šŸ”¢ List of technical and data limitations in Asana

Don’t get me wrong, I :heart: Asana but like everything, it has its limits, which is sometimes perfectly fine, especially if you know what/where those limits are :smiley:

Most of the below limitations are extreme use cases required to handle large amounts of data, so likely these won’t be an issue to the majority of users.

:exclamation:limitations marked with an exclamation, could not be found in the guide, but are mentioned in the forum, thus the relevant links.
:white_check_mark: limitations marked with a tick are noted in the Asana Guide but can be easily missed…

So let’s vote here to get a comprehensive list added to the Asana guide - it would be beneficial to have these limitations more accessible/public as they may be deciding factors on HOW (not IF) one may go about setting up large organizations before running into performance & usage issues :wink:

:pencil2: To add to the list, just add your comment below!

1. Custom Fields

:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link to general Field types and limitations

:exclamation: 1.1. Reordering options within a Single-Select or Multi-select custom field

No longer a limitation!

:speech_balloon: Forum closed topic

Not sure if the 25k task limit is precise - it may have to do with more parameters than just task count. I met this limitation closer to reaching only 5k tasks but with tens of projects using the same single-select field which had over 50 options. Whatever the limit, it would also be nice to know if the same applies to multi-select fields.

:bulb: when adding a new option to a single-select custom field with many options, instead of using the ā€˜+ Add an option’ button at the bottom of the options list, you can ā€˜insert’ a new option in-between existing options by selecting the option directly above and hitting ā€˜enter’.

:white_check_mark: 1.2. Limit of 500 options within a Single-select or Multi-select custom field

:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link :lock: Forum closed topic
This number was vastly increased during 2022, currently set to 500 (!!) for single-select options and multi-select options. Asana can put this one to bed for the time being!

:white_check_mark: 1.3. Limit of 100 custom fields within a single project

:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link :lock: Forum closed topic

Increased in May 2023 from 30 to 100 custom fields (plus the 9 default/metadata fields, eg. assignee, due date, created by etc.). Thanks @Andrea_Mayer for raising this here.

:white_check_mark: 1.4. Limit of 30 custom fields within a single portfolio

:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link

:white_check_mark: 1.5. Limit of 60 custom fields within a single task

:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link mentions: You can have up to 60 fields per task (this can be achieved by multi-homing a single task to multiple projects).
:bulb: You can actually have more than 60 but only up to 60 will be displayed in the Task details panel.

2. Rules

:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link to general Rule types and limitations

:white_check_mark: 2.1. Limit of 50 Rules that can be setup within a single project

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase :bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link
:bulb: This might be limiting to some users but there are workarounds using multi-homing

:white_check_mark: 2.2. Limit of 20 Triggers per custom rule

:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link

:white_check_mark: 2.3. Limit of 5 Actions per custom rule

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase :bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link
:bulb: As a workaround, you can create another custom rule with the exact same Triggers to cause another 5 Actions and so on…

3. Forms

:exclamation: 3.1. Limit of 500 questions (or section headings) within a single form

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase
Although officially announced at 200 limit, I managed to hit the limit at 500 questions, although there is a warning notification once past the 150 mark that reads ā€˜Forms with more than 150 questions can be slow to load’ which indeed took about 10 seconds to load, but works!
No reference currently in the guide

:exclamation: 3.2. Limit of 20 forms within a single project

At the time of writing, the guide refers to 5 forms per project, although confirmed in the forum to be indeed 20 forms per project as of Dec 2022. Note, multiple forms are only available for Business & Enterprise Plans.

:exclamation: 3.3. Limit of 25MB per file uploaded as an attachment to a form submission

:ballot_box: Voting here may help!
No reference currently in the guide but confirmed in the forum

:white_check_mark: 3.4. Limit of 5 levels of branches within a Form’s branches

:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link

4. Tasks, Subtasks & Sections

:exclamation: 4.1. Limit of 20 task templates within a single project

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase
No reference currently in the guide but confirmed in the forum

:exclamation: 4.2. Limit of 30 - 45 dependencies linked to a single task

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase
No reference currently in the guide. Currently this limitation is not consistent throughout Asana, as pointed out by @Phil_Seeman in his post below.

:white_check_mark: 4.3. Limit of 20 projects that a single task can be multi-homed to

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase :bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link

:white_check_mark: 4.4. Limit of 60 custom fields within a single task

Refer to 1.5 above

:exclamation: 4.5. Limit of 50 tasks selected at once to perform multi-select actions

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase. No reference currently in the guide.

:exclamation: 4.6. Limit of 1000 visible tasks within a section for it to be collapsible

i.e. in List view, a Section cannot be collapsed if it contains more than 1000 tasks that are visible. eg. if the ā€˜Incomplete tasks’ filter shows less than 1000 tasks, even though there are more than 1000 tasks in the section (e.g completed tasks also), the section will still be collapsible. No reference currently in the guide.

