Features: Custom Fields

Custom fields

Any custom field present on a task will also be set on the copied task, if they are in the top-level of a project where those fields are assigned. Fields cannot be set on subtasks, unless they are multi-homed, so some field values may be dropped if copied without the parent project that allowed them to be set.

Custom fields are not shared between workspaces, so Ditto performs a matching step to associate fields in the source workspace with those in the destination workspace. This matching compares the name of the field and its type, including values for enum fields.

If a custom field with the correct name exists in the destination but does not have the correct type, Ditto will be unable to match the values during the copy and will skip the field. You will be warned before the transfer starts if this is the case.

Workspaces which do not support custom fields (Personal Projects and free workspaces) cannot have fields set, and so they will not be copied. Again, you will be warned if this is the case.

Missing fields

Any fields which are used by the projects being copied but which do not exist in the destination workspace will be automatically created by copying the full custom field configuration to the destination workspace, including all enum values.

Non-global fields Updated

Non-global (project-specific) custom fields will always be recreated in the destination project.

Field types Updated

Currently supported* custom field types:

  • Text
  • Number
  • Enum
  • Multi-Enum
  • Date

* People custom fields are not currently supported by the Asana API

Number formats (e.g percentage) are not currently supported by the Asana API

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Michael Houston - 08 Dec 22 21:29 UTC

Hi @bfader - please contact me directly at [email protected] and I will look into the problem you are having. I’m happy to refund your account if Ditto isn’t working how you need it to.

bfader - 07 Dec 22 20:51 UTC

I upgraded to Pro to be able to leave custom fields beside (because it keeps throwing an error). And it’s still throwing the failed because of custom fields.

Michael Houston - 28 Sep 22 05:37 UTC

Hi KS Admin, sorry about that, custom fields on projects (shown at the portfolio level) are not yet supported. I will add a note to the supported features table.

This warning will not stop the copy from being created, but it would be necessary to create the project fields again manually.

KS Admin - 28 Sep 22 01:27 UTC

I am getting below error when attempting of multiple projects at once and I have upgraded to Pro version.

Cannot set custom fields on projects yet (TODO)

Michael Houston - 26 Aug 22 05:59 UTC

I have released a new update with significantly improved custom field matching and support for project-local custom fields.

Where warnings are still shown for features which can’t be transferred yet, hopefully they will be more understandable.

Dustin Nance - 24 Aug 22 20:34 UTC

HI,

This is a warning message on my most recent transfer - Unable to set value for “” custom field for some tasks - not available on parent project(s)

Michael Houston - 16 Aug 22 08:40 UTC

Hi Platinum,

The precision message is just a warning - it seems to have started happening recently, but shouldn’t stop you copying a project. I am currently investigating.

The other warnings relate to project-specific custom fields. This is something I’m planning to add, but haven’t got working yet. Again, the project should copy, but any project-specific fields will not be included at the moment.

Platinum Dev - 16 Aug 22 08:18 UTC

Hi Michael, need help with these errors:

Precision for custom field “Amount” (number) does not match. 824634433792 in source, 824637224072 in target workspace Cannot set custom fields on projects yet (TODO) Unable to set value for “” custom field for some tasks - not available on parent project(s)

Anonymous - 16 Aug 22 08:16 UTC

Hi Michael, I am encountering error: “Precision for custom field “Amount” (number) does not match. 824634433792 in source, 824637224072 in target workspace”. Kindly help.

Michael Houston - 30 Dec 20 22:35 UTC

Thanks to Adam for identifying the issue with number precision, this has been fixed since late October, sorry I forgot to update here!

Adam Tull - 05 Oct 20 08:26 UTC

Hi Michael,

Actually found a work around - it’s to do with the “number” custom field and about the number of decimal places (the precision). It worked when I changed the precision to 1 instead of 0 on the project being transfered.

Michael Houston - 03 Oct 20 17:50 UTC

Hi Adam,

Thanks for letting me know, sorry I’ve not got a fix yet. I will post here as soon as I have.

Adam Tull - 01 Oct 20 15:08 UTC

Hi, I’m getting the same issue as Alex is below:

Unable to create custom field 1119809276013013: 400 Bad Request: precision: Missing input Unable to create custom field 723421660615253: 400 Bad Request: precision: Missing input

Been having issues with transferring custom fields, thought I had gotten somewhere (projects had he same named custom fields, but were different with different values etc - I changed the name of all of these and the error didn’t occur again).

Not sure what I can do about this though! Not seen a 400 issue before.

Michael Houston - 23 Sep 20 17:27 UTC

Thanks Alex, I’ll see if I can track down what’s causing the problem

Alex Seewald - 23 Sep 20 12:45 UTC

Hi, there seems to be an error while creating some of the fields during a project export, which I thought I’d bring to your attention. Any ideas? “Unable to create custom field 1100164175720809: 400 Bad Request: precision: Missing input”

Brad Gregory - 27 Jul 20 19:46 UTC

another note here – looks like fields are being created redundantly still… https://www.screencast.com/t/DLyPJov5g

Brad Gregory - 27 Jul 20 19:43 UTC

Hey Michael - still getting odd errors. This time, I used the API to completely delete all custom fields and all projects in the destination before beginning, then I setup a project with a custom field, so your system would recognize custom field capability. Then I took just one group of projects instead of the entire workspace… still getting these errors: https://www.screencast.com/t/Ug8KW4L5

Michael Houston - 25 Jul 20 12:01 UTC

Hi Brad, thanks for the report - I can confirm that there was a bug where fields were being created twice, rather than being correctly mapped to the existing field. I’ve released a patch to prevent this from happening, however it is triggered when another error has triggered a retry, which may mean that you will see another problem as a result. Let me know how you get on! Mike

Brad Gregory - 25 Jul 20 02:09 UTC

Having loads of trouble here with custom fields. I have tried to delete fields, clear the values of fields, and yet no matter what I do, I get an error regarding the “Asana built-in” custom fields like “Allotted Time”. It has worked very very well for some projects but fails on this every time. I thought it might be related to trying to bring pieces of the entire org over in teams, but then I have been trying to do the entire org at once to see if that mattered. I have cleared all values assigned to this in-built field “Allotted Time” - but I cannot delete it in the destination nor the source since it is a built in the field. What am I to do? See this screenshot: https://www.screencast.com/t/CPExrZWh7rh

Michael Houston - 19 Feb 20 22:57 UTC

That’s an excellent idea, I’ll try to add that into a future release.