How can you collate tasks across all boards in one place - one calendar?
Asked by Caroline Enye:

I work independently on several projects, but need to be able to see what tasks are due across all my boards - basically to establish a to do list automatically across all the boards. Any ideas?


Answers:
author: Esme Crutchley
body: I use a Butler 'rule' for this. I have a 'desktop' board that's always open and everything feeds into here. I have a command set up and enabled on all my other boards, so that when a due date is coming up, the cards get copied into my board and then linked together, so that I know the task is due and where it came from.

I have this rule enabled on EVERY board that isn't my 'desktop' - doesn't matter what the other boards are, whether they have due dates or not. I do this just in case I randomly set a due date on a card on a board that doesn't ordinarily feed into my 'desktop' and that way I know I can set due dates anywhere I like and they'll always feed in where I live (my 'desktop' board)

It looks like this. Please excuse the fact that I have mine set up for 100 days! I use it for birthdays and things like the car insurance/service/mot, so I like to be prepared well before time!

![Screenshot 2019-10-06 at 21.27.40.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/68526i0778C69B5F07E545/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2019-10-06 at 21.27.40.png")Then I only have the Calendar Power-Up on my 'desktop' board linked to my Google Calendar using the Cronofy Power-Up.

Hope this helps

Esme :)

(Yes, I'm a bit of a Butler nerd!)

comments: author: Caroline Enye
body: Hi Esme

Apologies for the delay in responding. I wanted to try it out first before feeding back. So this is excellent! It worked....as complete beginner took me a bit of time to just work out how to set up the rule etc. But in principal it worked - I am very happy.

What I need is for it to self generate a to do list.

So I set it up to put any new task with a calendar date of three days to appear in the desktop board - with an assigned colour.

However, I discovered that it doesnt sync back. If I delete or archive or anything in the desktop board the original boards remain the same.

Then, I am now wondering/hoping that once other dates get closer they would appear. But I am suspecting the rule may only apply to new cards. Any suggestions as you are a butler guru!!!

many thanks again

Caroline


author: Esme Crutchley
body: Hi Caroline,

Thank you so much for your kind words.

Okey dokey, let's do this!

***However, I discovered that it doesnt sync back. If I delete or archive or anything in the desktop board the original boards remain the same.***

Right - this can be sorted with yes, you've guessed it, another Butler rule! This rule needs to be set up on your 'desktop' board and it can ONLY work if you have linked the cards together. If you haven't, you can adjust your original rule to link them and if you get stuck, I can help with that as well!

So, on your desktop board, you need a rule that looks something like this if you're using the archive function:

![Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 21.47.48.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/68810i731205D0A94EC9A2/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 21.47.48.png")

Or something that looks like this, if you're making the due date as complete:

![Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 21.47.16.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/68811iF8B5C44929DB08ED/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 21.47.16.png")***Then, I am now wondering/hoping that once other dates get closer they would appear. But I am suspecting the rule may only apply to new cards.***

When considering due dates, I've had a bit of trial and error on this, and while there is literally no finesse in this, it works! Go to all the cards that have a due date, remove the due date and set it again. That's the only thing that I've found works! Because it only works on due dates that are ADDED to cards, not ones that are already there, so the easy hack is to remove them and add them straight back! However, a word of warning, if you get the due date wrong, it will automatically add the card to the 'desktop' board for the first date and then again for the right one! All you need to do in this case, is archive the card on the 'desktop' board that's the wrong date, because the right one should still be there.

I have rather more complex rules for archiving and linking my cards, more than happy to show you at some point! They do rather a lot more than marking the due date as complete!

Hope this helps, always around if you need me!

Esme :)


author: Caroline Enye
body: Ok you are a genius! It worked - the archiving rule!

V good advice on changing the dates - that will be tomorrows task. But does this mean though that as soon as the date comes closer e.g. arrives into my three day zone it should now appear in the desktop board?

I will have other questions for sure as I explore the functionality.

Thanks again! This is life changing! No more pages of to do lists that sometimes get lost or you forget to pass on a task from one day to the next!

