# 🔥 Hottest feature requests and their workarounds **URL:** \ **Category:** Forum Leader tips\ **Tags:** forum-leader-tip\ **Created:** [16 November 2020 19:30 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386 "2020-11-16T19:30:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [16 November 2020 19:30 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/1 "2020-11-16T19:30:48Z")
Hi all, Asana isn’t perfect or at least isn’t perfect for everyone. Like any software, there are open feature requests and some of them are hosting really heated debates! I believe the workarounds available are not always easy to extract from the conversations and figured I would list them together here! PS: I numbered the features and workarounds to allow for easy discussion in the comments. 🚨 This thread is not meant to host discussions about the feature requests themselves! Please use the appropriate threads instead. 🔨 F1. [Multi-assignee on task](https://forum.asana.com/t/assign-multiple-assignees-on-one-task/1176/1) - ↩ W1.1: create a guest to represent a “group of people” and assign tasks to that guest. Use rules to move those tasks to a specific project and/or use a report to see them together. - ↩ W1.2: assign copies of a task, using the existing “Assign copies” feature - ↩ W1.3: assign subtasks - ↩ W1.4: multi-homing a task into a team “bucket/inbox” 🔨 F2. [Subtasks should count in Workload](https://forum.asana.com/t/workloads-and-subtasks/52880) - ↩ W2.1: promote subtasks into tasks - ↩ W2.2: multi-home subtasks into the same project - ↩ W2.3: multi-home subtasks into a “repository” project and add that project into the same Portfolio 🔨 F3. [Subtasks should show up in Calendar](https://forum.asana.com/t/subtasks-in-calendar-view/16000) and [Timeline](https://forum.asana.com/t/timeline-schedule-subtasks/19065) - ↩ W3.1: promote subtasks into tasks - ↩ W3.2: multi-home subtasks into the same project ~~🔨 F4. [Template tasks should not show up in My Tasks](https://forum.asana.com/t/template-assigned-tasks-show-up-in-my-tasks-automatically/4125)~~ ~~ - ↩ W4.1: complete tasks in the template, and when creating a project based on the template, incomplete tasks in the project - ↩ W4.2: create a “Future Assignee” column and assign users after creating the project based on the template - ↩ W4.3: train people to spot and ignore those tasks (and push them to Later) - ↩ W4.4: use the “Assign To” feature of [Flowsana’s](https://asana.com/apps/flowsana) Dynamic Duration workflows - a dependent task is not assigned until its predecessor task is completed ~~-~~ ↩ W4.5: store templates as CSV file and import them (from @LEGGO)~~ 🔨 F5. [Add a description on a section](https://forum.asana.com/t/return-the-ability-to-add-description-to-sections/61955) - ↩ W5.1: add a task at the top of the section to hold a description - ↩ W5.2: use a task with a special name (e.g. “----Section1----”) to act as a visual section 🔨 F6. Trace custom fields update - ↩ W6.1: use my tool [Custom Field Explorer](https://minimalist-work.com/asana/custom-field-explorer) to export values on a regular basis 🔨 F7. [Apply template changes to its projects](https://forum.asana.com/t/push-project-template-updates-to-existing-projects/17778) - ↩ W7.1: [break long templates into stage-focused templates](https://forum.asana.com/t/break-long-templates-into-stage-focused-templates/100236/2) - ↩ W7.2: [use template factories to generate part of the project](https://forum.asana.com/t/templates-can-also-be-task-factories/100264) - Bundles are a definitive solution 🔨 F8. [Apply template on an existing project](https://forum.asana.com/t/using-templates-in-an-existing-project/40305) - ↩ W8.1: [use template factories to generate missing parts of the project](https://forum.asana.com/t/templates-can-also-be-task-factories/100264) - ↩ W8.2: Use [Flowsana’s](https://asana.com/apps/flowsana)“Add subtasks from a template” or “Add tasks from a template” rule action 🔨 F9. [User-friendly task address](https://forum.asana.com/t/short-task-link-with-id/2565) - ↩ W9.1: use an URL shortener like bit.ly - ↩ W9.2: use this [open-source piece of code](https://github.com/oppielabs/asana-task-id) - ↩ W9.3: use the CSV importer to create your project, and pre-assign unique names in Excel with formulas - ↩ W9.4: [use zap](https://forum.asana.com/t/reference-numbers-for-tasks/19111/96) created by @Phil_Seeman - ↩ W9.5 [Use Flowsana’s ability to add unique short IDs and/or short task links](https://forum.asana.com/t/create-unique-task-ids-and-short-url-links-new-in-flowsana/118511) ~~🔨 F10. [Multi-select for custom fields](https://forum.asana.com/t/multiple-select-for-custom-fields/12434)~~ ~~ - ↩ W10.1: create main combinations as extra-options in the custom field - ↩ W10.2: create several custom fields with the same values - ↩ W10.3: add the option “Multiple” as the last option of the field, and add a text field to the project to let type all the values - ↩ W10.4: use tags instead of custom field ~~-~~ ↩ W10.5: use multi-homing (add to project) to add multiple values to a task~~ 🔨 F11. [Print timelines](https://forum.asana.com/t/print-a-timeline/18900) - ↩ W11.1: use [Instagantt](https://instagantt.com/) - ↩ W11.2: zoom out and screenshot the page 🔨 F12. [Guests should not see custom fields from projects they don’t have access to](https://forum.asana.com/t/guest-should-only-see-the-custom-fields-of-the-project-s-he-has-access-to/100541) - ↩ W12.1: make the custom field local (not in library) - ↩ W12.2: obfuscate values of that field (by coding with internal code, e.g. 🍌 is high priority, 🍏 is low priority…) - ↩ W12.3: use an external tool to manage that information (e.g. a time tracking tool the guest does not have access to) - ↩ W12.4: store the value on the task, and share the subtask in which you duplicate public info - ↩ W12.5: store the value on the task, and share another task in which you duplicate public info + add link to the private task (showing up as a private link for the guest) 🔨 F13. [Ability to add sub-sections](https://forum.asana.com/t/ability-to-add-sub-sections/16517/1) - ↩ W13.1: use [a combination of sections and custom field sorting](https://forum.asana.com/t/ability-to-add-sub-sections/16517/10) - ↩ W13.2: create visual sub-section with special task names like “----Sub-Section----” - ↩ W13.3: [cleverly use numbers and spaces](https://forum.asana.com/t/ability-to-add-sub-sections/16517/26) ~~🔨 F14. [Allow to have multiple forms attached to the same project](https://forum.asana.com/t/allow-to-have-multiple-forms-attached-to-the-same-project/48244)~~ ~~ - ↩ W14.1: [use several projects and rules](https://forum.asana.com/t/how-to-have-multiple-forms-in-one-project/103424) ~~-~~ ↩ W14.2: [use custom fields to triage answers within a form](https://forum.asana.com/t/how-to-have-multiple-forms-in-one-project/103424/2)~~ 🔨 F15. [Get a list of all forms within an organization](https://forum.asana.com/t/overview-or-library-of-all-forms-used-in-the-organization/95349) - ↩ W15.1: [create a public project and manually add forms with links](https://forum.asana.com/t/overview-or-library-of-all-forms-used-in-the-organization/95349/2) 🔨 F16. [Archive a task](https://forum.asana.com/t/ability-to-archive-tasks/17184) - ↩ W16.1: move to a specific project dedicated to archived tasks - ↩ W16.2: move tasks in a dedicated section of the project - ↩ W16.3: move tasks as subtask of an archive task 🔨 F17. [Make a project public](https://forum.asana.com/t/feature-request-public-links/2910/12) - ↩ W17.1: use Instagantt and share link to the project - ↩ W17.2: export with Asana2Go or screenshot and share export elsewhere - ↩ W17.3: [use a coded sync between a project & a website](https://forum.asana.com/t/feature-request-public-links/2910/15) 🔨 F18. [Get a full CSV untruncated export](https://forum.asana.com/t/dont-truncate-csv-project-exports/9799) - ↩ W18.1: split data into several projects and export them - ↩ W18.2: use the API to export the data in CSV format 🔨 F19. [Use Asana as a wiki](https://forum.asana.com/t/company-wiki/48614/1) - ↩ W19.1: create a comment-only project with tasks - ↩ W19.2: use the Project Brief to create a rich content page - ↩ W19.3: use Asana2Go to export task list as “articles” - ↩ W19.4: create a comment-only project with Notes view Which feature or workaround did I miss? ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Roman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/emily_roman/32/283076_2.png) [@Emily\_Roman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Emily_Roman)\ **Post date:** [17 November 2020 10:53 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/2 "2020-11-17T10:53:00Z")
