Feature request: Explicit template lists

We use lists as templates, copying them into new lists whenever we need to action on them. For example, we have a list named #template-onboard-new-hire, which we duplicate as #template-onboard-john-doe.

But these tasks are still tasks, so they show up all over the place in our smart lists. If I say that Susan is assigned one of the tasks in a template list (meaning she’d be responsible for doing that task for John Doe when i duplicate the task), Susan sees that task assigned to her all the time. And if I search for high priority tasks, these fake tasks come up as well.

Also, task start dates are just copied as they are. Maybe instead we want that task to start 3 days after the list is duplicated?

It feels like “just use a normal list” for templates was a good place to start, but it’d be nice to have this formalized. Then…

  1. I could mark a list as being a template
  2. when I create a new list, “from a template” becomes an option and shows me my templates to choose from.
  3. Tasks inside a template are basically invisible (they don’t show up in any smart lists)

For the second issue around start dates, there’d have to be a way of giving relative times (“starts N days from now”), so that’d have to be a later feature.

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This would also allow us to create lists from templates easily via the API. I could be mistaken, but I don’t think the API currently supports list duplication.

Hello team! Any thoughts on this feature request?

Totally understand your use case, Tammer. As mentioned, duplicating various lists is a lightweight workaround, but I’ll file the request for explicit templates to be accessible similar to Task forms. Thanks for the suggestion!

Hi there! We’d the same issue and the workaround was to create a status [Template] so it’s easily filtered-out in any smart list :smile:

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