How to Create 'Task Templates' in Asana

The new Asana task templates feature gives users an easy way to quickly create tasks that contain checklists of subtasks and other key information. You could use task templates for things like meetings, new leads, client projects or content types.
I've been using task templates for the different types of content that I produce e.g. blog posts, podcasts and videos. Each template contains a different set of subtasks to be completed. This makes it a lot quicker to set up a task and means you won't forget important steps.
Want to take full advantage of Asana? Sign up to our Master Asana support program and take Asana to the next level » minorco.com/asana
Want to chat first? Book a 30-minute introductory call to learn more about our consulting service » minorco.com/asana
Sign up to my newsletter to get regular tips and videos on how to use Asana better » minorco.com/newsletter

[@deela-phiadean9606]

Super helpful and a straight forward walkthrough Thank You Paul, Amazing content as always!

[@minor-co]

Thanks, glad I could help!

[@Flowium]

This is AMAZING news. thank you Paul for sharing it and walking though this template task feature.

[@minor-co]

You're welcome!

[@francoisparadisgeneratione7920]

Hello Paul, I was wandering how you made your sections in your meeting template. oh I found it.. Tab+N works in subtasks!!!! thank you

[@minor-co]

You got it! Tab + N

[@tongamar3781]

Hey there! This is SO helpful for my job. Thank you. Do you know if I can assign a shortcut to creating templated taks? To make it quicker for repetitive process. Like tipping a combination of letters on my keyboard and the task with the template appears

[@minor-co]

I'm afraid not. You need to manually select the template when you click the + button.

[@gisellehepker9541]

Paul, we are planning to use Asana for our accounting end of month checklist, to close the month. This has about 150 tasks. Curious if you would recommend using a task template, set up for each individual month, or alternatively setting up each task as a recurring task, and the pros/cons to each approach? Thanks so much for your videos, incredibly helpful!

[@minor-co]

Good question. Either method would work. The benefit of the recurring task is you don't have to manually create it from the template each month, so I'd probably just do this.

[@JamalVlogs]

Hi Paul, nice video, I have one question, is that possible to create unique task ID on each task creation? like JIRA it will auto create the ticket no with each task. Looking forward to hear from you

[@minor-co]

Yes, Asana does this already. However, in order to have the task Id populate a field inside the task, you would need Zapier to do this.

[@Aleksandrafinance]

Hi Paul. Very helpful videos for anyone using Asana. Love your style - clear and straight to the point. I am struggling to understand if you can use one template with subtasks for one stage your task is in, and when the task moves to other stage, i can add a different template with subtask. As example, say i am filming a video. In first stage i will have 3 subtasks, and when the video is filmed and is moved to post-production stage (also stage in Asana) can i add a different template to this task? Thank you :-)

[@minor-co]

Thanks! You can't add a new template to a task. But what you can do if you have the Asana Business version is create a rule where when the tasks moves to a new section you could add additional subtasks to the existing task. So basically the same thing.

[@samantharobinson1243]

Where you added an Agenda at around 4:46 how did you get the bold and underline parts (Agenda / Action Items) with the 'checklist' subtasks underneath? I can only seem to add standard subtasks. I would like to be able to section it out in that way.

[@minor-co]

This is done with the keyboard shortcut Tab + N

[@jennimay-dennis1057]

Thank you so much for asking Samantha!!! This is an awesome feature.

[@RalphErvin]

Hi Paul - Can you create relative due dates for subtasks that will auto-populate when the template is used to create a task (natively or with a Zap)? That would be awesome to create relative due dates for a video for example and have all of the subtasks assigned and dated to march through the work. Hope all is well!

[@minor-co]

I'm afraid not. The subtask due dates can only be set X days after the creation of the task. They can't be tied to the due date of the task (if that's what you're asking)

[@darkod4772]

Great video. My question is can you create task templates inside of project template? The reason being is that when I use a project template I would like to automatically have a task template within it.

[@minor-co]

Yes, you can do this from the Customise area of the project template.

