Quarterly recurring boards and checklist items with due dates depending on a recurring fixed date

Yves De Kimpe

We have a calendar with quarterly tasks based on the starting date which is basically the last day of each quarter (day N).  We have set up different cards according to different topics with checklists for individual tasks and due dates and assigned to different users.

The due dates of the checklist are recurring and should each quarter be a number of days after the last day of the quarter.  e.g. Task 1 on Card x is due at N+3, Task 2 on Card Y is due on N+6 etc.

How do we automate this when copying a board?

And is there a way to keep the users per checklist item when copying the board?

Carolina Lopez_rbdu5v

Hi @Yves De Kimpe!

While we don’t have a straightforward way to perform actions on each item individually using Automation, we have a feature suggestion open with our product team for your consideration. You can find it here: TRELLO-774
If this feature interests you, I recommend you to visit that suggestion, log in with your Atlassian account, and click Start watching this issue on the right panel.

As a workaround, you can create an automation that creates the checklist and adds each item. Although it’s not possible to set an item's due date based on the start date, you can use a Custom Field to store the date.

First, create a Custom Field to store the start date, I'll refer to mine as "Start date CF". Next, set up a rule to set the Custom Field date when the start date is added to a card. Use this document to get the variable for the start date. Here's an example:

when a start date is set on a card in list "List to add checklists", set custom field "Start date CF" to "{cardstartdate}"

As I need the Custom Field to be set before the items are added, I'll use this action as a trigger for the next automation. After that, add actions from the Checklists tab to create an empty checklist, add an item to that checklist, set item due to a date based on the Custom Field, and assign the item to a member. Repeat the actions for each checklist item you want to create. The rule will look like this:

when custom field "Start date CF" is set in a card in list "List to add checklists", add an empty checklist named "Tasks" to the card, add item "Task 1" to checklist "Tasks", set the item due on the date in custom field "Start date CF" plus 3 days, assign the item to member @member1, add item "Task 2" to checklist "Tasks", set the item due on the date in custom field "Start date CF" plus 2 days, assign the item to me, add item "Task 3" to checklist "Tasks", set the item due on the date in custom field "Start date CF" plus 5 days, and assign the item to member @member2

Please note that there's a limit of 20 operations performed by a single automation run, so you may need to create more than one rule depending on how many checklist items you want to create.

Let me know if this helps!