Asana Guide

The path to doing great things

Basics
  • What is Asana?
  • Interface Overview
  • Browsers
  • Mobile
  • Account Settings
  • Permissions
  • Privacy and Security
Workspaces & Teams
  • Workspace Basics
  • Creating & Managing
  • Members
  • Guests
  • Workspace Views
  • Personal Projects
  • Premium Workspaces
  • Removing
Projects
  • Project Basics
  • Creating
  • Sharing & Permissions
  • Favorites & Recents
  • Sorting & Filtering
  • Duplicating
  • Calendar Sync
  • Print
  • Archiving
  • Deleting
Tasks
  • Task Basics
  • Creating Tasks
  • Finding Tasks
  • Completing Tasks
  • Notes
  • Subtasks
  • Assigning Tasks
  • Projects & Tags
  • Due Dates
  • Attachments
  • Followers
  • Comments
Inbox & My Tasks
  • Inbox Basics
  • Working in Inbox
  • My Tasks Basics
  • My Priority
  • My Tasks Permissions
  • Other People's Tasks
Tags, Email & More
  • Tags
  • Asana Email Basics
  • Emailing Tasks
  • Notifications & Reminders
  • Hypertext
  • Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Hearts
  • API
Videos
  • Asana in Two Minutes
  • Getting Your Team on Asana
  • Project Management
  • Individual Task Management
  • CRM
  • Applicant Tracking
  • Bug Tracking
Contact Support

What is Asana?

Working together, your team can do great things. But when the tools you rely on to coordinate your actions and operate in unison slow you down, your collective potential is constrained.

Email, documents and the many other tools we use today to organize our teams and keep them in sync once did wonders for our productivity. But against the speed and complexity of modern work, they are no longer up to the task.

To unlock our teams' maximum potential, we need a fresh start. This is why we built Asana.

Asana is a new and better way for teams to communicate and collaborate. It's better than email because it focuses communication on tasks, not just a stream of new messages and comments. By centering the team around tasks - the work to be done - you get better organized, create accountability, and stay in sync.

We've designed Asana to be simple to learn, while remaining powerful. We wrote this guide to help you quickly master it and give you what you need to put your team on the path to doing great things, together.

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Interface Overview

Asana's interface is divided into three panes. This section will walk you through each of these, one at a time, and explain how it works.

Left Pane

The left pane is where you navigate to the various "views" of Asana. Use the left pane to search Asana, to select between workspaces, to select projects and to navigate to your Inbox and My Tasks list.

Workspace Views

What you see in the left pane depends on whether you're in Workspace Overview or Single Workspace View.

In Workspace Overview, you will see a list of all the Workspaces you belong to.

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Click on a Workspace name to enter Single Workspace View for that Workspace.

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Read more about Workspaces in the Workspaces section of the Guide.

spacer You can find the search box in the upper left corner of Asana.

You can use Search to find any of the following:

  • Tasks
  • Projects
  • Tags
  • People
  • Workspaces

When you're in the Workspace Overview, search will yield results from all Workspaces. In Single Workspace View, you will only see results from the Workspace you've selected.

Search will not search for words in the notes or comments of a task.

Projects

Projects are lists of tasks. You will see the projects in your Workspace in the left pane. You can drag and drop project names to reorder them, but be aware that doing so will reorder them for everyone in the Workspace.

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spacer Projects you've marked as private to you will have an avatar+lock icon next to them.

People

spacer You will see Workspace members listed by profile photo in a horizontal line in the left pane, below the My Tasks and Inbox buttons.

If you click the people icon next to the photos, a full list will appear, including Guests, who have limited access to the Workspace. Guests will have a globe icon next to their names.

spacer If you want to see the tasks that one of your teammates has prioritized, find his or her photo in the left pane and click on it. This will load their personal My Tasks lists in the center pane and show you their public tasks. If the person has not uploaded a photo, you will see a colorful box with their initials, instead. It is not possible to change the color or their initials, though they can upload a photo or image themselves.

My Tasks

Tasks that are assigned to you show up in the My Tasks list.

Click on My Tasks in the left pane, and your list of assigned tasks will load in the center pane.

Once your Workspace is established and your team is active, the My Tasks list is typically your first stop in Asana each day.

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Creating tasks in your My Tasks list will automatically assign them to you.

