Rules let you control what information gets synced from one tool to the other. Here's how you can set them up.
In this article:
What is a rule?
Rules help you determine just how much information gets synced from tool to tool. This is done by creating filtering rules, which look for specific fields to determine which work items should get synced over. The exact fields you can use to build rules vary depending on the tools you're using. When syncing Trello boards, for example, you can use Members, Labels, or Lists in your rules. In contrast, our Smartsheet integration lets you use most column types for your rules, such as Date, Text, Number, Dropdown, and Checkbox.
But rules aren't just for filtering information. They can also be used to direct the flow of information between your tools with Status and progress mapping. In a Trello-Asana flow, for instance, you could match a To-do list in Trello to a Backlog section in Asana. This means they'll be treated as essentially the same thing, and any card that lands in that Trello list will be moved to the corresponding Asana section.
How to build a rule
Building a rule can be done in just a few clicks.
All rules follow a simple structure: triggers and actions. With triggers, you tell a rule what it needs to look for — like a specific assignee or label. With actions, you determine what your rule will actually do — like excluding certain tasks from your flow.
When you create your flow, you'll see that a rule has already been created automatically.
This rule affects the information going from my Key Deliverables Board to Test Board A.4. I have four triggers here. Put together, they mean that cards in this board will only sync if they're open and they're created after I've finished building my flow.
But let's say we want to add another element to this rule. Then, all you need to do is pick the right trigger. Start by hitting Add a new trigger.
For this rule, we're going to hit Labels, which will create a rule that filters Trello cards based on specific labels. After that, we'll hit Select a value to choose the labels we want to include in this flow. In this specific case, the is dropdown means that only Trello cards with the selected label will be synced by Unito.
After selecting this label, your rule is done! You've made it so only Trello cards with a blue label will sync over to your other board.
Examples of rules
Rules can be used to empower any number of use cases. All you need to do is pick the right triggers and actions. Here's how you can build some of the most common Unito rules for your use case.
Filtering work items by assignee
With this rule, work items will only be synced between tools if they're assigned to a specific person. To do this in a Trello flow, just add a new trigger choose Member, and pick the right person.
Automatically set a label when syncing work items
When building a two-way flow, you can automatically set labels and tags for synced work items by setting up the above rule. When you filter out work items that don't have a specific label, all work items created in the other tool will have whatever label you've mapped to this one.
Building a one-way flow? Instead, you'll see this dropdown, letting you pick the tag you want assigned to incoming work items.
Filtering work items by label
When you build this rule, only work items with a specific label will be synced. All you need to do is select the Label trigger and pick the right label.
Only sync items in specific sections
Each tool has its own version of sections. For instance, Trello has lists while Asana has sections. With this rule, Unito will only pick up work items that are in a specific section for syncing. If they're moved out of that section for any reason, they won't be synced. To set up this rule, just pick the Lists trigger and pick the right list.