How to have multiple forms for one project

[Phil_Seeman]

Are you one of the many Asana users who would like to have the capability of multiple forms in one project?

This popular request is discussed here in the forum.

But there’s a workaround you can use to have this ability now. It uses the multi-homing capability of Asana.

Say your main project where you have a form set up is the Work Requests project. And let’s say you have two types of work requests, Software Requests and Hardware Requests.

You can set up a form that captures one of these, let’s say Software Requests, in the Work Requests Project.

But in addition, say you want to have a different separate form for Hardware Requests.

What you can do is:

1. Create a second project, called Hardware Requests.
2. Create a form in that project which captures Hardware Requests.
3. Create the following rule in that Hardware Requests project:

If a task is added to this project, then add it to the Work Requests project.

This rule will “multi-home” the task that gets created in the Hardware Requests projects so that it is also in the Work Requests project.

Then just provide the links to both forms as options for people to use, depending on what type of request they have. Voila, multiple forms going into one project!

And you can replicate this process as many times as you need, to have as many different forms as you need going into one central project.

It’s a workaround for sure and not ideal, but it’ll work.

In terms of creating this rule, you have two options:

• If you have an Asana Business or Enterprise subscription, you can create it using Asana’s custom rules capability.
• For those without that subscription level, you can use Flowsana’s rules, which work with any Asana subscription level. (Disclaimer: I’m the author of Flowsana.)

[lpb]

Nice post, @Phil_Seeman!

I think it’s worth adding that with form branching (Forms • Asana, a Business plan feature), you can often make one form serve multiple purposes (like Hardware and Software requests with both shared and unique form fields).

Nitpick: Maybe you should put the word “one” in quotes in this post’s title?

Larry

[Phil_Seeman]

Yes, excellent point, @lpb - form branching is definitely another option! (Again requires a Business or Enterprise subscription, of course.)

[Emily_Roman]

Great workaround and post, @Phil_Seeman! Thanks for sharing!

[Bastien_Siebman]

Great workarounds, I’ll add them to 🔥 Hottest feature requests and their workarounds today!

[Bastien_Siebman]

Larry’s trick is especially powerful; you could have one single form for a dozen things in the company, and triage using a custom field as the first question!

[Sara_Westland]

This was my first thought! The branching has been a game-changer for us.

[Getz_Pro]

@Phil_Seeman

This rule will “multi-home” the task that gets created in the Hardware Requests projects so that it is also in the Work Requests project.

Would be really nice to have a Rule, remove task from project.

[Samantha_Logsden]

Hello @Phil_Seeman ! We created a form in one of our projects that flows into our tasks to do screen. Is there a way to add a column on the task that shows when the form was submitted (date and time)?

Thanks!

[Phil_Seeman]

@Samantha_Logsden

Is there a way to add a column on the task that shows when the form was submitted (date and time)?

No - there are two things blocking that capability: first, there’s currently no way to capture a task’s creation date in a field (although that does give me an idea - I can and probably will add that ability to my Flowsana integration!), and second, even if you could capture that date, My Tasks doesn’t currently support displaying custom fields (though we’re all hoping that will change soon).

[lpb]

@Samantha_Logsden, In case it’s of value, you can see task creation date using Asana2Go (disclaimer: I’m the creator) as shown here:

Do we have access to the creation date of a task?

@Zuad_Oropeza1, You can see a Creation Date column, and any other columns configured as you like, using Asana2Go: https://forum.asana.com/t/responsive-list-view-multi-column-sorts-hide-show-21-columns-filter-as-you-type-and-more-asana2go-interactive-tables/59792 In the video, go to the 3:50 mark to see Creation Date specifically. Hope that might help, Larry

Larry

[Lisa_Laird]

I created a form to use as a contract. I sent a link to my client for her to fill out the form. She filled it out and it came back to me as a task and didn’t add her answers to the form. What am I doing wrong?

[Phil_Seeman]

Hi @Lisa_Laird and welcome to the forum!

@Lisa_Laird

and didn’t add her answers to the form.

Are you saying you have some custom fields and you want the answers to show in those fields but the answers are only showing in the task’s description field? Or you’re saying something else?

[Janell_Harris]

I am going for one form to rule them all!

Trying to figure out how to assign different default assignees based on the selections made in form branching. For example, you have an event and need print collateral (assigned to one person) photography (assigned to a different person) website updates (assigned to a third person).

Is there a way to set this up? I’m new to Asana Business and can’t figure it out.

Thanks!

[lpb]

@Janell_Harris,

I haven’t tried this, but can you add a rule with two triggers: task added to project, and the “need” custom field changed to print collateral, and the action assign to person 1. Then two more rules just like that but for the other vlaues of the “need” custom field?

Hope that helps,

Larry

[Janell_Harris]

Thanks! I think what I am trying to do is a little different.

I set up my Mega Form to have a dropdown list for the category of projects, then within each category, there are checkboxes for deliverables. My vision was the requestor would need a Promotion, then check email, website, flyer, etc and they would be assigned as separate tasks to each person.

[lpb]

@Janell_Harris

what I am trying to do is a little different

@Janell_Harris, I was wondering if that’s what you meant but it wasn’t clear from your original description.

Perhaps @Phil_Seeman and his Flowsana can help here, but I’m afraid Asana alone will not be able to do what you ask, for a number of reasons.

Sorry,

Larry

[Phil_Seeman]

I can’t think of a way to accomplish it, even using Flowsana.

@Janell_Harris the most basic issue is that a task can only have one assignee, so you would need the one form submission task to spawn (create) multiple tasks (then assign each one appropriately). There just isn’t an available way to accomplish that part, that I can think of.

[Audrey_Woon]

Thanks for sharing! This is indeed very helpful info!

I do have a question. Is there a way when I add form to a new project that the column fields gets transferred and can also be shown in List view instead of viewing the details in Task details?

[Phil_Seeman]

Hi @Audrey_Woon and welcome to the forum!

As you probably know, when you initially create the form, you have the ability to map answers to custom fields.

Remember that there are two types of custom fields: project-specific and global (“global” meaning custom fields that are in your organizational custom fields library).

To get answers to show up as custom fields (list view columns) in additional projects as you’re asking about, you need to do two things: first, when you do the initial mapping of an answer to a custom field, make sure that custom field is a global one - that it’s in your library. Second, add that custom field from your library into the additional project that you’re adding the form submission into.

If you do this, the form answers should show as list view columns in the additional project.