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Blueprints

Regular and external users on Business and Enterprise accounts can create and launch blueprints. Collaborators can view blueprints shared with them. 

Overview

With Blueprints, you can manage your project and task templates and plan your work while keeping it separated from ongoing work.

To quickly get started with Blueprints:

  1. You can create your first project, folder, or task blueprint from scratch. Later you’ll be able to use it as a template for your future projects or tasks.
  2. Next time you need to start a new project or task, try launching it from a blueprint instead.

Important Information

  • Blueprint folders and projects have a dedicated section in the left-hand Navigation panel.
  • When you add an assignee to a task blueprint or an owner to a project blueprint, it isn’t automatically shared and an assignee/owner doesn’t receive any notifications. However, an item is automatically shared with a user when you @mention them or add them as a follower.
  • You can share a blueprint in the same way as a regular task, folder, or project.
  • Only users who accepted an invitation to the account can be specified as assignees of a task blueprint or as owners of a project blueprint.
  • You can’t build a Report, Calendar, Dashboard widget, or a Workload Chart based on a folder/project blueprint.

 

Create a Blueprint

There are two ways to create a blueprint:

  • Create a project, folder, or task blueprint from scratch.
  • Save an existing project, folder, or task as a blueprint.

Create a Project Blueprint

  1. Click the plus sign to the right of “Blueprints” or right-click a folder/project in the “Blueprints” section of the left-hand Navigation panel, hover over “Add” and select “Folder” or “Project” (depending on what you want to create).
  2. In the pop-up window that opens:
    • If necessary, change the type of item which will be created: a folder or project.
    • Enter your folder/project blueprint’s name.
    • Specify your blueprint’s location. Note, that you can tag a blueprint only with another blueprint (i.e. you can’t designate a folder/project from the main folder tree as a parent folder/project of a blueprint).
    • For projects: specify project owners and start and finish date.
    • Choose the folder or project's default view.
    • Specify who you want to share the folder/project with.
  3. Click “Create”.
  4. Your blueprint is created and appears in the “Blueprints” section of the left-hand Navigation panel. Now you can add any relevant tasks and subtasks which will be necessary for completing your project. Once you’re done with this step, you should have tasks for each necessary step in your project.
  5. Add data to your tasks and subtasks, as necessary. Fill in data for as many task attributes as you can (such as duration, assignees, descriptions, and attachments).

Create a Task Blueprint

  1. Select a folder or project from the “Blueprints” section of the left-hand Navigation panel. This is where your blueprint task will be created.
  2. Click “+ New task” from the List, Board, or Table view or from the Gantt Chart.
  3. Add relevant details to your task. Include any information that will be applicable for the blueprint. For example, you can add text in the task's description, add assignees, set start and end dates, and more.
  4. Select the location where the task created from the blueprint should be placed.

Save a Project as a Blueprint

If you have a project which you want to use as a template for your future projects, you can save it as a blueprint.

  1. Right-click a folder/project in the left-hand Navigation panel.
  2. Select “Save as Blueprint”.
  3. Enter the blueprint’s name.
  4. Select a new location (optional). Specify a folder/project where your blueprint should be added. If you don’t pick a new location, a top-level blueprint will be created.
  5. Add a prefix (optional). Text added in the prefix field is added to the beginning of the titles of all items within the new blueprint (this includes subfolders, subprojects, tasks, and subtasks).
  6. Check the box to the left of “Copy tasks” to include duplicates of all the folder or project’s tasks and subtasks in a Blueprint.
    • Customize how the tasks should be duplicated: with or without description, attachments, assignees, and custom field values.
    • Reschedule tasks. Leave the “Reschedule” box unchecked to make the tasks’ dates identical to scheduled dates in the original folder or project. Check this box to set the start date of the first Task or due date of the last task in the folder or project. All other tasks will be rescheduled accordingly.
  7. Click “Save”.

Your project or folder is saved as a blueprint and it appears in the “Blueprints” section of the left-hand Navigation panel.

Save a Task as a Blueprint

  1. Right-click a task, which you want to save as a blueprint.
  2. Select “Save as Blueprint”.
  3. In the pop-up that appears, enter a name for the blueprint and select the blueprint folder or project where you want to save it*.
  4. Check the boxes of available attributes to indicate which attributes you want to copy from a task to a blueprint: description, attachments, assignees, and custom field values.
  5. Reschedule a blueprint: specify a different start or due date.
  6. Click “Save”.

Your task is saved as a blueprint and appears in the folder or project specified on step 3.

*If you don’t select a location, your blueprint will be saved at the top level under Blueprints.

Use a Blueprint

Create a Project or Folder from a Blueprint

Use a blueprint to quickly launch your new project and notify assignees about tasks in the project.

  1. Right-click a folder/project in the “Blueprints” section of the left-hand Navigation panel.
  2. Select “Create from Blueprint”.
  3. Name the project or folder.
  4. Select a new location (optional). Specify the project/folder/Space where your new folder or project should be tagged. If you don’t pick a new location, your folder/project will be placed in "Shared with me" section.
  5. Specify whether or not you want to send Inbox notifications to assignees of tasks in a folder/project and its subproject’s owners upon creation.
  6. Add a prefix (optional). Text added in the prefix field is added to the beginning of the titles of all items within the new folder/project (this includes subfolders, subprojects, tasks, and subtasks).
  7. Check the box to the left of “Copy tasks” to create duplicates of all of the blueprint’s tasks and subtasks.
    • Customize how the tasks should be duplicated: with or without description, attachments, assignees, and custom field values.
    • Reschedule Tasks. Leave the “Reschedule” box unchecked to make the tasks’ dates identical to scheduled dates in the original folder or project. Check this box to set the start date of the first task or due date of the last task in the folder or project. All other tasks will be rescheduled accordingly.
  8. Click “Create”.

Create a Task from a Blueprint

You can quickly create an active task from within a blueprint and immediately notify its assignees so that they can start working on it.

  1. Right-click on a task blueprint in the List view.
  2. Select “Create from Blueprint”.
  3. Enter a name for the new task.
  4. Select a new location (optional). Specify the folder/project/Space where your new task should be tagged. If you don’t pick a new location, your task is placed in the “Shared with me” section.
  5. Customize how the task should be launched:
    • Notify assignees: send Inbox notifications to assignees.
    • Copy description: copy the blueprint’s description when the task is launched.
    • Copy attachments: include the blueprint’s attachments on the new task.
    • Copy assignees: keep the blueprint’s assignees when the task is launched.
    • Copy custom field values: specify whether or not data entered in the blueprint task should be copied to the new task.
    • Reschedule: set a start or due date for the task.
  6. Click “Create”.

Request Forms and Blueprints

You can set up a request form to create a task or project from a blueprint. If you do, every time someone uses the form to submit a request, a task or project is created from the nominated blueprint.
Learn more on the Create a Request Form page. Note that when using a request form to create a task from a blueprint, the specified location in the blueprint will not be applied to the task.

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