Updated view of projects within tasks needs improving

[Jamie_Slough]

Hello,

I’ve refreshed my asana this morning to see that the way the list of projects and boards within a card is shown has been changed. Before, you could see the board location for the card within each Project at a glance, now it has become collapsable. As someone that works across multiple departments and is managing the output of dozens of tasks a day, this feels like a step backwards.

I understand this is to allow a clearer breakdown of what custom field is found within each specific projects, which does help clear away some of the fodder. However when checking and updating the status of multiple tasks from portfolios at once, it has become that bit less streamlined.

This is a factor for us as we use a lot of board based automation to either send tasks to certain departments or to submit something for approval and it also slows me down when checking if any new board automation is working correctly.

I like the new style in theory, if there was just the means to see and manipulate what board a task was in, while each project is collapsed. Can this get added back in? See picture examples of the same task, before and after I refreshed. Thanks!

[Darlan_Henrique_Nasc]

Same here. Besides the fact that we use the fields a lot here, they’re no longer showing up in the task details, forcing the user to go to the project to update the fields.

[lpb]

I agree completely with @Jamie_Slough and voted.

To summarize:

We’ve lost the ability to see and edit the section of each multi-homed project without first expanding to see the full table (and then collapsing again).

This is a pretty significant loss of usability and efficiency.

Is there any chance the new design can be maintained except: put the section back into the project row with a dropdown?

Thanks,

Larry

[Phil_Seeman]

@Darlan_Henrique_Nasc

they’re no longer showing up in the task details,

Actually they still do; you just have to click on the “N fields” to expand them.

@lpb

This is a pretty significant loss of usability and efficiency.

Agree 100% and voted!

[Olivia_Hanlim]

There’s been a change to my task pane. It now groups custom fields by project, so each project’s fields appear under its own dropdown. It causes duplication because projects share the same custom fields. How can I get the old layout back? I prefer it when they have a list of all the projects the task is living in on top, and then a consolidated list of fields below that so there’s no need for duplication.

[lpb]

Welcome, @Olivia_Hanlim,

I’ve merged your post into an existing topic where you can click the title to scroll to the top and vote by clicking the Vote button.

Thanks,

Larry

[Olivia_Hanlim]

thanks!!

[Olivia_Hanlim]

I wish they change it hack to the way it was

[Elizabeth_Lumsden]

I’ve used the built-in “Send feedback” to tell Asana what I like or dislike about the rolled-out feature. I don’t know which method is more effective… using the feedback feature or posting/voting on feedback in the forum.

We see this as a step forward toward better focus on fields that matter and appreciate that effort is being put in this direction. Here are a few quirks we don’t like:

• I noticed when opening something from the inbox, all fields are collapsed, even if that task is only part of one project. At least when you open it in context of a project, that project’s fields are visible. We feel that fields should not be completely collapsed by default when viewed from inbox. It should default to the expanded fields of:
  • The project it’s nested in, if only nested within one project
  • The project it was created in, if multi-homed in several projects
• The Estimated and Actual time fields have been a part of our established spaces for user support ticket management, development ticket management, project requests, etc. These are now collapsed and repeated only in projects that have those fields added.
  • We feel these should remain static / visible on the task in one place, perhaps above Projects in the new order of things to reduce hunting for it.
  • We noticed Actual Time was now missing from subtasks. We had to click to “Show inherited fields” to see any fields on a subtask and, when we did so, could only see Estimated Time and had no way to track actual time on the subtask (previously could and it rolled up into parent task’s actual).
• We agree with others here that the ability to quickly change the Section of any project is a lost feature that should be reinstated. Perhaps the new layout could show Project > Section > [number of fields], with the ability to click and change the section reinstated from the past.

We’ve long wanted to tailor the visible fields to the project where the task is currently being viewed. This is a good step. I’d be curious to see how Asana’s past field limits interact with these changes (List of technical and data limitations in Asana). (Looks like it will be lifted, according to @Garrett_Knoll.) We hated that we had no control over what order fields displayed as a task is multi-homed into more and more projects and eventually custom fields past ~50/60 would be simply not visible on the task. It looks like we’ll need to review what fields are added to projects to ensure people working in those projects can see what’s crucial to them without needing to expand fields of other projects. The thing we’ll keep dreaming for—the ability to tailor the field layout of the task… a “favorite” task design by project that would allow us to control how things appear when viewed in the context of that project. We’re thinking things like collecting certain fields that get grouped together with a colorful background, pinned to the top of fields everywhere or just this project, ability to bold some field names, etc. (noticed this comment, similarly dreaming, by @pdmcdermott : https://forum.asana.com/t/default-order-of-custom-fields-in-task/1064495/20)

[Ashley_Blanco_Liz]

Is this new view permanent? Is there a way to toggle between the old view of projects vs new view

[kon_mar]

https://forum.asana.com/t/how-to-collapse-project-list-in-new-task-details-pane/1118040/6?u=kon_mar

[Kim_Clonch]

We have the shelters we work with listed as milestones. Overnight, we now see a list of projects each belongs to instead of it being a drop-down list. This is extra visual noise that is unnecessary. How do we make it go away?

