How do I create automation rules?
Do you have a lot of repeatable tasks in your day-to-day? Don't worry, we've got you covered. With Drag, you can preset rules to automate your workflows.
You may know the Gmail rules or filters. Our automations work very similar to them, but for Drag-related tasks. Here is everything you need to know to use them.
Each Drag board or workflow is different. That's why you can create different automations for different Drag boards. The best part is that our automations are all cross-boards. This means they allow actions in one board to trigger other actions in a completely separate board.
Our automations are combinations of 5 factors that you can customize:
These are the triggers that determine when a rule will be applied.
This is the board where your automation will be triggered (i.e. where the automation starts). For example, if you select your main board, this means those rules will be applied to emails from your personal inbox (even the case of being automatically moved to another board).
These are specific conditions that need to be met on top of the triggers and board for the automation actions to occur. You can select as many conditions as you want.
Choose whether you want your automations to be run immediately or after a delay in minutes / hours / days.
These are the actions that will be performed automatically when the automation is triggered. You can also select multiple actions for a single automation rule.
There are 8 triggers in Drag:
When a new email lands on the board (e.g. sent to your shared inbox's email address).
When a specific tag is applied on a card or group of cards.
When a specific card is moved to a particular board and/or column.
When subtasks in a card are marked as complete.
When a specific card is assigned to a predefined team member (or to any member).
When a specific team member is mentioned on a card.
When the status of a card has changed.
When a card / email is composed from a Drag board instead of from Gmail.
"Composed from board" is included in the Plus and Pro plans.
The conditions are dependent on the triggers. For example, if you pick the trigger "apply a tag" on a certain board, the conditions available will be the existing tags on that specific board. If you pick the trigger "@mention user", the conditions will be the existing users on that specific board, and so on.
For the trigger "Received" (ie. when a new card lands on the board), there are 4 conditions:
Subject (or characters contained in the subject) of an incoming email.
Email address (or characters contained in the email address) of the sender of an incoming email (e.g. @client.com).
Email address (or characters contained in the email address) of the recipient of an incoming email (e.g. user@).
For any email received on that board.
Use this section to define whether an automation should be triggered immediately of after a delay.
If an automation that has a delay is triggered, but then that trigger is manually overridden, then the automation will be paused. For example, if you created an automation to perform an action 2 days after a card is moved to a specific column. You move the card to that column but then, within 2 days, you move it to a different column. Then your automation will not be triggered.
There are 12 actions that you can automate with Drag:
Select this option if you want to automatically move cards across different boards and / or columns.
Automatically apply shared labels to cards.
Change color coding of cards.
Automatically assign team members to specific cards based on rules.
Mark the card as read.
Star the card.
Archive the card.
Automatically change the status of cards (Open / Pending / Closed) based on a specific trigger.
Automatically send email templates based on specific criteria. Learn more about setting up auto-responders in Drag here.
"Send email" is included in the Pro plan.
Assign cards among all users or a subsegment of users on a board in a round-robin way, ensuring equal and prompt assignment of cards.
"Round Robin assignment" is included in the Pro plan.
Assign cards among all users or a subsegment of users on a board in a load balancer way, ensuring equal and prompt assignment of cards.
"Load Balancer assignment" is included in the Pro plan.
Notifies in real time the board member, a specific board member or a group of board members.
"Send notification" is included in the Pro plan.
To add an automation, follow these steps:
Click on the menu button on the top right of your screen and select "automations".
Click the Create an automation red button on the top right. You will be taken a dashboard to set up the details of your automations.
Type an automation name and description (the description will be shown on your automations list and will serve as a reference for you and your team.
Next to When..., click on the dropdown to select the first trigger you want to create.
Next to On..., select the board in which you want the automation to start. For example, if you want certain emails sent to "myemail@" to automatically move to another board, select the original board where emails sent to myemail@ normally load (like "My Name's Board").
