Top 10 Asana Automations That Will Help You Work Smarter and Faster

Your day-to-day job will probably involve many tasks and issues to solve in a limited amount of time. So why waste time on things that can be automated? The statistics show that employees could save up to 240 hours per year by simply automating routine tasks. 

Task automation in project management tools like Asana can offer you more time to focus on completing the actual task, instead of assigning it, moving it from one section to another, or manually adding a note to an internal ticket. 

In this article, we are going to focus on showing you some of the best and most effective Asana automations. Apart from the 9 task automations, we’ve also prepared a complete workflow automation in Asana guide to help you save time and work smarter. So, you’ll get 10 automations in total 🙂 

Automation in Asana to save time 

We’ve all had a few tasks that were never finished due to communication issues or poor time management. Unfortunately, unfinished tasks have a negative impact on employee well-being. Studies show that unresolved tasks are linked to work-related stress. 

To avoid unresolved tasks and problematic workflows you can automate repetitive tasks in your project management tool. Asana offers you multiple “rules” that you can use to automate various tasks. Some of the things you can do with the help of Asana Rules are to assign a task, add collaborators, and move tasks from one section to another. Also, Asana comes with multiple integrations, from Gmail to Zendesk which allow you to have an omnichannel approach. 

Of course, not all tasks and activities can be automated with Asana Rules. However, there are great third-party solutions like Coupler.io which allow you to create custom reports, and export or import data. 

Asana recurring tasks and workflow automation will help you save time and stay on top of your workload without having to do repetitive tasks like manually assigning tasks to co-workers. Let’s now have a look at how you can automate some of the most important project management tasks in Asana. 

Top 9 Asana automations 

Asana allows you to automate basic, repetitive project management activities like task assignments, adding collaborators, or moving tasks from one department to another. For this, Asana provides various one-click rules. Let’s see how these rules work and how they can help you. 

#1 – Task assignment Asana automation

As easy as it might seem to assign a task, it can be extremely time-consuming when you have to do it 20-30 times per day. Also, manually assigning tasks leaves a lot of room for error. You might assign a task to the wrong person or end up forgetting to assign a task. 

Let’s look at an example to better understand how task assignment automation works. You are preparing a quarterly report and want to make sure that your manager approves it before it is sent to the client. 

• Step 1. Go to your tasks and click on the Customize button in the top right corner of your screen. 

• Step 2. A menu will appear on the right side of your screen. Click on Rules and then click on Add rule. 

• Step 3. Depending on your needs, you can assign a task when the priority has changed or when the status has changed. For our example, we are going to click on Task Progress changed – Assign task. 

• Step 4. From the drop-down menus, you can select a trigger for your automation, for instance when Task progress changed to Done then the task is automatically assigned to your manager or team member of choice. Don’t forget to click on Create rule. 

This is a great, easy-to-implement automation that will save time and will allow managers to supervise each task and team member’s work effort. Tasks can be automatically assigned to a manager when they are completed, or they can be assigned when their priority has changed. Of course, you can automate them in how it works best for your team.

#2 – Move task section automation

Another simple, yet effective Asana task automation is moving tasks from one section to another. If you want to keep track of all tasks that have a short deadline and are top priorities, then it’s best to do this Asana automation. 

• Step 1. Just like the first automation in Asana that we’ve presented, you need to go to your dashboard and click on the Customize button This is located in the top right corner. 

• Step 2. Once the menu appears on the right side of your dashboard, click on Rules and select Add Rule. 

• Step 3. Now it’s time to select the Rule you want to add. Select Due date is approaching →Move task to a certain section. This rule will allow you to automatically add a task to a section (urgent or top priority, for example) when the due date is close. 

• Step 4. Select when the task should change section. For example, when the task is due today. Also, choose the section in which you’d like the task to be moved automatically. Finally, click on Create rule. 

This is one of the Asana automations that helps you keep track of urgent tasks that require your immediate attention. Once you set up this rule, your tasks will automatically be sent to the section of your choice when their deadline is approaching. 

#3 – Custom reporting and analytics automation in Asana 

While Asana has some time-effective Rules and automations, it does not provide built-in functionality for reporting automation. If you’d like to create custom reports or analytics dashboards outside of Asana, you can use Google Sheets, Looker Studio, or another data visualization app. Then, with the help of Coupler.io, you can automate the data flow from Asana to the chosen destination. 

Coupler.io is an easy-to-use solution that can help you automate data export from different sources to Excel, Google Sheets, or BigQuery. With Coupler.io you can export Asana to Excel and connect Asana to Google Sheets. Also, you can schedule automated exports of tasks from Asana to BigQuery.

Let’s see an example of how you can automate data exports from Asana to Google Sheets, so you can create detailed reports of your team’s weekly progress or just create an Asana backup. 

• Step 1. Log into your Coupler.io account and select the Add importer button. 

• Step 2. For the source, select Asana from the drop-down menu. For the destination, select Google Sheets. Lastly, click on Proceed. 

• Step 3. For the source account, connect to your Asana account. Next, select what you would like to export. Finally, choose the starting date of this automated data export. Then, click on Continue. 

