Power Up to set a card due date to the earliest checklist due date

[Rachael and Nicola]

Hi, I'm looking for some kind of Butler-automated, once per day option to parse all the cards in a list, and for each card, set the card's due date to the same date as the oldest due date of all the items in all the checklists on that card. 

For example:

Card has 3 checklists, and of all the items in those checklists, the oldest due date on any item is 1/1/2020. Butler then sets this card's due date to 1/1/2020. 

I've had a quick look through the information on building my own Trello Power Up, and looked at Glitch, but it's a bit beyond me. Can anyone help with this?

[Mary from Planyway]

Hi @Rachael and Nicola 

It's Mary from Planyway

Setting up a Butler automation in Trello to parse cards in a list and update their due dates based on the oldest due date in their checklists is a specific task that requires a bit of customization. Trello's Butler does offer a wide range of automation capabilities, but its functionality with checklist due dates is somewhat limited. As far as I know, Butler could not directly interact with due dates on individual checklist items.

However, I can guide you through a workaround using Butler's existing capabilities. This workaround involves manually updating custom fields or card descriptions with the oldest due date from the checklists, and then using Butler to update the card's due date based on this information.

Here's a step-by-step guide:

1. Manual Step - Update Custom Field or Card Description:

   • For each card, manually add the oldest due date from all checklist items to a custom field or in the card's description. You could name this custom field something like "Oldest Due Date."

2. Create a Daily Butler Rule:

   • Go to your board's menu, then click on "Butler."
   • Create a new rule that triggers once a day.

3. Set the Rule to Parse Cards:

   • For the rule's action, choose to loop through each card in the specific list.

4. Update Card Due Date:

   • Add an action to this loop to set the card's due date. If you used a custom field, set the card's due date to the value of that custom field. If you used the card description, you might need to use a variable that extracts the date from the description.

5. Save and Enable the Rule:

   • After setting up the rule, save it and ensure it's enabled.

This method does have a manual component, which is a limitation. For a fully automated solution, you would likely need to develop a custom Power-Up or use a third-party integration tools like Zapier, Integromat, or a custom script using Trello's API could be programmed to do this, but it would require some programming knowledge or assistance from someone with such expertise.

[Rachael and Nicola]

Thanks for the response Mary, I appreciate you taking the time to give such a detailed work-around. I figured it would be something that required more programming expertise than I have to get fully automated, so we might just go with what you've suggested here. 

Thanks again!