You can use Variable Substitution virtually anywhere within a rule where you need to specify a value, or anywhere where you need to specify an Asana element.
Here are some examples of its use where you're specifying a value:
- You want to prepend the name of the project to the front of every task in the project. You can do that with this rule:
If task is newly created, set the task’s name to {project.name} - {task.name}
Here is a step-by-step guide to creating the above rule:
- You want to send a customized email notification that uses Variable Substitution to include the task's due date in the email body.
Here's a step-by-step guide to creating this rule:
- You want to add certain emojis to the start of a task’s name when the task enters into a particular state. Here are some examples of what you can do with this type of rule:
If task is marked complete, set the task’s name to ✔️ {task.Name}
If a task has custom field Status set to a value of Waiting, set the task’s name to ⏰ {task.Name} - You're using the rule action Create a new project from a template... and you have a custom field called Client Name and you want that client's name to be part of the name of the new project you're creating. You can do that by using the text {task.Client Name} in the Name for the new project field; for example:
{task.Client Name} Marketing Engagement
Here is an example of its use where you're specifying an Asana element:
- You have project sections representing different regions of the United States: East, Midwest, South, West. You want to move new tasks in this project into the section corresponding to their region. You have a dropdown list custom field named "Region" with 4 options, one for each region.
You could accomplish this by building 4 rules, one for each region. But using Variable Substitution, you only need this one rule:
If task is newly created, move it to the {task.Region} section
Here's a step-by-step guide to creating this rule:
For a full list of variables you can use, see this Help article.