Hello,
Does anyone know if it is possible to import dependent tasks to a project via CSV importer? I know it is possible to do subtasks, but I have not found any documentation on dependent tasks.
Thanks!
Jon
Does anyone know the answer to this question?
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Hi @Jon7, Sorry, I don’t think the CSV importer handles dependencies and I don’t know of other alternatives besides manually adding them in the task or in Timeline after import without them.
This would be a big help for our team. We currently use csv import for our templates and build all of the subtasks into that csv form. From the input side, it would be great to see a “Dependent On” column that allows the user to specify which task the subtask is dependent on. This would look exactly like the “Subtask Of” column we currently use. It looks like there is plenty of interest in dependencies here in the forum. Any chance this is in the Developer backlog? The workaround that we and it sounds like others use is to upload all the tasks and subtasks then go into Instagantt and manually add dependencies. Unfortunately that fix is not good for larger scale projects and consumes way too much time.
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In the CSV upload Map columns, there is now a “Dependents” column but it doesn’t seem to work?
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Sit tight! I do believe this is just around the corner. As @Joanna_Yiptatchung noticed there is some evidence that suggests dependencies and milestones will work with the import relatively soon! I can’t wait! I hope multi-homing is another mappable field as well. That would be huge to support simplified workarounds to leverage subtask allocations within Workload… think about it… 
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Do you know if there is any update on this? This is a feature that would really streamline how my team manages work in Asana.
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Hi @Jon7,
Yes - there is a new CSV Importer that handles dependent tasks. See:
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This is exactly what we needed. Thanks so much!
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Hello, what about multiple dependencies. How can I proceed?
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I’d like to know the answer to this question, too. It seems better to reverse this feature and mark an individual task a “Dependency” and enter the name of the task that depends on it, since there may be a many-to-one relationship here. Otherwise we have to enter multiple dependent task names in a single Excel column
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This was working for me a couple of weeks ago, now it imports the dependents column, but doesn’t create any dependencies.
It does however create some nice coloured pills down the dependency column as a custom field.
What happened ? It really rocked!
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This is happening to me, too. Dependencies aren’t working the way they’re supposed to.
Here’s the vital bit - Fill the Dependents column to list tasks that are dependent on the current row
They should correspond to the dependent task names exactly. The dependent task should be located above the current row in the CSV file. If there are non-unique names in your CSV, the closest row above with a matching name will be used.
If you list a task in the dependents column of a given row, and that task is below the row you’re working on, it won’t work.
I’ve just figured this out - I basically had it round the wrong way.
e.g. Task B is dependent on Task A.
In this case you’d add “Task A” to the dependents column of Task B.
Task A must also be above Task B in the list.
edit - I’ve also successfully used comma separated task names in the dependents column to list two tasks that are dependent on the current task.
In this scenario, you’d have to do that (enter multiple task names into the Dependency column) for a many to many relationship though!
I really appreciate your response! But… When I order the steps as I’m supposed to (upside down, if you will) the field still comes in as a text field and the Dependents option is disabled. I swear I’ve tried this a thousand ways and had a teammate do so as well. I think there’s something up!
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Have a look at this example. Open the sheet and then click File, Download, CSV. Then import that CSV into a fresh asana project.
Pay attention to the date field. I’ve formatted this to mm/dd/yyyy as Asana can be touchy about dd/mm/yyyy. The sheet uses references to link tasks (see the formula in the dependents column) demonstrating one to many and many to one relationships.
for this to work you will need to replace your@email.address in the sheet first.
I’ve just tested this and it works for me. YM as ever MV.
HTH
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I appreciate the example! And I can confirm that your example works for me. When I use the exact same cell reference in my file (up one row to the prior task), it doesn’t work for my file. The Dependents column is recognized as a Text Field and the Dependents option in it is disabled!
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Can you post a copy of the CSV you are trying to import and a link to the Google Sheet you are using to generate it? It might help find the root cause of the problem.