Email report with multiple lists
Asked by Susanna Donato:

I need to create 2 emailed reports that includes items from 2 lists in one case (daily) and 4 lists in another (weekly). I have tried the advice in response to [another question](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Trello-questions/Email-report-with-multiple-lists/qaq-p/2067957), but it's not working for me.

I do get a report if there is only one list in the automation, and I can get a multi-list report if I choose all items assigned to me, but I don't want to use the "all assigned" method for the daily email because I don't want "done" items on the list. On the weekly email, I could do the snapshot but I don't want the "done" list included.

Thanks for any help!

Here's the code I have, showing two different formats I tried -- neither of which worked.

![Screen Shot 2023-08-06 at 1.18.20 PM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/273463i8C739FCE0F1E53A9/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2023-08-06 at 1.18.20 PM.png")


Answers:
author: Beverley
body: Hi Susanna - welcome to the community!  

If you'd like to create a scheduled automation email report with multiple lists, then you'll need to set up report variable names first, and then add these report variables in your email message with the {$variable}. Report variables can only contain basic ASCII characters: letters 'a' to 'z' without accents, numeric digits, underscore.  

An example of a scheduled report automation is:

```
every friday at 11:45 pm, 
create a report in variable "Doing" 
with all cards in list "Doing",
create a report in variable "Done" 
with all cards in list "Done",
and send an email notification to every member of the board
with subject "Weekly Report for week #{weeknumber}" 
and message "Doing:\n\n{$Doing}\n\nDone:\n\n{$Done}"
```

We have a guide with more information about creating scheduled reports here: <https://support.atlassian.com/trello/docs/creating-reports-with-butler/>  

I hope that helps!

comments: author: Susanna Donato
body: Thank you! I did look at that guide, but maybe the piece I am missing is how to create the variables. I re-wrote my variables without special characters or spaces and then again with the _html that I saw referenced in another similar question. The automation report says it pulled 7 cards in one list and 5 cards in another list, but I still get an empty email with either format.

Where am I going wrong now? Appreciate the help!  

<br />

![Screen Shot 2023-08-08 at 7.35.23 PM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/274012i4051F3F1FC9D99B1/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2023-08-08 at 7.35.23 PM.png")

![Screen Shot 2023-08-08 at 7.34.50 PM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/274010iED3EEB1E22F817AA/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2023-08-08 at 7.34.50 PM.png")![Screen Shot 2023-08-08 at 7.35.34 PM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/274011i9A33589BC2CD4996/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2023-08-08 at 7.35.34 PM.png")


author: Susanna Donato
body: And on a related note, I had no idea how much coding would be involved in using Trello. I am spending hours and hours trying to get an email with my to-do lists. Am I missing some feature that would make this system more efficient than my manual to-do lists? I'm about to give up.


author: Beverley
body: Hi Susanna,

You're almost there! I can see you've created the report variables, and the next step would be to include them in email.  

I can understand that the set up of customized email report automations may take some time, but once you've finished the set up process, Trello can be a simple and powerful tool for managing your tasks.  

When creating an automation report, you'll first need to create the report variables with plain text.

Then send a visual email and include each of report variables you've created {$*reportvariable*_html}

Based on the automation you've set up so far, you'll want to make changes to the email message, so it can look something like below:

```
every day at 7:00 am,

create a report in variable "susannapriorities"

with all cards in list ?Priorities This Week?,

create a report in variable ?Sprogress?

with all cards in list ?Susanna?s In Progress?,

and send email to ?email address?

with subject ?Susanna?s to do {dateshort}"

with message ?You got this! 

Priorities this week: {$susannapriorities_html}

Susanna?s In Progress: {$Sprogress_html}"
```

I hope that helps!


author: Susanna Donato
body: THANK YOU! It finally worked! Phew. I appreciate the help!