Automation for Label Change When Start Date Reaches Time

Question

I am trying to create an automation rule so that once a card's start date reaches the period where when it starts in 7 days, the label will change.

I am using the trigger under dates which says, "When a start date is set on a card starting in 7 days", but obviously it won't work because it needs the action of it being set, not just changing due to time passing. I'm going to try replacing "set on" with "moved in" but I'm sure it will have the same outcome, where it needs a user action change.

Vongsawat · Answer

Here's a solution that only uses Due Date.

When a due date is set on a card due in more than 7 days that does not have the Future label, remove the To Do label, add the Future label.

When a due date is set on a card due in less than 7 days that does not have the To Do label, add the To Do label, remove the Future label.

7 days before a card is due, add the To Do label, remove the Future label.

The important rule is the last one. The other two are just there to ensure the tags get added when you first apply a due date (or move it around).
There just aren't any triggers that ping off of start date (other than when you set them)

If you want both a Start and End Date, you have to do the chicanery I mentioned. Where you use the Due Date for both functions, but store the actual End Date somewhere else in the card. With automation to switch them in and apply labels so that different rules apply depending on if the End Date has been applied etc.

But if its just the Start Date you're thinking about. The above rules using Due Date instead of Start Date should suffice.

Ayden Heinig_w1lbvn · Answer

I'm not sure that we would always have a due date at a fixed time from the start date but for me it has been that way. For certain events, I will put a start date and due date on the same day.

There are a few different ways that are so close to it working but then it forces me to include "set on" or "moved in" instead of having an automation without an actual action.  Like I said, I was just trying to create more organization. In my case, I wanted to have a Future label on cards that are starting in more than a week and then once it is less than a week, to remove the Future label and add the To Do label. This way, it becomes much clearer what events need to be more in the front of your mind and what events can be ignored until it gets closer to its start date.

Vongsawat · Answer

There are Due Date Automations, where you can set the trigger to be 7 days before a due date, etc. But I don't think there's a way to directly trigger it from the start date instead.

There are some workarounds, depending on your setup.

If your due date is always a fixed time from your start date, you could trigger it off of due date, but then set the start date to be equal to the due date, and move the due date say x days in to the future. And ensure that the trigger only works on cards that don't already have a start date.

Or some similar sort of chicanery, where the actual due date or duration of the task is kept in a custom field, or part of the description, and gets retrieved and applied when the above trigger hits.

Hope that helps as a starting point, feel free to add details and I'll see if I can help further.