[lpb]

@Kim_Clonch,

This is either an A/B test or the start of a rollout of a new feature. I’m afraid you likely can’t influence this appearance.

@Forum-team, Can you clarify if it’s an A/B or rollout?

Thanks,

Larry

[i.lagou]

It looks like the way we view the Asana app on the web has changed. Do you know if this is going to be the new version?

[lpb]

@i.lagou,

See my question here:

https://forum.asana.com/t/how-to-collapse-project-list/1118040/2?u=lpb

I’ve merged your post into an existing topic where you can click the title to scroll to the top and vote by clicking the Vote button.

I’ve merged your post into an existing topic where you can follow along for a reply.

Thanks,

Larry

[i.lagou]

Thank you for your response. Hope , it is not a new feature.

[Stefan_Kirilov]

Hi everyone, thanks for sharing your feedback. This update is part of an A/B test, we have shared your feedback with our product team and we will follow up here once we have more information.

[Peyton_Lee]

Hey everyone! I’m Peyton, the PM managing these changes. Thanks so much for all of your feedback on the new experience so far. I wanted to share a bit more context on the “why” behind our changes below.

Why we’re updating how fields appear in the task pane

As work in Asana has grown more complex, tasks increasingly live in multiple projects, teams, and workflows at the same time. While this flexibility is powerful, it also introduced a common point of confusion: it’s often unclear where a field on a task comes from, or why it’s there.

Customers told us that when tasks are added to several projects, the task pane can quickly become overwhelming—fields pile up, context gets lost, and it becomes harder to:

• Understand which project is driving which requirement

• Know where to make changes (or who to ask about them)

• Scan a task quickly and take action with confidence

What this change is trying to solve

This update groups fields by their source (for example, the project they come from) so you can:

• See the origin of each field at a glance

• Reduce cognitive overload when tasks have many fields

• Collaborate more easily, especially in cross-team or multi-project work

• Scale your workflows without tasks becoming noisy or unmanageable

Our goal isn’t to add friction—it’s to make the task pane clearer as your work grows.

Why we’re testing this now

This change is part of a broader effort to ensure the task pane continues to work well as customers:

• Use more custom fields

• Add tasks to more projects

• Build richer, more interconnected workflows

Grouping fields by source also sets the foundation for future improvements, like clearer field organization, increased field limits, and more context-aware experiences that we plan to invest in in the future.

We’re listening and iterating

We know the task pane is a highly visible, high-frequency surface, and changes here can feel disruptive. That’s why this update is being tested gradually and guided by real customer feedback.

We’re actively evaluating feedback around:

• Section visibility and scan-ability

• Easier expanding and collapsing of information

• Reducing extra clicks while still keeping things organized

Your feedback directly informs how this experience evolves, and we’ll continue refining it to strike the right balance between clarity and speed! Appreciate the feedback thus far and open-mindedness as we continue to improve.

[Richard_Sather]

Hi @Peyton_Lee , thanks for the insight! I personally haven’t tried the new design in my day-to-day space yet but it definitely seems to be in the right direction.

You may just want to have a look at this odd behaviour:

Global custom fields not visble to assignees not a project member

Hi @Madhumita_Prahallad1 , it looks like you have the new task details pane update and that might be the cause, different to the expected behaviour I mentioned above. If the user doesn’t see it in a project, it may make sense that all fields are now no longer visible, even ones in the library, because they are now ‘grouped’ within projects in the new task details pane design. @Garrett_Knoll , @Peyton_Lee , @lpb, take a look

[Laura_Flessner]

While we understand the intent, this change introduces unnecessary duplication and additional clicks for users who regularly work across multiple projects, reducing efficiency for workflows requiring the task detail pane. I am the only person on my team who was impacted by the A/B test and it’s already evident that this change significantly slows me down in comparison to my colleagues. Making this an optional feature so teams can adopt it only where it adds value to their custom workflows would be ideal.