New feature request - filtering on sub-tasks

[Trevor_Green]

I’ve seen multiple requests (a couple a year since 2020) for the ability to filter on sub-tasks. I understand you can promote sub-tasks to tasks in a different project (or the same project), but this doesn’t meet the requirement. Are there any plans to support filtering on sub-tasks. Without filters working across sub-tasks in the list view I can’t use Asana to manage different activities across my team. I want to have a single project to have a single workload for the team. Task grouping (i.e. task/ milestone and sub-task hierarchy) is essential to declutter when the number of tasks (and assignees) ramps up.

[Bastien_Siebman]

@Trevor_Green

I’ve seen multiple requests (a couple a year since 2020) for the ability to filter on sub-tasks

Any reason why you created a new thread and haven’t simply joined the existing ones? thanks

[Trevor_Green]

I’m unclear on the best way to get this feature request acknowledged and answered, i.e. will the item be considered for development and if so, when could it be delivered. In all the previous threads I saw, the only responses from Asana representatives were:

1. to state that the current way of working was by design (i.e. not a bug)
2. to suggest the requirement could be met by including the sub-tasks in the project, turning them into tasks, which doesn’t actually meet the requirement - mine, nor that of the people initially raising the request based on all the feedback in the threads.

There has been no response in those threads on whether the actual requirement will be scheduled.

I’ve included links to some of the threads I read:

Subtasks Filters

Is there a way to filter Subtasks by a tag for it to show on the higher level on list view or board view? Community Forum English

Show subtasks in filtered view

Subtasks should be shown when filtering in a list view, especially if filtering by assignee. It should be displayed similar to how this appears when using Advanced Search. This allows better insight into a user’s workload by including subtasks on which they’re involved even if they may not be the primary assignee on the parent task.

Filtering my tasks on Asana board does not show subtasks

Briefly describe (1-2 sentences) the Bug you’re experiencing: In my team’s Asana board, when I use the quick filter “just my tasks” or filter by assignee = [my name], my tasks show up but not subtasks. This makes it easy to overlook work that is assigned to me. Steps to reproduce: Create a task that is assigned to you. Create a task that is NOT assigned to you, but that has subtasks assigned to you. In board, filter by tasks assigned to you. Tasks will appear in the filter, but not the sub…

My Tasks puts subtasks under "No Project"

When I go to the “My Tasks” page on the Asana app and filter my tasks by project, a large number of them are put under a category called “No Project” even though they have a project assigned. Upon closer look, Asana is only having this problem with subtasks. How do I make these subtasks show up under their assigned project in the My Tasks view, rather than this weird “No Project” section? Note that when I click on these subtasks within the My Tasks view and assign them to the intended project, …

Filter by assignee- show sub-tasks too

Is it possible to filter by assignee and have the results show subtasks (in addition to tasks)- and to have those subtasks be shown underneath their corresponding task? (FYI- I reviewed other posts, and the answer I found said that this is possible if you associate the sub-tasks with a project. But when I tried to do that, it seemed to make my subtasks into tasks.)

Display subtasks on List view when project is filtered/sorted

I have access to it as well!

Quick Filter to INCLUDE Subtasks

In a Board or Board View i’d like a Quick Filter for items assigned to me that includes subtasks. At the moment if i use a Quick Filter for my assigned tasks i only see those where the top level task is assigned to me, but ill have have deliverables in tasks assigned to others and where they have assigned me a Subtask . The only way to see a Subtask is through advanced search where i dont have a Board view so its difficult to track. Actually surprised this was overlooked as its a well though…

[Jan-Rienk]

Welcome @Trevor_Green !

@Trevor_Green

I’m unclear on the best way to get this feature request acknowledged and answered, i.e. will the item be considered for development and if so, when could it be delivered.

If it is considered, it will be added to Topics tagged considered

If it is in development, it will be added to Topics tagged in-development

There is no sure way to get this acknowledged and addressed, but you can increase your chances of it happening by explaining the impact of (not) having this feature in a single thread. So if there is an existing thread in Product Feedback it’s better to merge as it makes it more clear at a glance how many people are asking for this and why.

Focusing the discussion on the feature and the sense/value of it helps. For this understanding your context and desired outcome is essential.

@Trevor_Green

I want to have a single project to have a single workload for the team.

Currently - to me - it feels like your feedback is focused more on how you’d like to achieve something rather than explaining the why behind the request. It appears your goal is to manage workload, but it is unclear to me why Asana’s workload feature doesn’t work for you.