[@davydubouchet1195]

Hi Paul, I'm literally looking for one of your videos each time I'm stuck in Asana and always find the answer so thanks for that already! My question related to Task Templates is: Can we have different custom fields for the Task/Task Template than the fields in the project containing that Task Template? The reason I'm asking this is to use different task templates in one project template. Thank you :)

[@minor-co]

Thanks Davy, glad I could help. Task templates inherit the custom fields of the project they're in. So one solution is to multi-home the task template into another project so it inherits that projects fields (hope that makes sense)

[@francoisparadisgeneratione7920]

Hello, thank you Paul for another amazing video on Asana. I'm very excited to see this essential feature finally added. Do you know if there would be quick way replace a piece of text on all those sub tasks, like a place older in a newsletter. in your example for the podcast, I would write the subject of the podcast but I would like each members of the team to see the subject of their subtask. If not they will have multiple generic tasks named edit podcast for example. but if you could rename (template subject) in main task it would rename all (template subject) in the subtasks another solution that I saw In Wrike. You could automatically add a few words at the end to all subtask. The only solution that I know is to export your project edit it in xls and then reimport it... but its a bit more complicated if its for an existing project. You probably deducted by now that my task will include many subtasks and sub-subtasks (over 30) and I definitely dont want to create a new project for every product we create, since we already have hundreds of projects. thank you in advance

[@minor-co]

I'm afraid this isn't possible but another option to consider is using Zapier. You could trigger the creation of the task and then have Zapier create all the subtasks with the variables filled in.

[@francoisparadisgeneratione7920]

@@minor-co thank you for the tip, I will look into that. Thanks

[@myahf737]

Hi Paul! Your videos have been most helpful! When I "save a project as a template" it does not pull the subtasks into the new template, only the main sections and tasks. I am baffled and struggling because it is easily 150+ subtasks I need to populate the template and would hate to have to re-enter them by hand in the template itself, unless of course, I have to. Any advice?

[@minor-co]

I wonder if this is to do with the size of your project. Do you have the same issue with smaller projects? Perhaps ask Asana support if there's anything they can do.

[@myahf737]

@@minor-co Thank you!

[@nicolemurphy6902]

I was wondering how you added section headers for your subtasks? You can see what I mean at 5:23 minutes in your video.

[@minor-co]

Good question. You can do this using the shortcut Tab + N.

[@TonyJuays]

Hi Paul, first time viewer. We do wine tours and we can get a tour 1 month before the tour date or 6 months before the tour date. I am wanting to setup sub tasks with a due date related to the Main Task Due Date (which would be the date of the tour). So a sub task might be finalize wine tour route which is due 2 weeks before Main Task Due Date, or another task might be wash & vacuum the bus with a due date 1 day before Main Task Due Date. Is it possible to create a template with these kinds of Due Dates. So when I use the template I add the Main Task Due Date then all the subtasks due dates are calculated. Thanks

[@minor-co]

Hi Tony, I'm afraid not. This is a common request so I really hope they update the task templates to allow for this as you're not the only person who's requested this.

[@dean7275]

Hey Paul, hopefully you see this. My organization has been having issues with Organizing File Boards in the Gallery View . The files in the gallery view is just a bunched up all together and a mess. Would you know how to organize files by Date, File Type, ect??

[@minor-co]

By 'gallery' view, do you mean Board view? In the top right of the project screen, you should see a sort button allowing you to sort by due date or alphabetical.

[@TheBikeFather]

Do you use Asana as a Sales CRM or something else like Pipedrive?

[@minor-co]

I use Pipedrive. You could use Asana but Pipedrive is much better suited to selling.

[@davidswander]

Hi, I use Asana to manage multiple projects. I notice that I can create templates within a given project, but I can’t access them from the other projects. Would you recommend making a full project template? Thank you!

[@minor-co]

That's right, Task Templates are set up at the project level. You can easily move the task that gets created to another project if needed. I don't think having a master project would help as you'd still need to move the task that gets created.

