaround short of abandoning task-conversion in favor of the Create project from template rule action?

Appreciate any insights!

[Danni_VanguardCC]

@Holly_Brousseau Can you confirm that the task has a start date? Not just a due date?

[Holly_Brousseau]

Hello,
Yes all my tasks have a start and due date. If it is easier, I can grant you access to my project template so you can poke around. Just let me know.

(attachments)

screencapture-app-asana-0-project-templates-1217054483624038-list-2026-08-03-09_21_50.pdf (406 KB)

[Danni_VanguardCC]

Hi @Holly_Brousseau I mean the trigger task - the task that triggers this template?

[AbigailB]

I have experienced something similar to this. We use the “Convert to Project Using Template” rule for several projects and it took us a minute to figure out how to get it to work for our teams. These are three setups we have, all customized for what each team needs/wants:

Option 1: Create a separate date field for “Date Project Starting” and when that is changed, it changes the TASK due date to 45 days after the rule is triggered with a start date of "Current value in Date Project Starting field. This basically allows for your task to have a different due date if your project will then have a completely different due date (sorry if that is confusing)

including screenshot of template due date settings:

Option 2: Rule clears task due date before converting to project. It is my understanding the order of your “Do This” options matters, which is why I have clearing the due date as the first step and the final action converts it to a project

including screenshot of template due date settings:

Option 3: make the task due date the project’s due date (this is basically what Option 1 does with the extra custom field)

screenshot of template settings:

Hope any of these options work for you!!

[natasha052gandhi]

Hello,

A bug rather than a template configuration issue. Since you’ve already recreated the template and removed all date anchors, I’d expect the project start date to be calculated at conversion time. Milestone Card We’ve seen similar issues where the Convert task to project action seems to retain a stale anchor date.