Calendar: can you move one card and shift all others automatically?

Question

We pay for Trello to use the calendar, but it lacks a functionality for us that is continually causing us a lot of frustration.

Our cards have due dates, and those dates often need to be rearranged. A lot of the time what we need to do is move, one card to an earlier date and shift all the other cards accordingly, but currently the only way to do that is to move each card individually to its new respective date. This is a major pain point for us. Is there some way to move a card from one day to another and shift all corresponding cards automatically?

milynnus · Answer

@Zack Robertson

Since every card is independent, even for those where you have create cardlink to express their inter-dependencies, the due dates does not adjust themselves automatically. You would need to invoke some services to help you do that.

Hannah Humbert - Simpla Workflows · Answer

@Zack Robertson yes it's possible using butler automation and the cascade function. For it to work though, you need a way to relate cards together. For example, linking cards in the attachments.

Additionally, you need to think about preventing looping.

So, let's say you have a rule that says "when a card's due date is moved, for all cards linked in the attachments, move due date by the same time".

Now, let's say you have cards A, B, and C that are all linked together. Card A's due date is moved, so this then affects card B and C's due date. So, in turn, card B's due date has now been moved, so it will trigger the automation to start again, same with card C (luckily Trello will eventually stop the infinite loop of death 😅).

Typically in this workflow, you'd have a parent card and the related child cards will be either linked in the attachments or as linked checklist items. So the parent acts as the "master" and the automation will only trigger if the due date is changed on that card.

Would that make sense for your workflow? How are you currently relating cards?