What is the variable for finding the linked card from a checklist item?

Kyle Hexer
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January 14, 2025

TLDR:

I can't figure out the right variable for referring to the one linked card when its checklist item gets moved to a new checklist.

Context:

I have a Job card (Parent card) on a Job Tracker board with multiple empty checklists named after each step in my manufacturing process (Step 1, Step 2... etc.). I have a button which turns each Item on Checklist 1 into linked cards (Child cards).

The Parent card lives on the Job Tracker board, and the Child cards get moved to an Item Tracker board. Both boards have lists named after each manufacturing step (Step 1, Step 2... etc). Both boards have automation rules that update the description to include the name of the list/step it was moved into, the date and time.

The Item Tracker board is a new addition to my work process in an attempt to track individual progress and store information unique to each item. Currently, I have eight rules on the Job tracker board and another eight duplicates for the Item Tracker board (for Step's 1-8) which update the descriptions. These rules are dependent on manual updates from the user moving the Parent and Child cards independantly, but I want to streamline the automations to update both the Parent and Child cards in the one rule.

What I want to achieve:

Each time an item has completed a step, the user moves the item in the Parent card from Checklist Step 1 to Checklist Step 2. I want a rule that looks for that specific item's Child card on the Item Tracker board, and moves it from List Step 1 to List Step 2. I then want the rule to update the Child card's description to include the date and time it was moved into List Step 2. And then I want the rule to update the Parent card's description to include the name of the Child card, the name of the list it was moved into, the date and time.

Current Automations:

Button:
for each checklist item in a checklist named "Checklist 1", convert the item to a linked card using pattern "[{cardname}]({cardlink})" copying labels

Rule: (enabled on Job Tracker board)
when an item is added to checklist "Step 2", for each card linked from an item in checklist "Step 2", move the card to the top of list "List 2" on board "Item Tracker", set the card's description to "{carddescription}\n {cardlistname}: {dateshort}, {time}", find the first card linked in the attachments, and set the card's description to "{carddescription}\n {checklistitemname} - {triggercardlistname}: {dateshort}, {time}"

Issue:

The problem is the "for each card linked from an item" part.
When theres one or more items in Checklist 2, every time another item is moved into the checklist, it updates the description on all of them. So if I've moved Item 1 into Checklist 2 the rule works fine, but when I move Item 2 into Checklist 2 as well, the rule updates the description for Item 1 again, along with Item 2. Same again if I move Item 3, the rule updates Item 1, 2 and 3. I do not want this.  

I want the rule to only find the Child card of the Item that was moved, and update that cards' description and the Parent card. Not update the descriptions of all the Child cards in the checklist. But I can't seem to figure out the right variable to refer to the Child card that matches the Checklist Item. I've tried using the "Find a card..." action with variables like {checklistitemname}, {cardname}, {cardlink}, {triggercardname}, {triggerchecklistitemname}, etc. but the automation log will return an error saying it couldn't find a card titled "", or will mistake the link to the card as the title and fail to find that. So I can either update all the cards in the same checklist, or none of them.

1 answer

0 votes
milynnus
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January 14, 2025

@Kyle Hexer 

It is a long post so I may not understand the issue correctly. To avoid Trello automation going through all the items do not use “for”. If you create a new card instead, the point is now on the new card and {cardlink} should be the newly created card. 

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