Great tips and workarounds! Thanks for sharing @Bastien_Siebman ⭐ ---
**Author:** ![Kenichi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/kenichi/32/84348_2.png) [@Kenichi](https://forum.asana.com/u/Kenichi)\ **Post date:** [17 November 2020 15:57 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/3 "2020-11-17T15:57:52Z")
Great post! @Bastien_Siebman , Can I translate this and repost to Japanese community? ( I’ll put link to original post, of course) ---
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [17 November 2020 16:29 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/4 "2020-11-17T16:29:41Z")
Of course @Kenichi 😘 ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Roman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/emily_roman/32/283076_2.png) [@Emily\_Roman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Emily_Roman)\ **Post date:** [17 November 2020 16:50 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/5 "2020-11-17T16:50:23Z")
Great idea @Kenichi!!! Wohooo 🇯🇵 🎉 Thanks @Bastien_Siebman ---
**Author:** ![Kenichi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/kenichi/32/84348_2.png) [@Kenichi](https://forum.asana.com/u/Kenichi)\ **Post date:** [17 November 2020 17:37 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/6 "2020-11-17T17:37:54Z")
Thanks @Bastien_Siebman ! I made a repost here; > [@\[Repost\] fire もっともアツい機能要望とその回避策](https://forum.asana.com/t/repost/100490): > > Asanaコミュニティフォーラムの中でも突出した投稿数を誇る、認定プロフォーラムリーダーのヒーローとも言うべき存在 @Bastien_Siebman さんが [fire Hottest feature requests and their workarounds](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386) （もっともアツい機能要望と、その回避策）という投稿をTips and Tricsコミュニティ（英語）でされていました。 思わず「すごい！」と唸ってしまうまとめ記事でしたので、了承をいただいたうえで日本語コミュニティにリポストさせていただきます。 ※ DeepLで下訳したものを適宜修正し、一部、注釈を入れました。ご了承ください ※ 本文中にあるリンクは英語の記事にジャンプします ※ ｢複数のプロジェクトに入れる機能｣など、わかりにくいものについては後日図解記事を追加する予定です。お待ちください ↓ここから記事引用 Asanaは完璧ではありません。少なくとも全ての人にとって完璧なものではありません。他のソフトウェアと同様、機能の公開要望が寄せられており、中には実に熱い議論が繰り広げられているものもあります。すぐ使える… ---
**Author:** ![Jes\_Obertyukh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/jes_obertyukh/32/52253_2.png) [@Jes\_Obertyukh](https://forum.asana.com/u/Jes_Obertyukh)\ **Post date:** [19 November 2020 09:36 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/7 "2020-11-19T09:36:17Z")
Hi You missed Unique Short Ids for tasks ---
**Author:** ![Jes\_Obertyukh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/jes_obertyukh/32/52253_2.png) [@Jes\_Obertyukh](https://forum.asana.com/u/Jes_Obertyukh)\ **Post date:** [19 November 2020 09:37 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/8 "2020-11-19T09:37:48Z")
> [@Short task link with ID](https://forum.asana.com/t/short-task-link-with-id/2565): > > I would like to have a short link for every task, that will consist of short project name and short task ID. The key word is “short”! For example, [Log in - Asana](https://app.asana.com/HR-206). You cannot imagine how incredibly useful to have in mind this short task description. And you can imagine how difficult is it to deal with current two (!) long numbers in every task link. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [19 November 2020 13:08 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/9 "2020-11-19T13:08:48Z")
> [@Jes\_Obertyukh](#): > > Unique Short Ids for tasks Thanks I already have plan to add it, hopefully today! ---
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [19 November 2020 14:16 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/10 "2020-11-19T14:16:54Z")
I added the suggestion by @Jes_Obertyukh. I could not go through the 130 messages, and picked up what I could as a workaround! cc @Kenichi ---
**Author:** ![Kenichi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/kenichi/32/84348_2.png) [@Kenichi](https://forum.asana.com/u/Kenichi)\ **Post date:** [19 November 2020 15:10 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/11 "2020-11-19T15:10:09Z")
Thanks @Bastien_Siebman , I’ll update the translated-to-Japanese version. ---
