I’ve been trying my best to create a Formula field that is calculating the cost of a single employee task. To measure it I am using a “Actual time” timer field and a separate field “Hour cost by user” generated with rules.
Now I am trying to multiply those numbers together, but the answers appears in time value, not a number.
Do you know if there is any possibility to make it show numbers? I wish there was an option to choose output type, instead of having it default (you can see it in “Formating view on my screen” but you can’t change it).
What is even more interesting is that I managed to set it up correctly one time, but when I am copy-pasting the same field it is not working any more. Do you have any suggestions?
It looks like your “Actual time” field is being treated as a “duration”, and when you multiply it with your “Hour cost by user” number, Asana still treats the result as a “time format”, not a raw numeric value (which is why you’re seeing it formatted as a time).
Unfortunately, “Asana doesn’t currently let you change the formula output type” (like choosing “Number” instead of “Duration”), and it auto-formats based on the field types used in the formula.
What you can try:
Convert time to a number first: If your “Actual time” field is in hours or minutes, you might need to store the raw number version of that in a separate custom “Number field” (e.g., “Actual Time (Hours)”), and use that in your formula:
Actual Time (Hours) * Hour cost by user
That way, Asana sees only numbers and will treat the formula output as a number too.
Watch for field type mismatches when copy-pasting
If you managed to get it working once but not again, check that you’re referencing the exact same type of fields (both number fields, not duration). It could be a case where the formula reverted to time format just because one input is a duration field.
If you still can’t find a solution, I recommend you to contact our support team and we could give you a more tailored answer based on your project details: How to contact our Support Team 📧
