Origin of "Asana created" custom fields?

[Julien_RENAUD]

Hi Asana Team,

I want to sort in the custom fields, and while looking at the list in the organization’s library, I noticed:

• “Copy of Priority” : is said to be Asana Created, but without the “Asana logo”
• “Priority” has the same name as the original Asana created name. Everytime we try to create an already existing custom field we get a warning and we can’t, so how can we have two identical fields?
• “Priority” is the original Asana Created
• “Priority 11610…” : said to be “Asana Created”, has the Asana logo. How did this one appear? by copying a project?

I know we can’t remove the original “Asana created” fields, but is there a solution to remove the last one with all the figures, which is not an original field?

Have a nice day
Julien

[Julien_RENAUD]

@Marie
To complete my previous post, I’ve just found a project having all the custom fields with figures.
But this project is a Asana project template, and once I create it, it doesn’t use the default Asana fields.

I went on with this idea, and in fact all the “number” fields are in projects that were created from an Asana template.

[Marie]

HI @Julien_RENAUD,

@Julien_RENAUD

To complete my previous post, I’ve just found a project having all the custom fields with figures.
But this project is a Asana project template, and once I create it, it doesn’t use the default Asana fields.

Although they have the same suite of numbers, these custom fields seem to be different than the one you’re sharing in your first screenshot.

Either way looks like there is something odd here.

@Julien_RENAUD

I went on with this idea, and in fact all the “number” fields are in projects that were created from an Asana template.

I also have a feeling this could be related to templates. I’m a little limited with tools to investigate this issue, but our support team should be able to help. Could you reach out to them with the following info?

• Name of the space where you’re experiencing the issue
• URL of the Editorial calendar project
• If you can identify any task of projects with the custom field “Priority 11610…” can you share the URL

Once this gets resolved, do you mind sharing here what was causing this issue?

PS; If easier, don’t hesitate to reach out to support in french

[Julien_RENAUD]

@Marie

Although they have the same suite of numbers, these custom fields seem to be different than the one you’re sharing in your first screenshot.

Yes sorry, was not the same project
Here is the screenshot with the priority field:

Ok I’ll contact support
No thank you I need to improve my english

[Marie]

Super, make sure to share the URL of this project then

[Bastien_Siebman]

So the conclusion is, I believe, that Asana’s template are not smart enough to use existing custom fields and rather create a new instance of the field each time. Correct?

[Marie]

No I don’t think this is the issue @Bastien_Siebman, but let’s see what comes out of @Julien_RENAUD investigation

[Julien_RENAUD]

It’s finally a bug, the last answer of the support:
“Our Engineering team are definitely aware of this issue and we are looking into improvements for post migration processes”

To be able to delete the custom field and then replace it:

1. Asana support has to unblock the wrong custom field, so that you can edit it

2. then one strategy is to leverage the advanced search to find specific tasks with a specific value from the original field and then bulk-set the equivalent value in the new field.
   OR
   you can use @Bastien_Siebman 's tool to find all the project (you have access to) where the custom field is used: https://minimalist-work.com/asana/custom-field-explorer

3. From here, once you have adjusted and consolidated the fields, you can then adjust the rules accordingly to be linked to the new field.

4. Check also if Portfolios are using those fields

5. Finally, you can delete the wrong field

Asana support can’t do this automatically, thus it’s a lot of manual checks.

[Julia_Worden]

Briefly describe (1-2 sentences) the Bug you’re experiencing:
I’m not sure if this is a bug, but when I create a new project using the cross functional template, instead of the “Priority” and “Task Progress” default fields, it says “Priority 1198883319384753”. This means the priority level is not transferring when I add tasks to this new project since the field is named something different.

Steps to reproduce:
Start a new cross functional project.

Browser version:
Chrome version 87.0.4280.88

Upload screenshots below:

[Julia_Worden]

[Bastien_Siebman]

This is a big problem @Julien_RENAUD ran into with a client. He had a lot of back and forth with Asana support, he’ll be able to tell you what was the conclusion! From my understanding, this is bug.

[Julien_RENAUD]

Indeed I encountered the same bug a few weeks ago.
Here is the link to the conclusion:

Origin of "Asana created" custom fields?

It’s finally a bug, the last answer of the support: “Our Engineering team are definitely aware of this issue and we are looking into improvements for post migration processes” To be able to delete the custom field and then replace it: Asana support has to unblock the wrong custom field, so that you can edit it then one strategy is to leverage the advanced search to find specific tasks with a specific value from the original field and then bulk-set the equivalent value in the new field. …

[Emily_Roman]

Thanks for sharing @Julien_RENAUD and @Bastien_Siebman! I’ve gone ahead and merged this post with the main thread so we can follow and share any updates in one place.