How to Export Data from Trello: A Step-by-Step Guide for Users
As a visual project management tool, Trello has made it easy to manage multiple aspects of a project with its simple hierarchy elements like workspaces, boards, cards, and checklists. However, the project data is spread across Trello, which makes it difficult to analyze. You can see its value when you can analyze it. While Trello isn’t designed for data analysis, you can gain valuable insights by exporting the data. Here are a few things you can do with the exported Trello data:
- Find delayed tasks and devise strategies to address them.
- Identify top performers and reward them to keep the drive going.
- Build interactive dashboards on project progress and present them to leadership.
- Transfer and integrate data with other productive systems.
This blog post will take you through different ways to export Trello data and help you choose the best one.
Ways to export data from Trello
Here is a quick introduction to the four ways to export data from Trello.
- Manual export
You can export Trello data manually in two formats:
- JSON
- CSV
While JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is not readable to humans and is used mostly for technical purposes, CSV (comma-separated values) is compatible with Google sheets, Excel, and any spreadsheet program.
Any Trello board member can export data in JSON format, but only premium Trello users can benefit from both JSON and CSV export formats.
- Automated export
Manual export is not sustainable, especially for recurring reports. Repeating the same steps to export reports daily can be time-consuming and prone to errors leading to data inconsistency.
Automated export is an efficient and reliable method for automatically exporting data from Trello. While different ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) solutions can be used to automate the export process, Coupler.io is one of the best ones.
Users can save time and resources and ensure data accuracy and consistency with automated reports.
- Power-ups and integrations
Trello provides add-ons called Power-ups and integrations to add additional custom features as per user requirements. Power-ups like Board Export by Orah are used to export boards, cards, and checklists to Comma Separated Values (.csv) and Portable Document Format (.pdf). Microsoft Excel export is also supported by some Trello add-ons.
While these power-ups can be added to Trello, they come at a cost. Users are billed on a monthly or annual basis for their usage.
- Trello API
The Trello API allows you to interact with the data stored in Trello in a programmatic way. This means you can use code to access and manipulate the data stored in Trello rather than manually interacting with the data through the Trello user interface.
While you can perform various actions, from creating new cards to updating existing cards, you also use it to export Trello data. Remember that Trello data exported via API will be in JSON format. You have to change it to .csv or .xlsx for data analysis.
This seems to be all export options to pull data from Trello. Let’s also check out what Trello data is available for export.
Types of data you can export from Trello
| Type of data | Description |
|---|---|
| Trello Board | A place to keep track of information, especially for large projects like managing a blog or launching a product. Consists of lists and cards. |
| Lists | Stores cards under various stages of the workflow. Typical use case: To-do, Doing, and Done are 3 lists of a workflow. |
| Cards | They represent individual tasks and ideas. Every card has a description, members associated, labels, checklists, attachments, and activity. |
| Card descriptions | A detailed explanation of the task or idea on the card. Mostly text. |
| Due dates | A deadline for the task. It helps in tracking the progress of the project. |
| Board members | Members who have access to edit the board are board members. |
| Checklist items | A part of the card. Create checklists like an SEO checklist, and publish a checklist to not miss anything on the task. A bulleted list in the form of text. |
| Attachments | Add attachments like documents, images, etc, to support the task. You can add it from your computer or any cloud storage. |
| Custom fields | You can add dropdowns, text fields, and more customizations to the card. Available only on Trello premium. |
| Advanced checklists | Allow you to add a due date and tag a person to individual checklist items. |
| Archived cards | Whenever a task is paused or canceled, you can archive the card instead of deleting it. Similar to the data present in a regular Trello card. |
How to export data from a Trello board manually?
- Step 1: Log in to your Trello account.
- Step 2: Once you log in, click on Boards on the left side of the screen. Choose the board you want to export the Trello data.
- Step 3: Select the Board menu from the right side of the screen and click on More.
- Step 4: Click on Print & Export and you’ll see 3 options (Print, Export as CSV, Export as JSON). Choose the desired export file format.
- Step 5: Once exported, your CSV file will look something like the image below.
How to export data from Trello automatically?
You can export cards from a board, history of card updates, and checklist items automatically with the data integration tool provided by Coupler.io.
