Synchronizing cards

Automation allows you to do one-way card syncing—make the actions on one card automatically perform changes on another card. This action is available for Automation Rules and Card Button automations, on the Cascade tab.

screenshot_SynchronizingCardsButlerMenuCascade

Typically, card syncing is used to synchronize data in linked card copies that are created on different boards. For example, every time a card is moved from the "Backlog" list on the first board, add the "In progress" label to the card copy created on the second board:

  1. when a card is added to list "Backlog", copy the card to the top of list "Tasks for the current week" on board "Test board" and link the cards together

  2. when a card is moved out of list "Backlog", for each card linked in the attachments, add the green "In progress" label to the card

Note: Don't use Automation for mirroring cards (two-way card syncing). In addition to the significant number of rules that would be required, it can potentially cause Automation to loop infinitely when the action of one automation triggers another. To keep card data fully synchronized between boards, use Trello Power-Ups.

Card syncing examples

You can link cards together as attachments or as checklist items. The following sections show examples of syncing cards:

  • that are created on different boards and linked together as attachments.

  • that are created on the same board and linked together as checklist items.

Synchronize cards linked as attachments

1. Create an Automation Rule that will copy cards to a different board and link all cards together: 

a) In the Automation directory, go to the Rules tab, and then select Create Rule.

b) Configure the trigger and actions for your automation and save the automation.

screenshot_SynchronizingCardsCreatingARule

2. Create one more Rule that will synchronize the changes in the trigger card to the other linked card. You can add the syncing actions (for each card linked in the attachments) to your automation on the Cascade tab. 

screenshot_SynchronizingCardsButlerTriggerAction

Synchronize cards linked as checklist items

1. Create an Automation Rule that will convert items added to the card's checklist into separate cards and link all cards together:

a) In the Automation directory, go to the Rules tab, and then select Create Rule.

b) Configure the trigger and action for your automation and save the automation.

screenshot_SynchronizingCardsCreatingARule2

2. Create one more Rule that will synchronize the changes in the trigger card to the other linked cards. You can add the syncing actions (for each card linked from an item in checklist) to your automation on the Cascade tab. 

screenshot_SynchronizingCardsButlerTriggerAction2

Additional Help