Inbox

spacer Inbox is your notification center in Asana. Use Inbox to see the latest Asana updates from your teammates. Stories you'll see in Inbox include:

  • Task completions
  • Tasks assigned to you
  • Tasks to which you've been added as a follower
  • Comments on tasks you're following
  • Tasks added to projects you're following

You can access Inbox by clicking the rectangular icon next to the respective Workspace's My Tasks list in Workspace Overview, or the same icon next to the word Inbox in Single Workspace View.

You will not see your own activity in your own Inbox.

Center Pane

When you select a project or person from the left pane, you'll see the relevant list of tasks in the center pane.

The task list behaves like a text editor: each line is a task. To add a new one, just press Enter and start typing.

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The center pane is where you can sort tasks by priority, due date, project or assignee, filter them by tags, and take project actions like duplicate, sync, and delete.

Your Inbox and My Tasks lists also load in the center pane.

Right Pane

The right pane, or task pane, is where you see the details for a task you've selected in the center pane.

You can add notes to give the task more context, add comments to discuss the task with your teammates, build a list of Subtasks, set an Assignee and due date, attach relevant files, write comments, and more.

Learn more about the functionality available in the right pane in the Tasks section of the Guide.

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Browsers

Compatible Browsers

Asana works with the latest versions of:

  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Firefox
  • Internet Explorer with Chrome Frame
  • Fluid for Mac

Incompatible Browsers

Asana does not work with:

  • Internet Explorer without Chrome Frame
  • Opera
  • Other desktop browsers not listed in the Compatible Browsers section above

Asana is a modern web application that uses some of the newest capabilities of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. Different browsers still interpret these in different ways.

These differences could potentially cause severe bugs - like data not saving, or data becoming corrupted and overwriting good data.

We test and develop for the list of compatible browsers and block access to Asana from those browsers listed as incompatible above. This is in order to protect your data.

Incompatible Browser Extensions

Some of the techniques we use to make Asana fast and beautiful don't work well with browser extensions that modify the web page, such as extensions that change text into links or those that add overlays.

Here are some of the extensions that have caused issues in the past. This list is not exhaustive and these extensions won't necessarily interfere.

  • Adblock
  • Babylon Translator
  • Better Pop Up Blocker
  • CookiePie
  • FastestChrome
  • Google Translate
  • Google Voice
  • Jureeka!
  • Kill Evil 2.3
  • LastTab
  • MeasureIt
  • Screen Capture (by Google)
  • ScriptNo
  • Skype Click to Call
  • Tab Utilities
  • Troll Emoticons
  • Wallet Browser Extensions
  • Web2PDF

If Asana is behaving strangely, running slowly, or crashing, please try disabling extensions to see if that fixes the problem.

If you're using Chrome, try using an Incognito window (which does not employ your installed extensions) to use Asana.

We currently test new developments in Asana using the most popular extensions.

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Mobile

Asana for Android

spacer Download the Asana Mobile app for Android from the Google Play Store.

The Asana app for Android allows you to create, edit, and work on your tasks on the go.

What you can do on the Android app:

  • Browse your Inbox
  • Search for your tasks
  • Reorder tasks with drag and drop
  • Add and edit tasks in a native interface
  • View content in any Workspace or project
  • Add and edit the due dates, notes, tags, Followers, and projects of any task

Not Yet Available on Android:

  • Work offline
  • Add projects to existing tasks (but you can add tasks to existing projects)
  • Attach files
  • Create Subtasks
  • Create tags
  • Delete comments
  • Edit Account Settings
  • Sort a given list by Due Date, Tag, or Project
  • View completed or archived tasks
  • Reset your password

The Android App does not offer offline functionality, so make sure you have a network connection when you use it. If you see the warning shown below, do not enter tasks.

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Asana for iPhone

spacer Download the Asana iPhone App from the App Store.

What You Can Do on the iPhone:

  • Receive push notifications
  • Browse your Inbox
  • Search for your tasks
  • Reorder tasks with drag and drop
  • Add and edit tasks in a native interface
  • View content in any Workspace or project
  • Add and edit the due dates, notes, tags, Followers, and projects of any task

iPhone Push Notifications

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Push Notifications Definitions

  • Badge Count: The number that shows up in the upper right corner of the app icon
  • Alert: Notifications that pop up like a dialog and require action
  • Banners: Notifications that show up at the top of your iPhone screen and go away after a few seconds
  • Lock Screen Notifications: Notifications (like alerts) that show up when your iPhone screen is locked

Badge Count

The badge count for Asana is the sum of new messages across all of your Inboxes since you last visited each Inbox. Therefore, visiting an Inbox should decrement the badge count; visiting all Inboxes should make the count 0 and so the badge count will disappear.