:white_check_mark: 4.7. Limit of 100MB per file uploaded as an attachment to a task/comment

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase :bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link mentions: If you have a larger file, consider attaching it from Dropbox or Google Drive. There is no storage limit for the number of files you can upload.

:white_check_mark: 4.8. Limit of 5 levels of Subtasks

:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link mentions: You can create subtasks within subtasks, but you can only have a maximum of 5 levels of subtasks
:ballot_box: Vote here to DEcrease :sweat_smile:

:exclamation: 4.9. Limit of 30 Subtasks to calculate column function of custom fields

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase
Once the 31st subtask is added to a task, the column function (Sum, Average, Count etc) the in List view of a project provides an error that the resulting value can no longer be calculated (as it did for up to 30 subtasks). This applies to all number-type custom fields such as numbers, percent, currency and time tracking. Additionally, if any sort is applied to the List view, the value of the subtasks no longer roll up as shown in the guide; instead only the value of the parent task is displayed. :thinking:

:exclamation: 4.10. Limit of collaborators within a task (?)

I tested this limit by adding just over 100 collaborators within a task. And that’s where I stopped :sweat_smile:
No reference currently in the guide.

:white_check_mark: 4.11. Limit of 2000 tasks with due dates for Critical Path in Timeline

:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link. Increased in Apr 2023 from 100 to 2000 tasks

:exclamation: 4.12. Limit of 1000 comments within a task

No reference currently in the guide. Thanks @Andrea_Mayer for discovering this here.

5. Portfolios & Workload

:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link to Portfolios FAQ

:white_check_mark: 5.1. Limit of 500 projects added to a single Portfolio

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase
:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link and as per release notes of Aug 2022 but see 5.2. below…

:exclamation: 5.2. Limit of 250 projects added to a single Portfolio for Workload to function

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase, thanks to @lpb & @Bastien_Siebman for noting this.

:white_check_mark: 5.3. Limit of 30 custom fields within a single portfolio

Refer to 1.4 above

:exclamation: 5.4. Limit of 300 tasks per person viewable in Workload

Applies to both Workload of a Portfolio as well as Universal Workload in Reporting.
No reference currently in the guide. Thanks to @Arthur_BEGOU for noting this here and here.

6. Dashboards & Reporting

:exclamation: 6.1. Limit of 20 items/charts in a Dashboard of a Project

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase
:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link mentions the limit as 15 items, however, you can currently add 20 items/charts.

:exclamation: 6.2. Limit of 20 items/charts in a Dashboard in Universal Reporting

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase
This appears to be limited to 20 items, although there is no reference in the guide.

7. Importing & Exporting

:exclamation: 7.1. Limit of 2,000 rows for importing a CSV file into a project (?)

:ballot_box: Vote here to increase
Although not 100% confirmed, and no notes currently in the Asana guide, there are reported performance issues beyond this limit. Thanks to @Bastien_Siebman for suggesting this.

:exclamation: 7.2. Limit of 140,000 rows for exporting a CSV file from a project

Although technically in the Asana guide under release notes for May 2022 (and here in the forum), this is not mentioned in the guide’s relevant article, here.

:exclamation: 7.3. Limit of 2,000 rows for exporting a CSV file from a Search result

:lock: Forum closed topic
Unlike 7.2, exports from search results are apparently still limited to 2,000 rows of a CSV, as reported here.

8. Sorting & Filtering

:exclamation: 8.1. Limit of 1,000 tasks in a Project List view to be able to sort tasks by assignee

:lock: Forum closed topic
Not sure this one still applies? We have a project with over 5k tasks and can sort by assignee perfectly fine… :person_shrugging:

:exclamation: 8.2. Limit of 1,000 tasks in My Tasks to be able to sort tasks in List & Board view

Beyond 1,000 tasks, an error will occur when sorting by Start Date, Created by, Last modified on and custom fields. However, even beyond this limit, sorting seems to work as expected for Due Date, Created on, Likes, Alphabetical & Project. Thanks to @Bastien_Siebman for raising this here.

:exclamation: 8.3. Limit of 5 sorts and/or filters for multi-sorting & multi-filtering in List & Board view

No reference currently in the guide although noted in the forum news post.
:bulb: You can use a total of 5 combined, eg. 2 filters + 3 sorts or 4 filters + 1 sort etc.
:bulb: To sort a multi-select field or a people type field, they must be applied first in the sort list. Therefore, you cannot sort by more than one multi-select field or people field or both, but you can sort by one of these two types and then numerous single-select, date, text or number fields (including native Estimated time field - you cannot currently sort by Actual time see 8.4 below).

9. File Size Attachments

:white_check_mark: 9.1. Limit of 100MB per file uploaded as an attachment to a task/comment

Refer to 4.7 above

:exclamation: 9.2. Limit of 25MB per file uploaded as an attachment to a form submission

Refer to 3.3 above

10. Read-only links (shareable Project views)

:exclamation: 10.1. Limit of 200 tasks displayed in read-only List view

No reference currently in the guide
:bulb: Note, the shared List view displays the first 200 tasks sorted by ā€˜None’ order, only.