• Step 4. Now, it’s time to set up your Destination. Log in to your Google Account and grant permissions to Coupler.io. Select the spreadsheet and the import mode. 

• Step 5. For the finishing touches, you need to set up the schedule details. With Coupler.io, you can automatically import data from Asana to Google Sheets any time you want. Select the interval and days you want to receive the refreshed data. You can also select the hour and the time zone for your automatic data exports. Finally, click on Save and Run. 

With the help of this automation, you will be able to create custom reports and receive data from Asana directly to the Google Sheet document you’ve selected. 

#4 – Sent Slack message automation 

Want to brag to your co-workers that you’ve finished a task or update your manager on your progress? With simple Asana automations, you can send messages on your Slack channel. Here’s how:

• Step 1. Once again, go to your Asana dashboard and select Customize. 

• Step 2. Click on Rules and then on Add rule. 

• Step 3. From the Rules menu, you need to select Task marked complete →Send channel message. 

• Step 4. Connect to Slack and select the channel in which you’d like to send a message once a task is marked complete. 

#5 – Comment when the task is overdue automation

Want to make sure that your team members don’t forget about overdue tasks? You can automatically leave a comment when a task passes its deadline. Let’s see how. 

• Step 1. From your Asana dashboard, click on Customize. 

• Step 2. Select Rules and click on Add rule. 

• Step 3. For this automation, we’re not going to use any of the predefined rules for Asana automations. We are going to create a customized rule by clicking on Create custom rule.

• Step 4.  You will need to add Task is overdue as the trigger and Add a comment as the action. Write down the comment that you’d like to add when a task is not completed before its due date. 

#6 – Add collaborators automation

Moved a task to a certain project and you want to make sure that your manager or other team members can see the progress? You can automatically add collaborators when a task is added to a project. 

• Step 1. From your Asana dashboard, click on Customize. 

• Step 2. Select Rules and click on Add rule. 

• Step 3. For this automation in Asana, you will need to select the rule Task added to this project →Add Collaborators. 

• Step 4. Select the project and add collaborators. You can add team members by their name or their email. 

#7 – Task approval automation

Want to make sure that your tasks receive approval from your manager? Here’s an easy way to automate task approval. 

• Step 1. Once again, go to your Asana dashboard and select Customize. 

• Step 2. Click on Rules and then on Add rule. 

• Step 3. From the Rules menu, you need to select Create Custom Rule because we are going to make this rule from scratch. 

• Step 4. For the trigger click on Completion status and for the action select Approvals. Then, add a subtask and assign it to the person who is in charge of approval. Set a deadline for them and create the rule. 

#8 – Add a note to internal ticket automation

Want to make sure that a note is added to an internal ticket after you’ve completed a task? Here’s a fast way to implement this repetitive task. 

• Step 1. Go to your tasks and click on the Customize button in the top right corner of your screen. 

• Step 2. A menu will appear on the right side of your screen. Click on Rules and then select Add rule. 

• Step 3. Scroll down until you find the Zendesk rules. Select the predefined rule named Task marked completed→Add internal note to ticket. 

• Step 4. You will need to connect to your Zendesk account and then select the ticket you want to add an internal note to. 

#9 – Send an email when the task is approved automation

Want to notify the whole team when a task received approval? Automate this repetitive action with a few clicks in Asana. Here’s how. 

• Step 1. From your Asana dashboard, click on Customize. 

• Step 2. Select Rules and click on Add rule. 

• Step 3. For this rule, we are going to use Gmail integration. From the Rules menu, you need to select Approval completed→Send email.

• Step 4. Complete the form with all of the details, from the person/s you want to notify via email to the body of the email. 

With this simple automation, you save time and make sure that everybody is notified when a task or asset is approved. 

#10 Asana workflow automation 

Do you have a project that you want to keep track of? We’ll show you just how to automate workflows in Asana with only a few steps. 

• Step 1. Go to the project you’d like to automate the workflow for and click on Workflow. 

• Step 2. Select whether you’d like to add tasks manually or automatically from a form, a task template, or another app. 

• Step 3.  For this example, we’ve added “Planning”, “To do”, “Top priority”, “Management review”, and “Published” as our sections. You can add any sections that you want. For each section, you can add various actions, from task assignment to add approval. It all depends on your needs and the stages of your project. 

Workflow automation stages: In our example, we’ve automatically assigned tasks to a person during the “Planning” stage. 

When the task is moved to the section “To do”, Asana will add collaborators automatically.

 If any of the collaborators set the priority to High, then the task will automatically move to the “Top Priority” section. 

Finally, when the task is moved to the “Management Review” section, then the assigned person will automatically be assigned to approve the task. 

After adding all of the actions and creating an Asana workflow automation, you are ready to get started. 

When you automate your workflow in Asana it is easier to make sure that everybody is doing their tasks and that all assets end up to the people who are in charge of reviewing and approving them. 

Automate Asana to get more done

Using these Asana automations will allow you to spend more time completing tasks instead of performing repetitive activities. Become more efficient with workflow automation in Asana. These 10 task and workflow automations are just a few of the many things you can automate in your project management tool, Asana.