I know I am using Asana a bit outside of what its intended use is here, but was wondering if there was a solution to the issue I’m running into. Currently, the email integrations only allow for using the email address of a rule triggerer, an assignee, or a custom field. I have built out a CRM which houses the emails of people within it, but the problem is that it doesn’t carry that over to other projects (since the tasks are different).
What I’d like to be able to do is have a task in Project A which has an email address that I want move to a task in project B which houses the project that is currently being worked. This can be done via a rule or some other option if needed. Specific example below:
Project A is the CRM. It has details of Name, Address, Email, Phone, etc. of all my clients and contractors. These are all custom fields.
Project B are the currently open projects. It has details like Task Name, Assignee, Contractor Name, Contractor Email, Client Name, Client Email, etc. These are also all custom fields.
Anytime I create a new Task in Project B, I want to assign a contractor and client to it, pulling their name and email from Project A. Is there a way to make this happen in Asana?
Hi @Peter_Thomas6 , yes, this can be achieved if the custom field is added to your library (1st checkmark in the field’s settings) and then you add the same field in both projects that the tasks are multi-homed into.
Thanks, @Richard_Sather . I have added the fields to both projects, but since the tasks are separate they have no way of relating to one another. They just look like empty and open fields ready for data in eack task.
So right now, Project A has a field for Name and Email. Project B has those same fields, but I cannot easily bring them over from Project A to Project B without manually typing them in. So even if I set them up in a task in A, every time I create a project in B that utilizes them from a task in A, they are blank and they need to be typed in.
Hi @Peter_Thomas6 , it still sounds like the fields have not been added to your library as I explained above so perhaps it may help if I elaborate, although I am slightly confused as to why you are creating a task in project B, instead of adding it from project A…
Please see this guide and follow the section ‘Creating a global custom field’ on how to do so:
You can Edit your current fields and simply hit the first check mark 'Add to [your organization]‘s library’. Once you have done that in Project A, then add that field from your library into Project B.
From what you describe, you then want Task X to appear in both project A & B, and also display the same value for your text-type fields ‘Name’ and ‘Email’, instead of manually typing them again, correct? Therefore, instead of creating a task in Project B, you can ‘multi-home’ Task X that is in Project A, by adding it to Project B. You can do this by using TAB+P on your keyboard or from the ... task details action menu.
Check what Richard shared and how you can use the multi home feature.
To be clear, there is currently no rule for asana to look for a common custom field in 2 projects and autopopulate its content. Multi-homing is the option to see the same field in both projects.
And by the way, using asana as CRM is not totally outside its intended use
I swear I am using a global custom field by checking the box that was mentioned above, and adding the same field to both projects, so we can definitely rule that out. There is only one field in my library named “Contractor Name” and that is what I am using across all of my projects.
Imagine that Project A is my CRM. Here, I have tasks that carry information about contractors and clients, complete with their address, email, phone numbers. Project B is my board where I am managing the tasks that are currently active. In these tasks on Project B, I need the contact information (email and phone number, for example) for both the contractor and the client from tasks in Project A to be populated into this task so I don’t have to spend time typing it out for every task (especially since multiple tasks can have the same contractor over and over.
I’m thinking duplicating and relocating tasks starting from the CRM page is going to be my only option, just based on the discussions that have happened here, and even that I am only getting half of the information without duplicating both the contractor, the client, and merging them to get the name and email of both the contractor and the client.
Instead of telling you what I’m trying to do, I’ll tell you my ideal solution: I create a new Task in Active Contracts labeled “New Home Renovation”. When I fill out the details of “New Home Renovation” I want to be able to say @Joe’s Construction Company is the Contractor, and @James Miller is the client, and it will know to populate Joe’s Construction Company’s name, email, and phone number, and James Miller’s name, email, and phone number.
This way, I can use the name and email fields when I want to send out automatic emails later on via rules.
Peter, thank you so much for providing further insight and for clarifying your ideal scenario.
I understand what you are trying to do. As I said, you wont be able to find a rule that will populate the details automaticlly in this manner.
As we stand as well, there are no rules that will trigger an action related to text custom fields.
I do not know the size of your CRM, but if it is reasonable size, perhaps you add custom fields for contractors for example, and you create a rule, that if you select Joe, their emails get added as a comment.
I recognise this is not ideal and a cumbersome workaround, but it might be useful if multihoming contacts into Project B is not working for you.
[quote=“Rashad_Issa, post:9, topic:808825”]
As we stand as well, there are no rules that will trigger an action related to text custom fields.
[/quote] @Rashad_Issa
There is an external action through Gmail that works. It allows you to take an email custom field and have it be the recipient of a Gmail outgoing mail when things move through phases. In this case, we’d want to end an email out at certain points for either information to the customer on status, or at the end of a project, send out a survey for our work.
Asana has been great to learn, but there’s a few gaps in the way information flows that prevent a lot of really deep automation from happening, which is what I’m trying to do. Like you said, it’s a bit cumbersome now, but it’s not impossible to achieve what I want, it just requires a bit more manual entry.
Right now, there are two ways to do what I’m looking for. The first way is the way I am doing it now which is just manual entry. The other way is to actually add in contacts as seats in Asana, so that you can assign them in a custom field, but you can imagine how expensive that would get.
Ah, sorry I don’t work with gmail so I wouldn’t be well verse by it. But good to know.
And yes, you will always find great user cases and few gaps here and there, like in every platform. I personally def won’t add these as licenses. The use case does not justify the ROI (I think).
I will keep an eye out and if I found any alternative workarounds, I will let you know.
