Adding cards to new inbox by automation and via mobile

[Jenny Dean]

Is it, or will it be, possible to add cards to the new inbox firstly by automation and secondly via the mobile app? I currently have my own 'inbox' as the first list in my main Trello board. Most of my items that I add to it are things I capture when on the go (on my mobile app), or that are automatically generated (e.g. when a card becomes due or on its start date, it is moved to that inbox). I would like to start using the new inbox in Beta, but will have limited use of it until I can do those two things. 

One of the challenges with the automation I describe is the structure of the card. That varies by board with different boards having different labels and custom fields. So an equally useful functionality would be able to generate a new card in the new inbox when a card in any of my boards becomes due, and that the card in the inbox is linked to (or a mirror of) the original card in it's own board. 

I haven't seen 'inbox' anywhere in automation functionality, but if there is something there, I'd love to know about it to give it a go. I use automations quite a bit. 

[Kelly Gabel]

@Jenny Dean 

I would love to know about automation as well, for both the inbox and the planner. 

I do already see the Inbox on mobile, though. You can see it in the bottom menu in this screenshot

[Jenny Dean]

Ah brilliant thanks. That prompted me to actually check I had the latest app version on my phone! I have updated it now and I see an amazing Quick Add field to the inbox on my Boards page. 😍 This is exactly what I wanted. 

And the Inbox is also available on the app too as shown in , which is fabulous because that's where I tend to process my inbox first thing in the morning before I log on to my laptop. I'm very happy. 

I will ultimately want to be able to add buttons and automations to the inbox cards so that I can move cards to commonly used boards / lists more easily. The current move functionality in the inbox takes a few more taps and a bit more cognitive energy than the automations I have set up in my current own version of an inbox list on my main board. 

[Beth French]

Hi @Jenny Dean ,

Glad you found the new Quick Add feature on Mobile and were able, even if it is with more steps, set up some automation with Inbox.

We recognize this an area of improvement and we are looking at updates to automation to work with the new Inbox. When we do, it will be for both web and mobile versions.

Noting your use case, that you want automatons to move Inbox cards to common boards. Now that you have seen the new Inbox, any other automatons you can anticipate wanting to create?

Cheers,
Beth

[Jenny Dean]

Thanks Beth,

There are three main types of automations that I use with respect to my ‘inbox’ (first list in my main Trello board).

First for moving some (often recurring) cards into the inbox, second for processing recurring cards within the inbox and thirdly for processing most other cards. The second automation will only be of use / necessary if the first automation is available. I could potentially live without the third as it is just a slightly nuanced & personal way of moving cards that I could technically achieve with the existing ‘move’ functionality.

The first is my most important automation. I use it to move cards that are ‘due’ or have reached their start date into my ‘inbox’. I have many recurring tasks that I do daily, weekly, monthly, yearly etc. It pops into my inbox when it is due. Many I can do straight away when I process them in the inbox and this is when the second type of automation comes in. I use card buttons such as done for a week which will change the due date to a week’s time and move the card to the ‘done for now’ list at a single click. However, in order for the first automation to be usable to me, I would have to be able to retain (or regain) the labels that are assigned to that card. I have tried moving a card from a board into the inbox and it lost it’s labels. That’s not ideal, but what was worse what that the labels were not restored when I moved the card back to the board it came from. This would prevent me from using the inbox other than from new cards, which is only 50% of what I use my current ‘inbox’ for.

The third is my most used automation. It moves cards to an appropriate list or board, using custom fields +/- labels. E.g. I have a ‘status’ custom field of which a drop down options includes ‘To Do’. The automation then moves the card to an appropriate list e.g. ‘At Home’ according to the label that I have assigned it. Somehow I have found that slightly quicker and less of a cognitive burden than using the existing ‘move’ functionality. But I may be able to live without this and use the existing functionality.

What is more important to me is the ability to add labels to the card that are relevant to the destination board. I have seen that I can do this in the mobile app though, which is good, although the move functionality is still a bit buggy there at the moment. Without the ability to add labels, I have to work with a two step inbox system. One main inbox and then an inbox for each board where I further process the card by adding the appropriate labels. Having said that, that is my current process anyway, so the mobile app inbox is already a significant improvement.

A request I have is to be able to choose a default board for my destination board from the inbox, rather than having to select a board each time. 90% of my inbox cards go to my main Trello board, so this would be a significant enhancement for me.

I hope that makes sense and helps?

[Beth French]

Very thoughtful comment.

The label issue is something we have also been thinking about so you bringing it up is another data point that we need to find a solution for what I might call "shared" labels. The limitation today that extends to the Inbox is labels are board-specific so moving between inbox-board and board-board means the labels don't transfer. One option is we make a change to that rule, as in, we can have labels defined for a workspace and can be used on any board in that workspace. Do you think that would be the right direction?

Also, point of clarification, when you ask for a default board . . . this is for automatons correct? As in, you want to set a default board that will be used every time you go to make a new rule?

[Jenny Dean]

Hi @Beth French Thanks for your response. To clarify my comment about the default board. My comment was not about automations, but about when I manually move a card from the Inbox (when using either the web or mobile version). I attach the screenshot for the web version. It shows that the Inbox Board is the default board, so I have to manually select my destination board. Ideally I would like to have my chosen board as a default so that I don't have to select it. Since I'll almost never move a card within the Inbox Board, and 90% of the time will move it to a particular board. 

The labels are a trickier one to consider. I'm not sure if workspace labels would work for me. I use labels all the time and I have many labels for most of my boards. Most of them are unique to the boards, although there are some overlaps. Having shared labels may work for a subset of common functions, but it wouldn't allow me to add board specific labels relating to a card's destination board if they are not in that shared list. And to add all my labels from all my boards into a shared list would result in an unmanageably large list of labels. I already move cards a lot between boards, which ports any labels into the new board if not already there. For me that concept could work for the Inbox for cards that are moved into the inbox from boards, if the Inbox in effect had its own list of labels like any other board. Indeed, there may be labels that I would want for the Inbox specifically for example to help prioritise which cards to process first. 

The second use of labels from the inbox is to assign a label applicable to the destination board to the card, as it moves to the board (without having to create that label in the Inbox itself). In the mobile app. If I move a card from one board to another, the card stays open, but changes to the context of the new board where I can add labels from that new board. This also happens when moving the card from the inbox to another board. And I think that is sufficient. However, when I do the same from the web version, If I select my destination board and list and move the card, it immediately closes the card before I have had the chance to add the label. So now I have to go and find that card in the board that I just moved it to and add any relevant labels. Having written this I realise it's not new or specific to the inbox, but is an existing state.