Project privacy settings

Access to a project in Asana is contextual and there are a variety of situations which determine access. If someone has access to a project, they have access to all tasks and messages within it.

Introduction to project privacy settings

See the table below for a quick overview

Note that project privacy settings are separate from other ways of sharing projects, such as project share links and read-only links.

Private to members

Private to members is a project privacy setting which restricts access to those who are already project members, or who are deliberately invited to the project. Non-members must request access. Non-members cannot see private to members project names in their search results.

Identifying a project which is private to members

Identify a project which is private to members by hovering over the member profile pictures in the project header, or by the lock icon next to the Share button.

Sharing a project which is private to members

Share a private to members project more widely by clicking the Share button in the project header. Sharing a private project with a team or the organization means the project is no longer private to members.

1. Click the Share button in the project header
2. Select the organization name to Share with organization, or Team only to share with the project's team.

If presented with a page stating that you do not have access, reach out to the owner of a private to members project as follows:

1. Click on the Request access button.
2. The project owner will be notified of your request.

Accept or deny requests to add members to a project

People who don’t have access to a private project can request access, but to access that project the request must first be accepted.

When someone requests access, the project owner is assigned a task notifying them that of the request. The project owner can then add them to the project or deny the request.

• If there is no project owner, the task is assigned to the project creator.
• If there is no project owner and the project creator does not have admin access, the first member of the project with edit access will receive the request.

Team only

Team only is a project privacy setting which grants access to the project to members of the team in which the project resides. With this setting, all members and invited members of the project's team can access the project.

For private teams, this setting effectively restricts access to the project to members of the private team.

For public teams, while this setting also restricts access to the project to members of the public team, any member or guest in the organization can choose to join the public team and thereby access the project. Check the permissions of the team the project lives in to verify whether other users might access a project by joining a public team.

Identifying a project which is team only

Identify a project which is team only by hovering over the Share button in the project header, where the team name will display.

Sharing a project which is team only

1. Click the Share button in the project header
2. Select the organization name to Share with organization, or Private to members to grant access only to the project members.

Limit access to a project which is team only

To limit access to a team only project, you have two options:

• Remove existing project members
  • If someone is also a member of the team in which the project lives, they will still be able to access the project, since the project privacy is set to team only.
• Change privacy setting to private to project members
  • In this case, only project members will be able to access the project. Members of the team in which the project lives will no longer automatically have access to the project.

Remove project members

To remove a project member from a project:

1. Click the permission level drop-down
2. Select Remove from project

Change to Private to members

Change the privacy setting by clicking the privacy drop-down and selecting Private to members.

Shared with organization

Asana has introduced an explicit Shared with organization project privacy setting. This setting allows a project to be shared with those in the Asana organization, regardless of project or team membership.

Those who have access to a Shared with organization project include:

1. Organization members (excludes guests)
2. Members of the project, which may include guests.
3. Members of the project’s team, which may include guests.

The shared with organization privacy setting is available in paid organizations. It is not available with a team or division subscription.

Shared with organization projects can be created in public or membership by request teams. They cannot currently be created in private teams.

Identifying a project which is shared with organization

Identify a project which is shared with organization by hovering over the Share button in the project header, the organization's name will be displayed.

Limit access to a project which is shared with organization

To limit access to a shared with organization project, you must change the project privacy setting to either team only, or private to members.

Disable shared with organization setting for new projects

Super admins may disable the shared with organization project privacy setting for their organization.

Super admins may choose between the two options shown above:

1. Anyone in the organization can share projects with the entire organization, assuming they are a project admin.

2. Nobody can share projects with the entire organization. Project admins can still make use of the private to members and team only privacy settings.

Note that this functionality is available for paid organizations, and is not available with a team or division subscription. The feature can only be enabled or disabled by a super admin.

How team privacy impacts project privacy

With the release of more explicit project sharing options on projects, team privacy changes will no longer directly affect project privacy. For example, a project with the setting Public to team would have previously been automatically shared with the organization if the team type was changed from Membership by request to Public to members.

With the updated project privacy settings, a Team only project continues to be restricted to the team even if that team's privacy is made more public.

A note on existing integrations, API scripts, and old mobile clients

How will existing integrations, API scripts, and old mobile clients read and write project privacy until they are updated?

When writing a privacy setting, projects will map to the closest new privacy setting:

• Projects that are public to public teams will become shared with organization.
• Projects that are public to membership by request or private teams will become team only.
• Projects that are private to members will remain private to members.

The same mapping is maintained on older versions of our mobile applications.

When reading a privacy setting, projects will indicate the closest mapping between our old and new privacy settings. Updating the privacy setting on a team will no longer update the privacy setting on any of the containing projects.