Subtask Dependencies

I made a task dependent on subtasks… on the desktop, it now removes the checkbox and says waiting on 4 dependencies, but on the mobile version, the checkbox remains and i can check off the task without the subtasks being completed… this seems wrong.

Did this ever get sorted?

Subtasks apparently cannot be dependent on other subtasks. This seems like a bug.

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Did this particular feature get cleared up? I still cannot see the list of subtasks that I need to chose from when I want a subtask dependent linked to the previous subtask. Am I missing something?

I’m still having the same issue as many of the users above! I have very similar parent tasks with identically worded subtasks - and I’ve had no luck narrowing the dependency search results so I can actually make a subtask dependent on another subtask.

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I’d also be interested to know what Asana plans to do to address this bug. @Alexis, anything you can share?

FYI Alexis is no longer with Asana. @Marie and @Natalia are the current forum administrators.

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I’m also trying to make subtasks dependent on other subtasks. Is this possible? We just signed up with Asana and really need this as a feature. Please let me know ASAP. Thanks!

For more detail: The main Task will be a creative brief (within the marketing channel “Project”) and there will be multiple subtasks that are all dependent on the other. First it needs approved, then I need it to alert Copy, once Copy completes their task I need it to alert Design, once Design completes their task I need it to alert me.

Hi @Kara_Jacobson and welcome to the forum!

Yes, you can definitely make a subtask dependent on another subtask.

One thing you have to remember is that by default, subtasks do not inherit an association to their parent task’s project (you have to manually make that association if you choose to).

This leads to a catch with creating subtask dependencies - as noted above in this thread, when Asana displays the list of tasks to choose from to identify the dependency task, it displays subtasks in the format of

Subtask name < Parent task name

The problem becomes if you have multiple subtasks and parent tasks with the same name (as in, for example, the same task/subtask structure in multiple different projects). In that case, it’s impossible to know which subtask to choose.

The two ways to resolve this issue are to either make sure all of your parent tasks and subtasks have unique names, or to assign the subtasks to their parent’s project (if you do this, the project name is added to the Subtask name < Parent task name display.

I realize the above may be confusing so don’t hesitate to ask any follow-up questions!

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I have the same issue. Not all parent tasks/subtasks are visible when setting dependencies.

Is there a way for a subtask to be dependent on a previous subtask? So if one subtask date get changed, the others will automatically be pushed back the same number of business days based on the original timing?

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Coming back to this thread to note my workaround I’ve been using successfully for a while now. You can paste a task URL into the dependency “search” bar, allowing you to directly set dependencies without having to struggle with search results.

This means you have to navigate to the prerequisite task(/subtask/whatever) first in order to copy its link, but that extra step is still so much faster than searching for tasks that all have the same name, deliberating which one to pick, discovering you’ve picked the wrong one, doing the search again, etc. Actually, this can be fairly quick if you’re setting dependencies between sibling subtasks. Instead of clicking into each one to use its “copy task link” icon, you can just right-click on its speech bubble icon in the subtask list and copy the link from there.

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I’m really interested to learn this too. This is basically the only reason why I would make tasks dependent on each other.

Hi @Melissa_Hoppe, and welcome @Lis_Engelsman,

Yes - making a task dependent works the same way whether it’s a task or subtask. I discuss this in some more detail in this post above in this thread:

In addition, I really like the workaround posted just above by @Darbie_Pelachick - very handy, Darbie!

This is not possible with Asana. However, it is definitely possible using my Flowsana integration - both the Dynamic Duration and Auto-Adjust workflow types do exactly what you’re wanting.

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Hi all

It seems that it is possible to mark a task as complete even if it has uncompleted sub tasks. This seems to be the case even if the sub tasks are marked as dependencies.

Is it possible to set the task so that it is not possible to mark it as complete unless all of the sub tasks (dependent or not) have actually been completed?

Thanks!
John

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Hi @John_Versfeld and welcome to the forum!

No, sorry, this is not currently possible.

There is a thread requesting that this feature be added; you can add your vote here:

Thanks @Phil_Seeman! I have added my 10c to the thread.

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Hey, any movement on this? or any advice on how people have improvised? We have an interior design company and I am looking for a leads ‘form’ to move into a ‘task’ with a template ‘subtasks’ solution. Would be great to hear if anyone else has found a solution

Hi @Sarah_Moore and welcome to the forum!

My Flowsana integration provides an automated solution:

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@Darbie_Pelachick - Thank you so much for this!