Also see: 📚 How to share your product feedback and
How Asana co-creates our product with customers

[Trevor_Green]

Thanks @Jan-Rienk:

@Jan-Rienk

Currently - to me - it feels like your feedback is focused more on how you’d like to achieve something rather than explaining the why behind the request. It appears your goal is to manage workload, but it is unclear to me why Asana’s workload feature doesn’t work for you.

My use-case feels very basis, and what I had assumed was the core functionality of Asana: I want to capture tasks and track progress to completion with the tasks allocated to multiple individuals.

Imagine the following:
I have five milestones: Delivery A, Delivery B, Delivery C, Delivery D, and Delivery E
I have five tasks: Do A, Do B, Do C, Do D, Do E.

I have chosen to create sections based on the topic/subject/sponsor of each delivery/task. Therefore, under each section I will have between 0 and 5 milestones and tasks. Because there are a lot of individual activities associated with each milestone and high-level task, which I also want to track per my use-case, I have created sub-tasks. This ensures that, under each section, there are fewer than ten top level items (milestones or tasks), which makes it a lot easier to navigate than seeing everything all at the same level. If you imagine I wish to create 10 different UAT tasks for a single milestone delivery, performed by 10 individuals, that would be a lot of UAT tasks interspersed with other tasks if there wasn’t a hierarchy.

Per the above, I want to use the two-level hierarchy of 1. tasks/ milestones and 2. sub-tasks.

My issue, I’m trying to highlight here, is that I can’t see what activities (tasks, milestones, and sub-tasks) I’ve assigned to individuals as I can’t filter on just their activities. In the list view (and other views) I can only filter on tasks and milestones by assignee, it ignores sub-tasks. In the workload view, it only shows activities that have a start/ end date so anything without a date assigned wouldn’t show here either. I wouldn’t expect the workload to show tasks that don’t have a start/ end date, but this view does show sub-tasks, hence mentioning it.

[Trevor_Green]

For completeness of this thread, I’ll provide the below update:

I’ve decided to work around the issue by having sections for Assignees. I would much prefer to have more meaningful sections and use the filter option to filter by assignee, but because the filter doesn’t work on sub-task assignee, this isn’t possible. The data I did want to group by (i.e. use to define section names) isn’t going to change between task and sub-task and therefore it is possible to use filters to search on this.

I considered have separate projects for every individual, with a parent project with the sub-tasks so I can have a single workload view, but I didn’t see how you could automate the promote to project in sub-tasks. It also feels too high a risk that assigned tasks would be missed.

In a separate thread, about another limitation of sub-tasks, someone helpfully provided the following link:

Everything you need to know about Asana's subtasks with Bastien & Larry

Where can you go to get all your (and anyone else’s) questions on subtasks answered? Why, right here, of course: [Everything you need to know about Asana's subtasks with Larry] We’re finally making good on our promise from the premier Your Asana Coffee With … Larry Berger video podcast to provide one-stop shopping for all your subtasks needs: everything you need to know to be successful with subtasks in Asana. We cover the topics using this simple agenda and simultaneously demo al…

This video highlights a lot of useful ways you can use sub-tasks, but then reiterates the caveat that you shouldn’t use them (or should significantly limit their scope), if the limitations of sub-tasks are a blocker for you.

I do think it’s very reasonable that the “My Tasks” button, and any filter by assignee, would include sub-tasks as well. It includes milestones. I would hope this gets onto the Asana backlog. However, given I see that this was requested in a forum in 2020 and there was no actual acceptance of the issue, I’m not hopeful.

Here is the other thread I mentioned. I’m hoping to work around the fact that sub-tasks aren’t included in the Power BI export by using the API to export the data from a script.
Allow the Power BI Connector to also pull the Subtaks - English Forum / Product Feedback - Asana Forum

[Dora_Mok]

I have the same issue with the fact that we can’t filter the subtask on a project board and it’s not very practicial, as I need to see the subtask that are tagged/added with the field function to see all related tasks that have such subtasks. Not sure if this feature is being considered?

[Kemoy_Liburd-Chow]

It would be ideal if Asana allowed filtering on subtasks .

In the meantime, you can use the Advanced Search option to filter for subtasks. Here’s how:

1. Select the project(s)/portfolios you want to view.
2. Choose the types of tasks you want to see (e.g., tasks assigned to you).
3. Add custom fields, and other markers to refine your search.

Another option is to create a dashboard that pulls all tasks, including subtasks.