Next to If..., select the conditions you would like to be applied. To add multiple conditions, use the + AND condition or + OR condition buttons below. To remove a condition, click on the "x" button next to each condition.
For the subject, sender email and receiver email options, you can add multiple keywords by hitting enter after each one of them.
Next to After..., chose when you want your automation to run. Use instant to run it immediately or select a delay in minutes, hours or days for the automation rule to run.
If you are using "card received" or "card composed from board" triggers, the checkbox "if no reply" will also be available. Select this checkbox if you want the automation to be triggered only if there are no replies to the conversation within the defined timeframe.
Next to Then..., select the actions that you want to automate with this specific rule. To add multiple actions, click on the + Action button below the last action. To remove an action, click on the "x" button next to each action.
Click on Create red button on the bottom right. After clicking “Create”, the Automation will be imediately turned on.
To edit or delete an automation:
Click on the menu button on the top right of your screen and select "automations".
A dashboard with all of your automation rules will appear. To remove an automation, click on the bin icon next to each automation name. To edit an automation, click on the pen icon next to each automation name.
Sometimes you might want to temporarily disable an automation without deleting it. to enable or disable an automation, use the toggle button next to the automation title in the automations list.
The following logic will be followed on automations rules applied to merged cards, depending on the action selected:
If you have any questions about this or anything else in this article, feel free to reach out to us at customer success at support@dragapp.com
You may know the Gmail rules or filters. Our automations work very similar to them, but for Drag-related tasks. Here is everything you need to know to use them.
How it works
Each Drag board or workflow is different. That's why you can create different automations for different Drag boards. The best part is that our automations are all cross-boards. This means they allow actions in one board to trigger other actions in a completely separate board.
Our automations are combinations of 5 factors that you can customize:
Trigger (When...)
These are the triggers that determine when a rule will be applied.
Board (On...)
This is the board where your automation will be triggered (i.e. where the automation starts). For example, if you select your main board, this means those rules will be applied to emails from your personal inbox (even the case of being automatically moved to another board).
Conditions (If...)
These are specific conditions that need to be met on top of the triggers and board for the automation actions to occur. You can select as many conditions as you want.
Timing (After...)
Choose whether you want your automations to be run immediately or after a delay in minutes / hours / days.
Actions (Then...)
These are the actions that will be performed automatically when the automation is triggered. You can also select multiple actions for a single automation rule.
Automations triggers
There are 8 triggers in Drag:
Received:
When a new email lands on the board (e.g. sent to your shared inbox's email address).
Tag applied:
When a specific tag is applied on a card or group of cards.
Moved to:
When a specific card is moved to a particular board and/or column.
All subtasks complete:
When subtasks in a card are marked as complete.
Assigned to:
When a specific card is assigned to a predefined team member (or to any member).
Mentioned user:
When a specific team member is mentioned on a card.
Changed status
When the status of a card has changed.
Composed from board
When a card / email is composed from a Drag board instead of from Gmail.
"Composed from board" is included in the Plus and Pro plans.
Automations conditions
The conditions are dependent on the triggers. For example, if you pick the trigger "apply a tag" on a certain board, the conditions available will be the existing tags on that specific board. If you pick the trigger "@mention user", the conditions will be the existing users on that specific board, and so on.
For the trigger "Received" (ie. when a new card lands on the board), there are 4 conditions:
Email subject:
Subject (or characters contained in the subject) of an incoming email.
From:
Email address (or characters contained in the email address) of the sender of an incoming email (e.g. @client.com).
To:
Email address (or characters contained in the email address) of the recipient of an incoming email (e.g. user@).
Any email:
For any email received on that board.
Automations timer
Use this section to define whether an automation should be triggered immediately of after a delay.
If an automation that has a delay is triggered, but then that trigger is manually overridden, then the automation will be paused. For example, if you created an automation to perform an action 2 days after a card is moved to a specific column. You move the card to that column but then, within 2 days, you move it to a different column. Then your automation will not be triggered.
