If anyone is interested, I’ve just used Zapier to create a pair of Zaps which provide auto-numbering for Asana tasks. There are currently two main limitations:
-
Since Zapier doesn’t know about Asana custom fields, the auto-number can’t be put into a custom field. What my Zap does is update the task name to include the auto-number; for example:
[2738] - Follow up with Betty Jo Bialoski
You can format the task name and the number in really any way you’d like. -
When you create a new Asana task, it takes either 5 or 15 minutes (depending on the level of your Zapier subscription) to update the task so it has an auto-number.
In a nutshell, the process is to create one Zap which updates a Google Sheet when a new task is created in a certain project. That Google Sheet contains a script which adds an auto-number. Then a second Zap is triggered by the new row in the Google Sheet and it updates the task in Asana.
The reason for the 5 or 15 minute delay is that Zapier only polls Google Sheets for changes at that interval. I have a query into Zapier support to explore which of their app integrations support instant updates (like Asana does) to see if I can eliminate the delay by using something else to replace Google Sheets.
If anyone is interested, I can provide more details. It’s a bit complicated so I’d have to write up some steps.