Help with reports or emails from Trello Cards

[Rachael Chiricosta]

Hi,

I'm needing to set up some kind of automation with my Trello cards with either a daily or weekly report or an email from board with card details.
Problem is the report has a link to the Trello card and I don't want that and I'm needing to email different cards or queues to different people.

I need to have either parts of or the whole description of the card if parts aren't possible in the report or email.

I did download the powerup Sendboard but that has a limit of 50 emails a month and if I was to use that to email from every card I would need more.  

I have had a play around with reports put am having a bit of trouble with the patterns, not really sure how that works.

Below is what I set up but that doesn't work:

every weekday, send an email notification to "rachael.chiricosta@austcommunitymedia.com.au" with subject "Daily Story Link Report" and message "Please find your weekly report for your story links:\n{cardname} {carddescription}", and create a report with all cards in list "Done" using pattern "{cardname} {carddescription}"

Any advice/ideas?!

[Hannah Humbert - Simpla Workflows]

@Rachael Chiricosta welcome to the community 😊

Try this instead:

every weekday, create a report with all cards in list "Done" using pattern "{cardname} {carddescription}", and send an email notification to "rachael.chiricosta@austcommunitymedia.com.au" with subject "Daily Story Link Report" and message "Please find your weekly report for your story links:\n{$report}

You need to add the {$report} variable in your message so it pulls through in your email.

I'd also suggest formatting things to make it a bit easier to read. For example, use this pattern: "- [{cardname}](cardlink) - {carddescription}" to show a bulleted list of cards with the link. Similar to this:

[Rachael Chiricosta]

That's fantastic, thanks Hannah!
On the bullet points, is it the hyphen that ads the bullet point?
So If I wanted to go with just the cardname would the pattern be just - {cardname} ?

[Hannah Humbert - Simpla Workflows]

Yes, that's right! The hyphen will give you a bullet point.

[Rachael Chiricosta]

Thanks @Hannah Humbert - Simpla Workflowsthe hyphen only gives me a hyphen for some reason, not a bullet point but that's enough to look better, thank you :-)

[Hannah Humbert - Simpla Workflows]

Oh strange! I'm not sure why that would happen 🤔 maybe there's a space in there somewhere? Have a look at this guide under "How to use a pattern to customize your report". It gives an example of formatting your report using bullet points. Maybe create a test and copy that exact text in the guide into the pattern field to see what happens. Here's the info below as well:

- [{cardname}]({cardlink}) ({cardmemberusernames}) {{%Priority}}

It should look like this in butler:

[Mary from Planyway]

Hi @Rachael Chiricosta 

It's Mary from Planyway power-up for Trello

Given the limitations you've encountered with existing Power-Ups like SendBoard, you might consider leveraging Trello's built-in automation tool, Butler, along with external automation services like Zapier or Integromat (now rebranded as Make) for more flexibility and higher limits. 

1. Understand Butler Limitations and Workarounds

The automation you've set up with Butler in Trello seems to have the right idea but might be limited by Butler's syntax and the capabilities provided directly within Trello. The {cardname} and {carddescription} variables are a good start, but ensuring they're used correctly within Butler's email action is crucial. 

2. Using External Automation Tools

Zapier or Make are powerful tools that can automate workflows between Trello and email services like Gmail or Outlook. Here’s a general approach:

• Trigger: Set up a trigger for when a card is moved to the "Done" list or on a schedule to check this list daily/weekly.
• Action: Create an action to fetch the card details you need (like name and description).
• Formatting: Use a custom action to format the email content as you wish, excluding the Trello card link.
• Sending Emails: Finally, set up an action to send the email through your email provider, using the formatted content from the previous step.

3. Example Zapier Setup for Daily/Weekly Reports

• Trigger: "New Card in List" in Trello or "Schedule" by Zapier to run daily/weekly.
• Action: Use a Trello action to find the card(s) you want to report on based on your criteria.
• Formatter: Use Zapier's Formatter to create the text for your email, pulling in {cardname} and {carddescription} without including a link.
• Email: Use an Email by Zapier action or your email provider's action to send the custom email to the intended recipients.

4. Customizing for Different Recipients

You can create multiple Zaps/automations for different recipients or lists. Each Zap can be tailored with specific filters to only include cards relevant to each recipient.

[Rachael Chiricosta]

Thanks Maria, I'll check this out!