Can I stop people moving cards off a public board
Asked by James Dawson:

I use a board for monthly real estate searches - the board is public -i send the link out to around 500 people to look at , is there a way to stop views moving cards from the board? I do ask them to copy cards to their own boards but most move them .

Im a gold member so also wondering if i need to upgrade and make all viewers team members - then same question can I block all from moving rather than copying cards?

thanks james


Answers:
author: Iain Dooley
body: [@James Dawson](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/2646332) Firstly:

BEWARE: Public boards are indexed by Google, and comments that people make on public boards are publicly available on their Trello profile page.

Basically, any person that can copy a card can move a card, and if they move a card, even with the API, there is no way to guarantee that you can move it back unless you have access to all of their boards (that is, they can move the card to a board you or your API don't have access to which means you can't move it back).

I think there is almost certainly a better way to achieve the same outcome with a bit of thoughtful automation ... are you able to elaborate a bit more on your workflow? Who are the 500 people, how many of them are Trello members, are they all part of the same enterprise, what do they do with the cards once they copy them, etc. etc. etc.

comments: author: James Dawson
body: Hi Lain ,

thanks for your input , I have a membership real estate training group and once some one has joined up i suggest that they join trello as i put out monthly recommended property searches - a card for each property. the idea was taht if they liked a particular property they would/should copy that card to their own private board. _ i do remind them but often i find that some one has just moved the card off the board i put up on to their own rather than copy , then of course no one can see that property deal.

they arnt part of the same enterprise - all individuals

Once they have the card on their own board they can add there own privavte notes and files etc

appreciate your help !

thanks

james


author: Iain Dooley
body: [@James Dawson](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/2646332) Okay cool -- so you can resolve this by putting in place some automation for your registered members.

I created this Trello automation framework that runs in Google Apps Script that allows you to create pretty complex business functionality using Trello:

<https://trello.com/integrations/#trellinator>

Here's how I would propose it to work:

1) When people register, you create a card for that person in a "members" board with their email address in the card; that email address will be invited to your Trello team

2) When a new card is created in the Members board, a board for that member is automatically created and linked back to that card; this is their "private board" to which they will add cards they are interested in

3) When that board is created your "Trellinator" bot user is a member of the board, so it is able to add cards to that board

4) You then send out the link to your board, but instead of making it public you make it team visible, but without self-join, then you set the permission so that only admins can add members

5) You then enable commenting rights for all team members

6) Then you have an automation on this board that means that a user can post a comment on any card they're interested in (or you could use the "voting" power up and it would have the same effect) and when they comment/vote on the card, Trellinator will copy that card into their private board.

This means you don't need a public board (which is good, because they're indexed by Google) but means that anyone who wants to engage with this needs to have a Trello account; since the setup process invites them to your team by email when they register for the program, they will automatically create an account anyway.

You could even plug your registration system in so that when you collecd their details it automatically sets up the card with their email address and user info in your Members board.

There could be scope to extend this into other areas of automation, for example the process of creating the cards and sending out the emails to the members.


author: Iain Dooley
body: My comment above has reappeared....


author: James Dawson
body: great thanks lain ill check that out

james


author: marc -Collabello--Phase Locked-
body: [@James Dawson](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/2646332)Just make the people observers to the board, if that fits your use case better: <https://help.trello.com/article/732-adding-observers-to-boards>


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