[@randomrequirements9066]

Hi Paul, is there a way to create a project template you can use for new templates?

[@minor-co]

Yes, you can create a project template by starting a new project, setting it up, then when you're done choose the 'Convert to template' option from the project menu. Then you'll be able to use this template when you create a new project.

[@TrailandTar]

Thanks Paul. Is it possible to create a template from tasks to use in different projects? I cant seem to make it work this way. I can create a template but cannot use that same task template between different projects. Make sense?

[@minor-co]

Yes, unfortunately task templates are set up at the project level and don't copy across to multiple projects. So as of right now, each template has to be set up in each project I'm afraid.

[@TrailandTar]

@@minor-co Thanks for the feedback

[@EricCook]

This was super helpful. But, am I correct in understanding that you cannot create a Task Template and use it on multiple projects? That seems very limiting and I love the idea of your Meeting Task, but that's something I'd like to use on ALL of my projects - not have to build it out for every one. Is that just the way it is, or do you know of any other way to make that work?

[@minor-co]

Thanks Eric. Yes, I'm afraid you would need to re-create the template in every project (which I realise is a pain). Of course, if you have a project template that contains a task template, it'll carry over to the main project when you use it.

[@EricCook]

@@minor-co I was thinking about that and figuring out how to get items into project templates and they would carry over. But, bummer they cannot be used more readily across existing projects. Thanks for confirming. Keep up the great videos!

[@victorypointssupport9345]

@@EricCook we just duplicate the task then change the project the copied task is attached to. It's so much nicer than starting from scratch :D

[@shaynekevin]

In your task template you have Agenda and Action Items....not sure where those "headers/sections" are coming from or how you got those in there.

[@minor-co]

These are created using the keyboard shortcut Tab + N

[@dyannteo2847]

Hi Paul, this task template is only available for paid Asana, right? if im using the free version, how can i create templates without flooding my project list? thanks so much!

[@minor-co]

You could instead create normal tasks as templates and use a tag e.g. 'Template' to group them all together.

[@DareToFlyNow]

Can you post pictures within a task? Can you communicate with each other within a task? Basically, does a Task work as a group chat also?

[@minor-co]

Yes, you can attach images and you can comment on the task to have your conversation.

[@ElizabethBloch-kw5wx]

Hi Paul, can you duplicate a project and then rename it? (so I can have the templates in a similar project)

[@minor-co]

Yes, from the project dropdown menu you can duplicate it.

[@ElizabethBloch-kw5wx]

@@minor-co thank you. I found it in the down arrow next to the name of the project. I appreciate your guidance!

[@timozimmerschied5595]

Hi Paul, why can only 10x templates be created? Is there a solution?

[@minor-co]

I'm afraid there's no workaround at this time but Asana is aware it's an issue and hopefully the limit will be increased soon: forum.asana.com/t/increase-task-template-limit/122493

[@JoshuaGipson]

is there a way to recover asana templates I accidently deleted one with so much detail and it auto saved the deleted version. Is there no way to get it back? ANYONE HELP PLEASE

[@minor-co]

You should get an email when you delete a project and this contains a recovery link.

[@hollygeerdes3497]

where is the link to schedule a consult

[@minor-co]

paulminors.com/consulting/asana-consulting/

[@HRForProfit]

Are you using the free version of Asana?

[@minor-co]

I'm on Premium for my main account but I also have a Business account which I use for demos.

[@rebeccaalley4595]

May I make a task template create another task?

[@minor-co]

Sorry, I don't fully understand your question. When you use the task template, this creates a new task with all the templated steps ready to go.

[@oscarvega1172]

How to contact you for a consult ?

[@minor-co]

You can book an intro call here: paulminors.com/consulting/asana-consulting/

[@Airwane]

Time to switch to ClickUp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@minor-co]

Why's that?

[@echoactual1776]

Thanks, ProMa Ethan Hawke!

[@minor-co]

Haha, you're the second person to make this comparison recently