Available on Asana Starter, Advanced, Enterprise, and Enterprise+ tiers, as well as legacy tiers Business, and Legacy Enterprise.
With conditions and branching, rule creators have more control over exactly how their rules are triggered and the actions they perform. The new rule builder provides the flexibility to create simple automations or complex configurations based on your needs.
Asana's new rule builder
The new rule builder introduces 3 card types that you can use to build your rule:
+ When... represents a trigger.
Click + When... to add a trigger that sets the rule in motion.
+ Check if... represents a condition.
Click + Check if... to add a condition that must be met for the rule to run.
+ Do this... represents an action.
Click + Do this... to add an action that occurs as a result of the rule.
Update to the new rule builder
To update to the new rule builder, click the button in the top-left corner when using the classic rule builder.
Revert back to the classic rule builder by clicking the 3 dot icon in the top-right of the new rule builder and selecting → Switch to the classic rule builder
Using conditions in rules
In the example below, a condition is included in the rule. Although a trigger and action are set, the rule cannot run until the condition is met.
The condition is such that the custom field Design Support must be set to the value Print. If the trigger is activated by a task being added to the project, and the custom field value satisfies the condition, then the rule may perform the action on the task; in this case, the due date is set for 10 days in the future.
Using multiple conditions
In the below example, both conditions must be met for the rule to run. Rule creators can choose if both conditions must be met, or if one of the conditions must be met for the rule to run. Within the condition card, rule builders can select And to specify that all conditions must be met, or Or to specify that any condition can be met for the rule to run.
Using conditions and branching
In the below example, branching is employed to allow the rule to run in two different scenarios, each with different actions.
Both branches share the same trigger - the custom field Legal Review Status is changed. Both branches also share a common condition, Legal Review Status must be changed to Requested.
An additional condition is attached so that the rule can perform different actions based on different scenarios, even though both result from the same trigger.
In this case, if the custom field Priority is not given a value, the task is assigned and given a due date 5 days in the future. However, in the lower branch, we see that when the Priority custom field is set to High, the task is assigned, given a shorter due date of 2 days in the future, and the assignee is tagged in a comment.
Creating rules without conditions
Rules can also be built without conditions. In the below example, any time the Legal Review Status custom field is changed, the action is performed. In this case, the rule is triggered when the custom field value is changed, regardless of the value selected.
Removing the condition card
Remove the condition card by clicking the X on the right side of the card.
Adding a condition
Add your first condition by clicking the + button on the right side of the trigger card.
Add further conditions by clicking the + button on the right side of a condition card.
Removing a condition
Clear the condition card by clicking the trash icon on the right side of the condition card.
Adding conditions and branching to existing rules
Existing rules created in the classic rule builder do not currently support conditions and branching. Starting early 2024, Asana will migrate those existing rules into the new rule builder, allowing conditions and branching to be used in every rule.
In the meantime, users may wish to incorporate conditions and branching into existing rules that were built in the classic rule builder. In this case, it is necessary to recreate the automation logic in the new rule builder, adding conditions and branching as needed.
When testing the new rule, pause the old one first and check that the new automation works as expected. You can then safely delete the old rule.
A note on creating rules within bundles, templates and workflow builder
At this time, rules with conditions can only be created from the Customize menu of a project.
Creating a rule from within a bundle, a project template, or the workflow builder only supports the classic rule builder. This means conditions and branching will not be available.
Asana expects to enable the new rule builder on these surfaces in early 2024.