**Author:** ![Russ\_Friedson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/russ_friedson/32/19764_2.png) [@Russ\_Friedson](https://forum.asana.com/u/Russ_Friedson)\ **Post date:** [19 November 2020 15:17 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/12 "2020-11-19T15:17:44Z")
Great list, thanks! I suggest that printing timelines is a much needed and wanted feature. It was promised and then apparently dropped from the development plan ---
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [19 November 2020 19:27 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/13 "2020-11-19T19:27:02Z")
> [@Russ\_Friedson](#): > > printing timelines If you have a workaround, I can add to the list 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Marquis\_Murray](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/marquis_murray/32/160983_2.png) [@Marquis\_Murray](https://forum.asana.com/u/Marquis_Murray)\ **Post date:** [20 November 2020 01:02 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/14 "2020-11-20T01:02:36Z")
These are all genius, Bastien! Thanks for sharing! ---
**Author:** ![phil11223](https://luna1.co/8d76cd.png) [@phil11223](https://forum.asana.com/u/phil11223)\ **Post date:** [20 November 2020 03:52 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/15 "2020-11-20T03:52:40Z")
Hey, as somebody looking at Asana for a few years now and not coming over due to missing features I need, really appreciate the post. I’d like to give a shout out to some sort of Backlinks or Reciprocal References. There are a few fragmented posts I’ve found, but not a consolidated one picking up most of the support. My man pain point here is Asana already has outstanding @mentioning - you can referen to just about anything, not just a task, and all in a few keystrokes thanks to the great UX with the @ key. But, there is no reference picked up in the item you just “@mentoined”! A host of other tools in this space are running this this feature and have become very popular. I can’t really figure out why Asana would not want to get this in the pipeline to keep up. But apparently from what I’ve seen they don’t want to as the few posts about this are years old with no response form Asana official staff in an age. Thanks again for the post and I hope that was useful add-on commentary (by they way I got here via your newsletter today - nice work with it!) ---
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [20 November 2020 05:38 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/16 "2020-11-20T05:38:19Z")
> [@phil11223](#): > > Thanks again for the post and I hope that was useful add-on commentary (by they way I got here via your newsletter today - nice work with it!) Thanks a lot, and thanks for the suggestion about backlinking. Is there a workaround available? ---
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [20 November 2020 05:42 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/17 "2020-11-20T05:42:00Z")
I added ↩ W9.3 and created 🔨F10 cc @Kenichi ---
**Author:** ![Kenichi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/kenichi/32/84348_2.png) [@Kenichi](https://forum.asana.com/u/Kenichi)\ **Post date:** [20 November 2020 06:46 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/18 "2020-11-20T06:46:39Z")
@Bastien_Siebman @Russ_Friedson I’d like to recommend use Instagantt to print timelines (and share to people not to use Asana) . ---
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [20 November 2020 12:16 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/19 "2020-11-20T12:16:51Z")
Thanks I have added 🔨F11 and ↩W11.1 and ↩W11.2. ---
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [20 November 2020 15:07 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386/20 "2020-11-20T15:07:13Z")
I also added `F12. Guests should not see custom fields from projects they don’t have access to` after a discussion with @Julien_RENAUD. [Next page](https://forum.asana.com/t/hottest-feature-requests-and-their-workarounds/100386.md?page=2)