Is there a way to create cards from template by default when I create multiple cards simultaneously?

[Joe Pavlecich]

My user story would be, I'm copying and pasting a list from excel into Trello with the intention of each cell in excel creating its own card in Trello. This is already possible. 

What I want to do, is for each of those cards I create, to be created from the template, and not just a blank card. Today, there is only the option to 'create x number of cards' instead of also an option to create x number of cards from a template, then allowing me to choose which template card is used to create those new cards. 

In my scenario, I'm looking to create 50+ cards via one copy and paste from excel and want them to all be formatted the same way, but now I'll have to make the updates to each card individually to format them which will take some time. 

[Hannah Humbert - Simpla Workflows]

Hi @Joe Pavlecich ! Welcome to the community 😊 You might be able to use butler here to achieve what you want rather than using card templates. For example, you could have a rule that says something like:

when a card is added to the board, add the blue label, add the "Tasks" checklist from the Checklist Template card, set card descrption to "xxx", set custom field to x, ....

 Would that cover all of the things included in your template?

[Joe Pavlecich]

Hello, I'm less familiar with how butler works; however, if I understand your response, butler is a bit like a macro that can be applied to a target such as a card or group of cards, or be triggered based on a condition happening, such as a new card being added. 

The template that I made which I was hoping to have applied to x cards while pasting had several things that ideally would happen:

1) Multiple lists with a predefined label and a single entry as guidance on how to use that list (ex- before, during, after checklist applied to each card.)

2) The card name would match the list pasted from excel into the board and if possible, the specific card would have a matching description pasted into the card as well. Ex- card 1 would have name 1 and description 1, card 2 would have name 2 and description 2, etc. 

3) The card would be given a label based on a 3rd value of my choosing where I copy and paste from (this is wishful thinking)

and possibly other ideas. I stopped thinking of more ways to enhance the template once I realized it wasn't something I could create in mass very quickly while also pasting information from an external source. 

If there is such a program or feature where you could load a file that would have meta data of the card as column data in a spreadsheet, then each row would be a card and each column in that row would be things like: name, description, label, list name, etc

[Hannah Humbert - Simpla Workflows]

Hi @Joe Pavlecich , yes that's right - it could be described as a macro. It's a trigger-based automation that allows you to create "If this, then that" statements. You have a bunch of different types of triggers you can choose from that would then automate whatever actions you need.

It sounds like you need a mix of importing data into Trello from Excel as well as adding templated information to the cards (e.g. checklists). 

For importing data from a sheet, there are a bunch of options that will allow you to do this depending on your workflow. If it's just a one-off import, something like Blue Cats Import power-up could be a good option. As you can see below, you can map the Excel data into the relevant Trello fields:


Smart Import from Excel is another one, or you could look at using Zapier if you'd like to have a more automated process. 

Once the data has been entered into Trello, you can then have butler automate the needed actions, for example, adding pre-defined checklists, etc. You could create blanket rules so all cards get the same data automatically added, or you could filter it (e.g. cards that have a blue label get the blue checklists, cards that have the yellow label get the yellow checklists). 

Hope that helps and happy to help if you have additional questions 😊

[Joe Pavlecich]

Thank you for these suggestions. The process still feels a little broken along the way but what you've recommend in theory will simulate the same workflow I was hoping to achieve. 

I have never used Butler with Trello before, is there any documentation you can refer me to so I can learn how to set it up?

[Hannah Humbert - Simpla Workflows]

Yes sure there is a bunch of info online around butler automation - here's one guide that covers the basics: https://support.atlassian.com/trello/docs/butler-overview/

You may be able to achieve this all with one tool depending on your workflow. For example, with Zapier you can create cards from rows automatically, map data into Trello card fields, and add additional actions (I'm pretty sure you can add checklists automatically using Zapier).