Automations actions
There are 12 actions that you can automate with Drag:
Move to:
Select this option if you want to automatically move cards across different boards and / or columns.
Apply tag:
Automatically apply shared labels to cards.
Apply color:
Change color coding of cards.
Assign to:
Automatically assign team members to specific cards based on rules.
Gmail action > Mark as read
Mark the card as read.
Gmail action > Star
Star the card.
Gmail action > Archive
Archive the card.
Change status
Automatically change the status of cards (Open / Pending / Closed) based on a specific trigger.
Send email
Automatically send email templates based on specific criteria. Learn more about setting up auto-responders in Drag here.
"Send email" is included in the Pro plan.
Assign among > Round Robin
Assign cards among all users or a subsegment of users on a board in a round-robin way, ensuring equal and prompt assignment of cards.
"Round Robin assignment" is included in the Pro plan.
Assign among > Load Balancer
Assign cards among all users or a subsegment of users on a board in a load balancer way, ensuring equal and prompt assignment of cards.
"Load Balancer assignment" is included in the Pro plan.
Send notification
Notifies in real time the board member, a specific board member or a group of board members.
"Send notification" is included in the Pro plan.
How to create an automation
To add an automation, follow these steps:
Click on the menu button on the top right of your screen and select "automations".
Click the Create an automation red button on the top right. You will be taken a dashboard to set up the details of your automations.
Type an automation name and description (the description will be shown on your automations list and will serve as a reference for you and your team.
Next to When..., click on the dropdown to select the first trigger you want to create.
Next to On..., select the board in which you want the automation to start. For example, if you want certain emails sent to "myemail@" to automatically move to another board, select the original board where emails sent to myemail@ normally load (like "My Name's Board").
Next to If..., select the conditions you would like to be applied. To add multiple conditions, use the + AND condition or + OR condition buttons below. To remove a condition, click on the "x" button next to each condition.
For the subject, sender email and receiver email options, you can add multiple keywords by hitting enter after each one of them.
Next to After..., chose when you want your automation to run. Use instant to run it immediately or select a delay in minutes, hours or days for the automation rule to run.
If you are using "card received" or "card composed from board" triggers, the checkbox "if no reply" will also be available. Select this checkbox if you want the automation to be triggered only if there are no replies to the conversation within the defined timeframe.
Next to Then..., select the actions that you want to automate with this specific rule. To add multiple actions, click on the + Action button below the last action. To remove an action, click on the "x" button next to each action.
Click on Create red button on the bottom right. After clicking “Create”, the Automation will be imediately turned on.
How to edit or delete an automation
To edit or delete an automation:
Click on the menu button on the top right of your screen and select "automations".
A dashboard with all of your automation rules will appear. To remove an automation, click on the bin icon next to each automation name. To edit an automation, click on the pen icon next to each automation name.
How to enable or disable an automation
Sometimes you might want to temporarily disable an automation without deleting it. to enable or disable an automation, use the toggle button next to the automation title in the automations list.
How automations work with merged cards
The following logic will be followed on automations rules applied to merged cards, depending on the action selected:
| Automation action | Behavior with merged cards |
|---|---|
| Move to | Action will be performed on entire merged card |
| Apply tag | Action will be performed on parent card only |
| Apply color | Action will be performed on parent card only |
| Assign to | Action will be performed on parent card only |
| Mark as read | Action will be performed on parent card only |
| Star | Action will be performed on parent card only |
| Archive | Action will be performed on entire merged card |
| Change status | Action will be performed on parent card only |
| Send email | Action will not run on merged cards |
| Assign among | Action will be performed on parent card only |
| Send notification | Action will always be performed, regardless of whether card is merged or not |
If you have any questions about this or anything else in this article, feel free to reach out to us at customer success at support@dragapp.com
Updated on: 03/09/2024
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