Coupler.io is an all-in-one data analytics and automation platform that empowers organizations to gain the most from their data. It allows you to gather, transform, and analyze data to see the holistic picture of your business and stay ahead of the curve.
Below is a step-by-step guide about how to export data from Trello using Coupler.io ETL solution and automate data refresh on schedule.
- Step 1: Sign up to Coupler.io and click on Add new importer button.
- Step 2: Enter the source and destination of the data. The source is Trello in this scenario, and choose any one destination from Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, and BigQuery.
Coupler.io can
You can name the importer as you wish.
- Step 3: Link the source account (Trello) by clicking on the connect button.
- Step 4: Now select one data entity from board cards, card updates, and checklist items. Enter the board URL from where you want to export the card data and click on Jump to Destination settings.
If you are stuck with finding the board URL, you can click on Learn how to get it as shown below.
- Step 5: Connect to the destination account.
- Step 6: Now select a spreadsheet file where you want to save this exported Trello data. Either select an existing sheet or create a new one.
- Step 7: Schedule it by setting up an automatic data refresh. Select the interval, days of the week, time preferences, and scheduled time zone. Hit Save and Run.
You can see the details of your export on the importer dashboard as shown below.
Check out Coupler.io ETL solution for automating data exports from Trello and other sources.
How to export Trello cards data?
Power-ups and integrations are another effective way to export Trello cards data. One of the best power-ups to export Trello cards data is by Orah. Installing and implementing a power-up is very simple.
- Step 1: You can find the power-up option on the top center of any board. Click on Add power-ups. Search for Orah and select the first one – Board Export from the results.
- Step 2: You can go through all the details of the power-up like use cases, pricing, and functionality. When you are ready to use it, click on the Add button.
A pop-up appears within Trello to sign in to Board Export.
- Step 3: Once you have signed in to Orah, you can see a Board Export option on all your boards.
- Step 4: Whenever you have to export your Trello cards, you can click on Board Export and select the list of cards you want to export. Click on export lists to set your export preferences (PDF, PNG, CSV, Excel) and Export.
The export file will be saved on your computer according to your file format preferences.
How to export data from Trello via API?
If you are comfortable with technical concepts and tasks, you can export data from Trello via API. In most cases, you need to have coding skills to do the job but Coupler.io provides a JSON API connector that allows you to access Trello API without any coding.
- Step 1: Select JSON as a source app and Google Sheets as a destination app
- Step 2: Insert the JSON URL to import data from. The JSON URL will change depending on the data to be imported. For example, here is the JSON URL to pull a particular Trello board:
https://api.trello.com/1/boards/{board-ID}
- Step 3: HTTP method – GET.
- Step 4: Fill out the URL query parameters.
key:{API-key}
token:{server-token}
Step 5: You can get your API key from https://trello.com/app-key
To generate a server token, click Token on the Developer API Keys page and allow access for the server token.
Now, click on Jump to Destination Settings.
- Step 6: Select your Google sheets account from the dropdown or add one and click continue.
- Step 7: Select an existing spreadsheet and a sheet as shown below and click on Jump to Schedule Settings.
- Step 8: Schedule it by setting up an automatic data refresh. Select the interval, days of the week, time preferences, and scheduled time zone. Hit Save and Run.
Once the import is successful, you can see a importer dashboard that looks like this. As per your automatic data refresh settings, the export will happen automatically as per your set interval.
With the help of Trello API and Coupler.io, you can export Trello boards, custom fields, emojis, actions, checklists, notifications, and other data from Trello. The best part is that you won’t need any coding skills to do this.
What is the best way to export data from Trello?
In this blog post, almost four different ways are explained in detail to export data from Trello. Doing the manual export might look straightforward, but it only works if you are a premium user of Trello. You cannot export a CSV file otherwise. A JSON export file is not very useful unless you are familiar with coding.
While Trello API is fantastic by giving you access to all the information in the backend of Trello, the final export is again in JSON. Power-Ups are again expensive, with a monthly subscription of $10 just for exporting data.
The last and best option to export data from Trello is using a data integration tool like Coupler.io. It is not just an exporting tool but helps you integrate data from 20+ sources. Being a no-code platform, Coupler.io prioritizes user experience.
