Remap Task Due Dates In Project Templates Relative To Each Other
Thomas Baumgartner
When creating a project or part of a project from a list or folder template, it would be very convenient if ClickUp could keep the relative due dates of the individual tasks, but shift the absolute dates.
For example: A project has two tasks, X and Y. The due date of X is end of April and the due date of Y is end of May. Now I can create a template from that project (list or folder) and use it to recreate the same task structure. But my new due dates should be different, because this new project starts later. Maybe task Y should be finished in October, hence X should be finished in September.
It would be great if the due dates of all tasks could be shifted by the same amount of time to retain the chronological structure. It would be even more convenient if this shifting could be done by setting the new due date of one of the tasks, and ClickUp automatically remaps the other due dates relative to this one.
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Sean Kilcullen
We can look into this! Make sense. I think we would need a way on Save as a Template screen to show capture whether the user want to templatize the duration vs. exact start and end dates.
Jana Ferguson
Sean Kilcullen: Teamwork does this very well. They allow you to create a template separate from a project or list, so when you create the template you say Task X is Day 1, Task Y is Day 10, etc. Then when you use the template you enter the exact date for Day 1 and the rest populate automatically. It is really convenient.
Also, I don't think it makes sense to make a template with exact dates. The purpose of a template is to use the general outline over and over again at different times. You don't typically do the same thing repeatedly on the exact same dates.
Thomas Baumgartner
Sean Kilcullen: Thank you for the quick reply. Yes, the template screen should offer an option where the user chooses either to keep the exact dates or to shift them. It would be very convenient it this shift could be calculated based on the due date of a selectable task within the template. I suppose the user will usually know either when the project starts (first task) or when the last task must be finished. So they would select one of these tasks, set the new due date, and ClickUp would remap all the other tasks relative to that one. For project templates containing many tasks, this would save a lot of time.
Thomas Baumgartner
Jana Ferguson: I agree that exact dates don't make a lot of sense in templates. But if you create a template from an existing project, there will be exact dates. So ClickUp would have to convert these to relative dates upon template creation.
Jana Ferguson
Thomas Baumgartner: Yes, that was what I was getting at. I really don't like how templates work in ClickUp and have stopped using them for this reason. I just keep a list without any dates set to private and copy it when making a new project. I don't like the fact that you can't easily edit the templates without either making new ones or creating something from them.
I agree with you that being able to select the start or end date and then have the other dates shift relative to that one is ideal. This is what I was describing in how Teamwork functions above.
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Amanda Hyer
Jana Ferguson: Totally agree. Outside of templates for folder or lists, templates aren't really usable (and they are extremely difficult to update), especially since you have to apply individual task templates every single time you want to use on. I follow the same method of having a separate space where I house all my "template" tasks. It would be really convenient if I could set relative due dates (agree Teamwork does this well, as does Workfront) for subtasks that would update based on a parent due date and vise-versa.
This, combined with the ability to apply task templates in bulk might actually make templates useful again, imo.
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Shannon Staples
Yes! And also automatically map due dates for subtasks within tasks that are used as templates. Just set the main task due date and the subtasks' due dates auto-populated based on that.