I’m a HUGE proponent of the Google Sheets Integration. While Google Sheets is a fantastic tool that is top notch when it comes to creating a collaborative workspace for many users, some prefer the good ole MS Excel experience…
Navigate to the Data tab in the MS Excel Ribbon and choose “From Web” then paste the URL copied from the Google Sheet formula and click OK then Load from the next prompt.
Finally, you can modify your Connection Properties by selecting the dropdown arrow on the “Refresh All” button on the Data tab. Here you can adjust how your connection refreshes, allowing for a more regular sync with Asana than the typical hourly sync with Google Sheets.
Now that you have data connected in Excel, how might you cross reference with other data sources outside Asana for enhanced visualization and reporting? I would love to hear how this gives you super powers in terms of contextual reporting!
Thanks for the tutorial, ping @Julien_RENAUD in case he is interested.
A client of mine is using the integration between portfolios and Google Sheets and told me it was really unreliable, with many times a connection failing for example. Did you experience the same thing @LEGGO ?
@Bastien_Siebman it depends on what the client means by the connection failing. I have had issues with connections when not all systems are operational and the Asana Status page reports there are incidents that might interfere with the experience. This was only a couple times since heavily utilizing this integration so it has been quite rare.
Aside from that, there are instances where it seems Google Sheets doesn’t properly update. Usually a refresh of my browser tab kickstarts the re-sync and gets everything updated. The Asana data doesn’t seem to sync right on the hour either. Sometimes it is a bit over an hour before new information is retrieved. For me, that is expected at this point. Again, usually a quick refresh of my browser tab forces a re-sync if it has been over 2 hours since data was last dynamically updated.
If you have more specific client experiences, PM me and I’ll let you know if those jog my memory. We have some robust syncing going on where data is being shared across numerous Portfolios, Saved Searches and Projects within a single Google Sheet (which also happens to sync with other Google Sheets). Quite the database of information flowing so I would suspect I have seen some of what your client is experiencing. In short, once the timing is understood it would seem the data connections have been strong and reliable. I’ve even written scripts to expedite the sync process when I get impatient!
Hi - This is great. I note that although I have it refreshing more often than on the hour, it seems to be dependent on when Google Sheets updates on the hour. Is this expected behaviour?
Ive set this up with Asana and Excel managed to get it to work easily but now that i am testing it, I’ve noticed that any changes in Asana are not immediately available in Excel after refreshing the data.
If I add a new task to the project in Asana then immediately Sync to Google, the new task is not present. After waiting a few minutes and clicking around, it does eventually appear but I wasnt sure if there is a trigger that will make it available?
In my use case, the operator will be making changes in Asana then would be looking to refresh their visuals and analytics in Excel to see the results before making more changes based on the results. i.e. it needs to be quick.
@Peter_Lacey - It appears that you can now just copy the URL from Asana: Click down arrow beside Portfolio name, Sync, Export to Google Sheets… and copy the URL from the modal. That URL works for me in Excel’s From Web data import.
@David_Brennan - Asana states the data updates every hour (another place may have said 6 hours) — it is not a truly live connection. I don’t believe there’s a way to trigger a refresh.
@LEGGO , thanks for this thread! I’m excited to be able to use this data in Excel. Thanks also, Asana team!
Live source data tab and copy the full https address within the IMPORTDATA () function of cell A2
super powers in terms of contextual reporting!