Communication - Slack and Asana

The Asana for Slack integration will ensure that your team can work seamlessly between Asana and Slack, without having to constantly switch tools. It also supports Slack's Enterprise Grid plans.

App integrations aren’t just for projects. Add apps to your My tasks to integrate with the tools your team uses most.

Getting started

To get started, download the Asana for Slack app. Log into Slack and follow prompts from the Asana Slackbot to authenticate your Asana account, allowing Asana to send information to Slack. If someone in your organization has already installed the integration you might have received a prompt to re-authorize your Asana in Slack. By doing this you’ll be able take advantage of all the new features.

If you receive a message indicating that you are not authorized to install Asana, please contact your admin and ask them to approve the app for your Workspace.

The Asana for Slack integration is different than the previous Asana app and we will be deprecating the older version in due course. We will import any configurations you had set up from the old app to the new Asana for Slack app. To learn how to set up linked project configurations, see Linked Project Configurations below. 

The fastest way to onboard your team is to paste a link to an Asana task in Slack. Ask your teammates to click on More actions from the drop down menu and select Like this task. By interacting with the task, they’ll receive the re-authorization message. Once they re-authorize, the new Asana for Slack will replace the old version.

Migrating to the new integration

If your slash commands and message actions have stopped working, it means we have started the migration window, and you’ll need to migrate to the new version to start using them again. We will import your project channel configs from the old app to the new app and you will receive notifications in the same channels you have used previously.

Using the Asana for Slack integration

The Asana for Slack integration allows you to turn Slack messages into tasks, take action on tasks from within Slack, or create a new task without leaving Slack. Task specific actions are also available via notifications in your personal or project channels.

From Slack you can view a list of commands and bring up links to this guide by typing /asana help

Turn a Slack message into a task, or add a message to an existing task

Capture conversations in Slack and turn them into a task, or add the conversation to a task. In Slack, select the conversation. Click the more messages button and select either Create a task or Add to task. A link will be created in the Asana task so that you can re-access the Slack conversation for further context.

When you access a Slack channel:

1. Click the three dot icon next to a Slack message
2. Click either Add as task comment or Create a task

Link unfurling and actions

Paste a link to an Asana task, milestone, project, or status in Slack to share information and it will become actionable from within Slack via a dialogue box and dropdown menu options.

The person or channel you’ve shared the task with will be able to:

1. Mark the task complete
2. Like the task
3. Change or add an assignee
4. Change or add a due date
5. Add the task to a project
6. Open the task in Asana

If you share a task that lives in a project with Private to members permission settings, with a user that is not a project member, they will not be able to make edits and will have to request access from the project owner. You can control whether the description for private tasks or projects are unfurled via /asana settings.

Smart summaries in Slack

Stay up to date on task details with AI-generated summaries directly in Slack. Smart summaries in Slack allows teams to get a quick overview of work happening in a task without having to leave their Slack workspace.

Your Asana organization must have Asana Intelligence enabled in order to use Smart summaries in Slack. Using Smart summaries in Slack will count towards your organization’s AI usage limits. Visit this Help Center article for more details on limits.

Using the AI integration

1. Copy the task URL and paste it in a Slack channel or direct message.
2. A task preview will appear. Click Summarize task to generate a task summary.

The task summary is not visible to other members of the slack channel. It is only visible to the user who requested it. Any member of the Slack channel with access to the task will have the option to summarize the task, however the summary itself is only visible to the user that clicked on the Summarize task button.

Enabling link previews

If you do not see task previews on Slack, check your Slack settings as follows:

1. Type /asana settings into any DM or Slack channel to open your settings.
2. Ensure Display link previews are set to On.

Create a task

Type /asana create to create a new task in Asana without leaving Slack.

A dialogue box will pop up and in drop down menus you’ll be able to:

1. Add a task title
2. Add an assignee
3. Add the task to a project
4. Add a due date
5. Add a task description
   

Personal notifications

When you first install the app, you’ll receive a message from Asana giving you the choice to turn on your Asana notifications. This is helpful because you’ll be able to take action upon these notifications without leaving Slack. You’ll receive notifications when:

• A task is assigned or unassigned from you

For tasks assigned to you, you'll receive a notification when:

• The task is completed
• The due date changed
• All dependencies are completed
• A dependency is uncompleted
• A dependency due date is changed
• You are added as a follower
• There is a comment on a task you are following

Personal notifications will be delivered to your personal Asana channel, found under the Apps section in the bottom left of your Slack Sidebar.

Please note that personal notifications are not sent when you are active in Asana

At any time you can manage your personal notifications by typing /asana settings in Slack. You’ll be able to turn notifications off or on, change your default domain, or deauthorize your account.

Linked project notifications

You can sync Asana projects to Slack channels. This is helpful because you and your team will be able to take action upon these notifications without leaving Slack. Notifications will be made in the channel when the following changes are made to the project:

• A task is added to the project
• A task is completed in project
• The due date is changed on any task in the project
• The assignee is changed on any task in the project

To set up notifications for a channel, first make sure you’re in the channel you’re setting up notifications for. Then type /asana link and you’ll see the option to choose and connect your project to the channel. You can also use /asana link to turn off channel notifications.

Custom notifications

You can create custom notifications using Asana’s Rules feature. Users can send a custom message to a Slack user or channel whenever a task is updated or moved, automatically.

From the Add rule pop up:

• You can send a customized channel message or a direct message via slack with task updates