Google Calendar Automations for Syncing Tasks
Jacob Heldring
The update for Google Calendar Automations got us close to having a suitable workaround for syncing but still has a few gaps. I know there could be a long term solution in the works but this Automations fix was close. It does help address some of the caveats with all day events and start/end time events in the calendar with how Google Calendar updates these events.
The two gaps I found in making the experience work to sync could be solved by creating a couple Automation triggers.
- When tasks are deleted -> allows Calendar events to be deleted as well
- When task names are updated -> allows Calendar events to follow the task name
-the task searching function of the automation action will be able to follow the task through the calendar
Everything else I tested with that automation seems to work but not having these cases addressed will require too much manual effort for it to be useable. At least on my end unless I'm missing something. If this was fixed, it looks like a viable option.
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Tadej Jevševar
Hey Meredith and Jacob.
Thanks for the feedback!
- Task Deletion Trigger:Currently, ClickUp doesn’t support automations triggered by task deletions. Could you share why you’re deleting tasks instead of marking them as ‘Done’ or updating their status? Understanding your workflow will help us assess the need for this feature.
- Event Title Updates:We do have an AI trigger for task updates, such as title changes, but it currently works only with AI custom field actions. If this trigger could work with the Google Calendar ‘Update Event’ action, would that meet your requirements?
- External Attendees:We’re exploring the option to add support for external attendees to calendar events, such as using an Email Custom Field. Would this address your needs?
Appreciate your insights!
Meredith Fleig
Tadej Jevševar yes, an email custom field would work great if you can add multiple email addresses to the same field. Some of our meetings have a lot of people in them, so being able to add external attendees in a comma separated way would be very helpful instead of having to add multiple custom fields for each external attendee.
Our ideal process flow would look somwthing like this > team member creates event type task > google calendar event is created with assignees and external emails in custom field invited through automation > task and calendar event are linked through automation > google calendar event information is added to the task description > when the task gets updated (title, attendees, date, time, etc.) the google calendar event also updates for everyone.
Additionally, if someone else sends us a calendar invite > task is created with the team members as assignees and the external attendees in the custom field through automation > task and calendar event are linked through automation > google calendar event information is added to the task description > if/when the event gets updated (title, attendees, date, time, etc.) the event task type also updates for everyone.
Tadej Jevševar
Meredith Fleig: Thank you so much for sharing these use cases. Will help us a lot while improving G Cal automations.
Jacob Heldring
Tadej Jevševar
- We have some lists that are schedule/event based such as meetings and events with fixed times and commitments. These are important to translate to Google Calendar, especially for appointment or booking purposes. Generally speaking, we try to keep our statuses simple and consistent across certain types of lists and use drop down features for variations of "statuses" and stages. Many of our lists only contain statuses for To Do, Done, and Closed. We do have other types of statuses as well but but not for scheduling related lists, we use dropdowns for anything else. We will often delete the task if it is cancelled or no longer necessary. Will the task be removed from the calendar if it is closed? That is a workaround for us that we could try to get used to but would prefer to delete events that are no longer relevant and have them sync.
- Disclaimer. I don't have ClickUp Brain and am not too familiar with the AI features. Anyways I believe it would work if it is able to recognize a name change. From my brief scan of Google Gemini, it sounds like the translation feature of updating task names/content would fit the bill so it might have capability. Ideally for me not through ClickUp AI additional features. The next part is the action. See snip attached. From what I am seeing, it appears the way that ClickUp searches for the task in Google Calendar is based off of the unique name in the "keywords" input. So the action needs to be able to recognize the old task name. For the name change, the "title" field is used to change the name, so the action also needs to be able to recognize the new task name.
Tadej Jevševar
Jacob Heldring: Yes, if you would use trigger "task status change" and action "Delete event", events should be removed from the calendar as long as you set up the automation right so event will be found in Calendar. You’re correct, the "Update Event" action identifies the calendar event based on the dynamic fields you select such as "task title", using it as the keyword. If the title changes, the action currently won’t recognize it unless the new title is used manually.
Meredith Fleig
To add on to this - it'd be nice to be able to add custom fields, or even better relationships, with email addresses as part of the automation to create a google calendar event. Right now you can only add users as attendees when creating a google calendar event in automations.
We'd love to use these automations for external events, but we can't add external participants via automations yet.