TLDR VERSION:
I want to index and search Asana using something like Everything Search
OR
I would like to find a Google Drive / Doc format that is comparable to Asana / Trello Boards
OR
I want to move Asana to something which will use a Board-like view to create indexable files on my PC / Google Drive.
MY LIFE STORY VERSION:
I’ve been using Asana with my team for quite a while, we’ve created a lot of projects and went all in in terms of putting all work related information into Asana. Unfortunately the structure isn’t well suited for our needs (we need project folders and a few other things) so I now am looking at moving most of the information out of Asana and into something else. Just using Asana for basic project management if anything.
Ideally I would like the information to go into Google Drive, because we already use Google Docs a lot and it has naturally become our new “database”, but it doesn’t matter. I just want to be able to search this information from my Windows computer using a standard search tool like Everything Search, (all other work related information is in Google Drive or OneDrive and synced to the computer too.) If Asana could be searched in this way, I wouldn’t need to move the information.
Currently, almost half of our information is in Google Drive, almost half in Asana, but we also have team chat and Evernote to search when looking for things so it’s too scattered to have both Google Drive and Asana.
If I can do this, I will be able to search all major work related information in one place, and can sync this with team members. I haven’t found a way to do this effectively, because the information is mostly in boards, and I’m really used to this board view.
I realise this may be an unusual request, but maybe someone else has attempted this, or knows of something, I don’t even know where to look really.
Cheers if you read all that!
Tom
PS I posted in integrations because I thought there might be an integration that can help create files or transfer, but I’m open to any solution.
So, this bit stood out to me as a good opportunity to utilize the Portfolio option within Asana. However, reading further I’ll alter my response.
My company is also spread out among a bunch of platforms, although ours are internal platforms for security purposes. I am in the process of trying to overhaul how we do things, and putting Asana at the center of that process. What we’ve decided is since so much of everything goes all over the place, we will host links to those folders/websites/assets/etc. within Asana so those documents will remain secure on internal servers, but can also be accessed anywhere with the correct authentication. We utilize OneDrive and Sharepoint for sharing anything.
By hosting the links and/or file locations within Asana, you can still search and not have to worry about transferring from one platform to another.
Hi Sara, thanks for replying,
I actually am giving Asana another chance.
I don’t have premium so don’t have portfolios, it doesn’t really work out affordably because I am a sole trader with a small business working with numerous freelancers, so I might want 10 users in my Asana team and they’ll each only do a couple hours of work.
Yes a solution like you mentioned may be workable, sometimes it would be nice to have the contents of a file indexed too.
I’ve found myself using Asana less and less because I find the structure is really restrictive and have a lot of activity / data / projects / information to manage and it just cannot keep up. Tried creating a contents page but it’s too much micromanagement, we must have hundreds of projects by now and most of it is buried.
I tried creating Teams as folders, ended up with something like 30 teams… Now it’s 8 main teams plus an archive (things like Marketing, Finance, Personal etc) hopefully this may be workable.
If anyone else has any ideas - integrations or otherwise, please post them here!
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Changes are a good thing. If something changes that it means that it is evolving in a way or another. If something is not ok then it needs to be changed. You don’t have to stay somewhere you don’t like. If there are places that are better than this then it is ok to move. If someone doesn’t want to change something broken then that someone will never evolve. I was like this some time ago, but I changed. One time I had a bad driver or an old one (I don’t really know). I never updated my pc, I said that it was good enough. After I lost 10 hours of work because of many blue screens I got fed up with this and installed a driver updater software. I found it on this article about driver software updaters: https://thinkmobiles.com/blog/best-free-driver-updater/ . This app is awesome as well. It made me to change. Also, it updates automatically all the drivers that are old and installed the necessary ones. I am really satisfied.