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Trouble with 2-way sync between Asana and Google Calendar.

  • 27 November 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 202 views

Hi there, I’m trying to establish a 2 way communication in between Asana taks + google calendar within zapier. I have managed to connect Asana to google cal so whenever I add a task into Asana, it shows up in google cal. Now when I del that task, it does not deletes it in google cal, do I need a separate trigger automation for that?

 

As for setting up google can into Asana seems to be more complicated. I ran through tests in the automation triggers and I’m getting “A Task was sent to Asana about 5 minutes ago” however no tasks have been created in Asana cal. I received an error email from zapier stating Required field "Start Date & Time" (start__dateTime) is missing.” Could anybody help? 

4 replies

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Hi @piloadami 

Good question.

For Zap Errors, we would need to see detailed screenshots with how your Zap steps are configured.

 

You may need to look into using Asana Webhooks to trigger a Zap when an Asana Task is deleted: https://developers.asana.com/docs/webhooks-guide

Zap trigger: Webhook - Catch Hook

This will generate a unique webhook URL to configure in Asana.

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
shalgrim
Userlevel 6
Badge +8

While some users have managed to create two-way synchronization between apps in some cases, in general Zapier does not support two-way syncing between apps right now. Think of Zaps like one-way workflows.

In certain scenarios, you can fake two-way syncing by setting up two different Zaps that perform opposite actions. For instance, you could have one Zap that creates a new spreadsheet row for every new contact created and another that creates a new contact for every new spreadsheet row.

One of the dangers, though, is that you’ll run into an infinite loop. Consider that you have two Zaps:

 

  1. New Google Calendar event → Create Asana event
  2. New Asana event → Create Google Calendar event

Now when you create a Google Calendar event, the first Zap will create the event in Asana. But then the second Zap will notice a new Asana event and create the event again in Google Calendar. And it will continue infinitely.

There are workarounds, but I just wanted to illustrate this potential

shalgrim
Userlevel 6
Badge +8

As far as the task not showing up in Asana, the response from Asana says it did create one. Have you tried navigating to the URL they provided and see if the task is there?



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Now when I del that task, it does not deletes it in google cal, do I need a separate trigger automation for that?

 

Yes, each trigger will trigger on the given event. Thus the New Task trigger in Asana will trigger whenever it sees a new task in Asana and only when it sees a new task in Asana

P
Userlevel 1

HI there, thanks for your suggestions. I was expecting ‘zapier’ to work more seamlessly given it’s core function is to act as a bridge in between ‘asana’ and ‘google calendar’ and create that automation. As much as the website makes it really simple to create a trigger, it doesn’t make it simple to fix and understand why that trigger is not working. For those who are looking for a 2way integration in between a time management tool and google calendar, I can not recommend enough click-up. You can connect both softwares inside click-up with just a couple of clicks and it takes care of the backend for you, no need to add a 3rd party software in between like ‘zapier’. The integration seems to be seamless as I tried creating events from both ends and deleting from both ends and it all seems to work just fine.  Th

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