Applying templates to existing files
It would be really handy if we could apply a template after a task file is created. We often have people create task files before decisions are made about next steps. If we then decide to move forward, we have to delete that file and create a new one using a template. It would be much easier if we could just apply the template, thereby adding the subtasks, to the existing task file.
Also, it would be great if, when creating a task from a template, the file name carried over to the subtasks. This happens with project templates, but not task templates.
Yes to all, please!!! We have stories (tasks) submitted daily and assign the templates later after an editorial discussion. The cutting-and-pasting of new subtask names wastes time.
Hi Greg and Jennifer! Thanks for posting this request on the Community, we're really interested in hearing how you manage recurring work and templates now, so this suggestion is definitely helpful.
It's explained pretty well above. Staff adds a story idea (task), which are then decided upon for next steps by editors at a weekly meeting, then we have to go back and add the appropriate subtasks (up to five per task - these are the same five for every task). We add the file name (prefix) so the subtasks don't get lost since they have the same names ("edit story"). We don't want these tasks to be projects where the files names are able to be copied over to the template. I realize that if you applied a template to an existing project there would need to be a way that it wouldn't wipe out any previous subtasks or descriptions. It's a challenge to explain to staff why they can't add a template to an existing task. They think it should be easier. Thanks!
Hi Jennifier, couldn't you just have a template that just contains tasks that you want to become the subtasks of your main story task? By doing that you can duplicate your template (and add the prefix that matches your main story task) to get your "subtasks" and then just drag and drop them into your story task's subtask icon and voila you are done. You now have your original main task with all the prefixed templated subtasks with descriptions attached. This method also won't interfere with any existing data or subtasks that were already attached to the main story task. Hope that helps as what you are requesting would be tricky to do and could lead to data loss and lots of tricky data merges through user error.
Regards
John that could possibly work. We are trying to avoid leaving the task and going to another folder to find the subtasks. We will test it out. Thanks for the idea.
Has this been addressed or solved since this thread from 2017? We are in the deployment process and are working through our request & planning process. Duplicating and renaming the templates is an extra step that becomes more complicated if the original request also includes all of the information we require in custom fields. Looking for ways to streamline our process. Would love some guidance or best practices for workarounds. Thanks!
Hi everyone, just a quick update - there are currently plans to implement adding tasks from Blueprints into existing projects/folders soon. This way, you could put together a template in Blueprints and add it to any existing project/folder you'd like. As soon as I have another update for you, I'll let you know.
Ok so it is has been 18 mos....@hugh what do you consider soon?
Hello Amy Lichtenwalter, thank you for posting and I hope you don't mind me jumping in for Hugh.
Could you please share your use case here, I can try to help to find a possible workaround or a solution for you? Thanks!
Yes with each round of revisions we do we post this in every single task. It would be great as the tasks that are created via Zapier come into the system as a task could quickly apply the below text vs. having to keep a word doc open and copy and paste in. We will do 250-300 rounds of edits each day. We are a high volume company and during our busy season work around 800 creative projects a the same time. The obvious requests by users which make total sense seem to be dismissed. I have read numerous requests from the last two years where the Wrike teams says "in production" but 18 mos later no updates have taken place.
STARTING FILES (DROPBOX LINK)
CLIENT EDITS:
PASTE YOUR NEW VERSION PAGEPROOF OR WORKFRONT LINK BELOW FOR THE PROOFER
PASTE YOUR NEW VERSON DROPBOX LINK BELOW FOR THE NEXT DESIGNER
Hi Amy Lichtenwalter, thanks for getting back to me. May I ask if you've considered using Request Forms for this setup? You can create a request form to receive all tickets that would launch a project or a task from your template. It could solve the issue of having to recreate tasks or projects. We have a blog article on How to Use Wrike as a Ticketing System if you'd like to learn more about it.
Please let me know if you have any questions 🙋🏻♀️
+1 for this idea!!!!! This would solve a HUGE automation solution for our team!
Our use case: My company sells to three major and completely different industries and we have a single Agile Marketing team working together to support internal requests that align to each industry. A handful of people on the team only support one or two of those industries (copywriters, brand managers) so our task blueprints are set up with the right people pre-assigned to the necessary subtasks. We have an intake Form for task requests, but without conditional formatting in Forms, we cannot apply our specific blueprints to each deliverable request. (Ex: If 'Music' and 'Collateral' options selected, apply 'Musical - collateral' blueprint.) To keep things simple for everyone, we need to use one form for all incoming requests instead of one per industry. So when someone submits a task request and the designated intake person reviews it, we either have to manually add the necessary subtasks and assign them to each person OR we have to create a new task from the blueprint and drag and drop all of the subtasks into the request, then delete the blueprint task. Either way takes a lot of manual work.
What we want: Add an option to the 3-dot icon ("More actions") in the corner of the Task view called "Apply blueprint". (From there, maybe a module could pop up similar to List view when you create a new item and click the item type and then search for blueprints.) Anything in the description could be appended so the requestor's info shows up on top and the blueprint's pre-defined info in the description could be added underneath. Any custom fields mapped during the request form submission could be replaced with whatever is applied to the blueprint since the blueprint would be more accurate for the exact deliverable requested.
TL;DR: As an Agile Coach, I want an option to quickly apply a task blueprint to an existing task, to save us time having to manually add subtasks.
Daisy Hibbard our marketing team is similar, but in order to automate the correct blueprint based on the industry type, we use a question on the first page of our Request Form (single-select / drop-down box) for "what industry is this for?". This allows us to automate the specific blueprint version needed based on how they answer that question, using the "replace task" option (then selecting the industry-specific blueprint associated with it). Just a thought - wanted to mention!
Meredith Selden Thank you for this suggestion! We're trying hard to keep the form as short as possible and not add too many extra pages, but I think this might be the best solution we have. A few extra seconds on the requestor's end to save us minutes or hours on the backend trying to include the right steps so nothing falls through the cracks. Love this, thank you! Gonna test it out in my sandbox. :)