Caroline


author: Caroline Enye
body: ok another question - I tried it out but failed. How do you sort your lists by due date? E,g due today at the top.

C


author: Esme Crutchley
body: Hi Caroline,

I'm so pleased that worked for you! Isn't it great when everything is where it's supposed to be?!

***But does this mean though that as soon as the date comes closer e.g. arrives into my three day zone it should now appear in the desktop board?***

Simple answer, yes!

Woohoo!

As the dates come closer, as soon as they're in your 3-day window, they should automatically be copied into the 'desktop' board and linked together.

I would keep an eye on it for a bit though, just to make sure that what *should* be coming over is, once you know that your rule is 100% working and copying/linking like it should, jobsagudden!

***How do you sort your lists by due date? E,g due today at the top.***

At this point, you shouldn't be surprised that I have a Butler rule for that as well but I'll show you that a bit further down!

The native way to do it (without setting up a Butler command to do it for you with one click), clicking on the 3 little dots at the top of each list that you want to organise by the due date:

![Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 22.18.31.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/68812i625E0FC9FD78EEE1/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 22.18.31.png")

Then clicking on 'sort by'

![Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 22.18.40.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/68813i73917826C138C86B/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 22.18.40.png")

Then select 'due date'

![Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 22.18.47.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/68814i11741556927372D3/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 22.18.47.png")

And voila!

Esme :)


author: Esme Crutchley
body: As I said, I have a Butler rule for mine, because I have a LOT of lists on my 'desktop' board and want to click 1 button not a million lists, so my Butler board button looks like this:

![Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 22.23.35.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/68818i2B175BE18F79ED47/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 22.23.35.png")

This is the icon that appears in the top right-hand side of my 'desktop' board (on the same line as Butler and Calendar and things like that), and the mechanics behind it look like this:

![Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 22.21.52.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/68816iD42758668A8DB7FE/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2019-10-08 at 22.21.52.png")So my board button sorts all the lists that I've added without me needing to do each one individually.

Notice that this is a board button and not a rule. They're set up in exactly the same way, but there's no trigger, so it's not an 'if this happens then do that', it's literally a list of things you want to happen when you click the button.


author: Caroline Enye
body: Hi Esme,

I feel guilty I am taking your time and filling this forum - but you are such a fantastic support!

Soooo - after the initial euphoria of the rule working - posting all due cards onto the desk top board - it has stopped working!! every board. I have no idea why. I have checked the rules - they all still exist but it no longer does it.

Any guesses?

Once I get it working again I need to go back to the sync advice you gave and see if that will work consistently.

Thanks so much again!!!

C


author: Caroline Enye
body: Ok forget that!!! I changed the title of my desktop board!!! So the rule couldnt work - duh.

C


author: Esme Crutchley
body: Lol! Yeah, that'll stop it, you're sending it to a board that doesn't exist anymore, so many times I've done that! Now I have my 'desktop' board called...dun dun dun...'Desktop' lol, then I can't change it! Glad you got it sorted out though!

E


author: Iain Dooley
body: [@Caroline Enye](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3586538) the Cards view shows you all cards you're added to across multiple boards, the problem with this view is that you can't move cards around to reprioritise them.

You can use the Unito power up, or Butler for synching cards back to a central board:

<https://blog.trello.com/trello-unito-power-up>

This help section article also lists some power ups and solutions for mirroring cards:

<https://help.trello.com/article/1097-mirroring-cards>

I created Benko Board which links a copy of any card you're added to, as well as any card where you're mentioned in a comment, and unwatches any card you're added to so you only see notifications about being added, mentioned in a comment and removed, as well as allowing you to use Trello as a Gmail client:

<http://trello.com/integrations/#benkoboard>

comments: author: Caroline Enye
body: Hi Ian,

This was really useful. After your mail, I went in and signed up for business to be able to access unlimited power ups and downloaded unito - creating a masterboard. However, I need to work out how to only have info relevant for that week.

I think Esme's answer below may be the solution.

I looked up Benko Board as that sounds great idea, but I don't use google as my work email address.

This was excellent and sent me down a positive rabbit hole.

warm regards

Caroline