:exclamation: 10.2. Limit of 200 tasks displayed in read-only Board view, maximum 50 per column

No reference currently in the guide
:bulb: Note, that the shared Board view displays the latest 50 tasks added to a column.

:exclamation: 10.3. Limit of 100 tasks displayed in read-only Timeline view

No reference currently in the guide
:bulb: Note, that the shared Timeline view displays the first 100 tasks in sorted by date. Although one cannot scroll to the left or right of the timeline, one can use the zoom controls to Month/Year to display more tasks, these will still remain no more than 100 being displayed.

:exclamation: 10.4. Limit of 100 tasks displayed in read-only Calendar view

No reference currently in the guide. Thanks to @Bastien_Siebman for raising this.
:bulb: Interestingly, this limit applies irrelevant to however many tasks are due on different days or due on the same day. However, if tasks are due on the same day, the most recent tasks added to that day will appear first, before reaching the 100 task limit, therefore possibly only showing some of the total number of tasks on that particular day. :scream:

11. Teams & Projects

:exclamation: 11.1. Limit of 100 projects for the Team page > Calendar view to function

No reference currently in the guide. If there are more than 100 projects within a Team, then that Team’s Calendar view will be disabled. Thanks to @Bastien_Siebman & @lpb for raising this here.

12. Goals

:white_check_mark: 12.1. Limit of 10 projects or portfolios connected to a Goal’s progress

:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link. Thanks @Arthur_BEGOU for noting this here.

:white_check_mark: 12.2 Limit of 100 subgoals connected to a Goal’s progress

:bookmark_tabs: Asana Guide link

I’m sure there’s more to add so please let me know and help keep this post updated :wink:

9 Likes

Excellent post, @Richard_Sather! :clap: As noted in the original thread, I’ve been pushing for such a comprehensive limits list for years now; no luck so far. But I love that you started a list with the post you made. I merged the two topics so we pick up the votes from the other one. (Be sure to add your vote, also!)

4 Likes

Terrific post, @Richard_Sather, and thanks too, @Phil_Seeman.

See also for some related info:

For example, #11 here mentions 500 projects in a portfolio, but B1.1 in the other post notes the 250 project limit in Workload.

Richard, maybe this list as it grows could be made more scannable with titles like:

Limit of 500 Projects added to a single Portfolio

Thanks so much for doing this–great reference post; bookmarked!

Larry

2 Likes

Thanks @Phil_Seeman & @lpb for your encouraging feedback!
I’ve edited the post so it reads clearer under headings of subjects and renumbered to allow for growth :wink:
Sorry, I completely missed @Bastien_Siebman 's fantastic post on the BUTs :sweat_smile: I will keep an eye on it to add relevant items to this post! :+1:

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Apparently the CSV import has a limit of 2000 rows you can import, maybe you can add it to the list?

Amazing post by the way, I am jealous I did not have the idea before :slight_smile:

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Thanks @Bastien_Siebman !
Done, added to the list :wink:

Hi everyone!
I just added three more additions to the list: 3.3, 4.1 & 9.1
Cheers :wink:

2 Likes

Regarding 1.1:

I tried this again today and I can happily report that I can re-sort as I please!! (now over 100 options in a single select dropdown in over 5k tasks in over 100 projects)

Can anyone else do the same now, so we can cross this off the list? :slight_smile:

@Richard_Sather,

In 3.3, I think you can link instead to this:

Larry

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Thanks @lpb !
I revised 3.3 to add your link
Also revised 3.1 Limit of 500 questions within a single form (from 150)
Added 7.3

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@Bastien_Siebman , do you think these two could be added to your BUTs :peach: ?
i.e. you can export 140k rows from a project BUT only 2k rows from search results…

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If this is confirmed, maybe add the 250 limit for read-only view mentioned here? How to Publicly Share a Calendar Over Task Limit

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Thanks @Bastien_Siebman for raising this. As a result, I’ve added an entire section 10 :smiley:
Also added 2.2 & 2.3

Happy NY everyone :partying_face:

@Julien_RENAUD @Arthur_BEGOU make sure to look at section 10, there are limitations we were not aware of I believe.

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Section 4 updated: 4.3 & 4.4 added :wink:

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Quick updates: 4.5 & 4.6 added, some broken links to the guide repaired

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@Richard_Sather I have a new one for you (and no answer on what the limit is)

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:scream: how many tasks have you got @Bastien_Siebman ?? No filters I assume, all tasks visible?
I wonder if it’s a temporary bug… perhaps multi-sorting in My Tasks may soon come to ā€˜sort’ this out? :person_shrugging:

I had over 1000 incomplete tasks. I decreased it and it is working again, but would have loved to know the limit.

1 Like

Hey @Bastien_Siebman , I just ran a test and the answer is 1,000 tasks but interesting to discover that some sorting works ok, see 8.2 added above.

Also added 8.3 & 8.4 as well as 4.8, inspired following your discussion on subtasks with @lpb

3 Likes