Alerts

Stories that are included in alerts:

  • Tasks assigned to you
  • Tasks unassigned from you
  • Tasks assigned to you due today
  • Comments on tasks you're following
  • Completion/incompletion of tasks you're following.

Push Notification Settings

spacer The following notification types are turned on for you by default (everything else is off by default):

  • Badge counts
  • Banners
  • Lock screen notifications

Change the settings above by tapping through to the Notifications Settings on your iPhone:

  • Settings > Notifications > Asana

spacer You can also visit the Asana Settings (different from above) to enable or disable:

  • Tasks assigned to me (includes: tasks assigned to you, unassigned from you, assigned to you & due today)
  • Tasks I'm following (includes comments on & completion/incompletion of tasks you're following)

Once you make a change in Asana Settings, you need to open the app for the changes to take effect.

Not Yet Available on iPhone:

  • Work offline
  • Add projects to existing tasks (but you can add tasks to existing projects)
  • Attach files
  • Create Subtasks
  • Create tags
  • Delete comments
  • Edit Account Settings
  • Sort a given list by Due Date, Tag, or Project
  • View completed or archived tasks
  • Reset your password

The Asana iPhone App does not offer offline functionality, so make sure you have a network connection when you use it.

Mobile Site

To access our mobile web app from your iOS or Android smartphone, visit app.asana.com from your mobile browser.

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The mobile web app does not work for Windows Phone or Blackberry. You can always email tasks to Asana from your mobile device.

Make sure you have a network connection when creating tasks via the mobile web, as we do not offer offline functionality.

What You Can Do on the Mobile Site:

  • Access Inbox
  • Add comments
  • Create and view projects
  • Create tasks with notes
  • Delete tasks
  • Edit Assignee
  • Edit Followers
  • Edit task name
  • Mark tasks complete
  • Reorder tasks with drag and drop
  • Switch Workspaces
  • View content in any Workspace or project
  • View tags and lists of tasks associated with them

Not Yet Available on the Mobile Site:

  • Add or edit due dates or Recurring Tasks (available on the iPhone and Android apps)
  • Add projects to existing tasks (but you can add tasks to existing projects)
  • Add tags to existing tasks (available on the iPhone and Android apps)
  • Attach files
  • Create subtasks
  • Create tags
  • Delete comments
  • Edit Account Settings
  • Edit notes (available on the iPhone and Android apps)
  • Edit Subtasks (available on the iPhone and Android apps)
  • Search (available on the iPhone and Android apps)
  • Sort a given list by due date, tag, or project
  • View completed or archived tasks
  • Reset your password
  • Work offline

iPad

You can access Asana from your iPad through our mobile site on Safari, or through the Asana Mobile app for iPhone, though we have not optimized either experience for iPad.

The full web version of Asana is not accessible on the iPad.

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Account Settings

Creating an Account

Creating an Asana account is free. We'll ask for your name and email address. Once you confirm sign up, you will be able to join and create new Workspaces.

You can sign yourself up or accept an invitation to join.

Maintaining multiple accounts is not necessary, given the ability to join multiple Workspaces from one account.

From the Home Page

To create an account for yourself:

  • Visit www.asana.com
  • Click Sign Up, or any of the blue buttons
  • Enter your email address and name

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You can choose to sign up by:

  • Entering an email address and creating a new password, unique to Asana
  • Using your Google Account

If you choose to sign up with your Google Account:

  • We'll use the credentials for the Google Account you're currently logged in to or we'll ask you to log in to your Google Account.
  • You will not have a unique Asana password, but you can make one at any time using the forgotten password process (described later in this section).

From an Invite

Invitations to an Asana Workspace look like this:

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When you receive an invitation:

  • Open the email in a browser supported by Asana
  • Click the Join [Workspace] Now button or copy/paste the link provided below it
  • Enter your name and a new password for Asana, or sign up with your Google Account

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If you have trouble:

  • Clear your cache/cookies/history
  • Upgrade your browser (consult your browser's help materials to determine how)
  • Make sure you're using a supported browser
  • Disable browser extensions
  • Copy/paste the invite link into a fresh (supported) browser window

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