How to tick a checklist item automatically when named attachment added to card?

[Alex Figgett]

Hello,

I currently have an automation configured that should tick one of my checklist items when an attachment with the name "Completed IT Form" is added to the card.

I'm having an issue at the moment where the automation can't seem to find the checklist on the card when trying to run the automation so I'm unsure why this is failing. This works fine on my template card I have set up for testing (duplicated from actual template we use for other cards) but the real cards seem to fail with no obvious reason.

Any assistance would be much appreciated!

Alex

[Brittany Joiner · Accepted solution]

@Alex Figgett hmm, im not seeing anything obviously wrong. for kicks and giggles, could you change the step order so it checks off the item before renaming the card? I don't think that would matter but maybe try that. 

Also, how is the item being created? You said from a template, but is automation creating that item, or are you manually copying a template card? 

[Alex Figgett]

Hi Brittany,

Thanks for responding to this, I'm scratching my head with this one!

Changing the order unfortunately makes no difference to the rule - the renaming function works fine while the checklist function does not.

We copy the template cards manually using the in-built "Copy" button in the cards and then just rename the new version of the card through this process.

Kind Regards,

Alex

[Brittany Joiner]

so strange! I'm clicking a button to raise this to support so we can see if they have any idea what's going on here.

[Renato Fagaraz]

Hi Alex!

I see a few things that might be causing this issue. The biggest red flag I can point you to is the copy you're making of cards for the Automation to look at. 

Since structurally you can have multiple Checklists in your cards, even with the same name for the checklist and its items , when the Automation is looking for an item it can struggle if you have multiple copies of a valid result in the same board.

My advice is to always specify a checklist name and not use the same name for multiple checklists if you wish to apply Automation to them. That’s because it can happen that a second checklist with the same name can't be targeted by Rules as it invariably stops at the first checklist with that name.

I'd also recommend as basic automation troubleshooting steps, you try to isolate the action you're having difficulty making work, and replicate it on a testing environment, just to make sure you can have it working before mixing it with other Automation actions!

[Brittany Joiner]

@Renato Fagaraz thanks for looking at this!! That's a good point about the card copies, but I am not seeing the user mention duplicate checklists in the card? So in theory it should be just finding one checklist named Received IT Information right? 

@Alex Figgett Renato makes a good point though about isolating actions. If you remove the "complete check item" action and just look at renaming the card, does that part work? 

And if you try another trigger, like a card button with just the action to check the item, does the card button work? 

[Alex Figgett]

Hi both,

Sorry for the delay in coming back to you on this, the automation strangely seems to have started working on almost all cards without any further changes.

I did test the entire automation against a button initially and had no issues so then went on to create the rule instead.

I'll continue to monitor this and report back if the issue returns again - thanks for all your help with this!

[Brittany Joiner]

Glad it's working! If this was helpful, would you mind clicking the Accept Answer button so folks who are looking for the same know there's an answer in here? 

Also, you might be interested in joining the Trello Trailblazers Atlassian Community Events chapter! We have events each month talking about how to do cool things in Trello: https://ace.atlassian.com/trello-trailblazers/