Asana is undoubtedly one of the best project management tools that has emerged on the market in past years. Its advanced features are great enough to better processes in many areas of your business. However, even though Asana has many functionalities, some of them are simply not developed to the appropriate level. Some of them are also non-existent. You can always use various apps and software for different tasks, but let's face it, in the 21st century, you instinctively feel there has got to be a better solution. And yet there is. To keep everything within one tool, and get the most advanced service in all areas needed, you can simply implement Asana integrations. What are they? How can you get them? Which one you should get? This article will give you all the details you need to save time, be efficient, and enjoy all the benefits of all the tools your business needs in one place.
What are integrations?
Integrations are third-party add-ons you can connect your Asana with. There are many types of integrations as well as many brands that provide the services you need. Thanks to integrations you do not have to switch between many apps and copy your Asana tasks to work on different aspects of your projects. Connecting separate tools helps the information and therefore your work flows freely between them.
Asana can integrate with countless top tools and apps. To help you choose the tools appropriate for your needs, we have prepared a list of the most prominent integrations by their type so you can easily connect Asana with whatever your Asana projects need.
Time tracking integration
One of the best Asana plugins that significantly helps in boosting productivity is the time tracking add-on. It helps in monitoring time spent on various activities and Asana tasks. One of the most useful propositions on the market is TimeCamp. It offers you many more features than just tracking time.
TimeCamp - productive time tracking
Let's look at some of the areas you can improve thanks to the TimeCamp features.
Time tracking
With TimeCamp you can enjoy using such tools as a one-click timer which requires just one click to start or stop counting. You can automatically track time, also with the use of custom keywords (use it and the software will start tracking time). If your time entries are usually the same, you do not have to repeat them day by day, week by week, and so on. Just copy time entries and create a timesheet for a new period in a few clicks.
Reporting
TimeCamp has more than 20 report types you can use to gain insight that will aid your business decisions. The reports are also prepared in real-time so you can automatically create reports and be up to date with team members' performance, task statuses, and budget alignment. The ability to create custom reports is another major improvement that will help you analyze data according to your business needs.
Invoicing
Thanks to accurate time tracking and timesheets showing the exact hours worked, you can bill clients with outstanding accuracy. Moreover, you can differentiate rates by adjusting them to specific projects, which benefits your cost and revenue estimations.
Productivity tracking
TimeCamp's desktop app keeps track of all open windows, browser tabs, and apps. You can also get an overview of idle and private time your team has online. Attendance is key to completing any Asana project so TimeCamp also took care of tracking the start and end of the workday as well as break time. All these productivity measurements can be included in the productivity reports TimCamp provides.
Getting TimeCamp is also easy. You can set up an account with a free forever plan to track time for unlimited projects and users. For all advanced features, choose one of the premium plans with a 14-day trial for free.
File sharing integrations
It is not difficult to connect Asana with the file-sharing tools because they are Asana built-in tools. Granting Asana permissions is all you need to do to get them running. Every task will have the paperclip icon you can click to attach them.
File-sharing tools you should consider are:
Google Drive
Google Drive helps to store, share, and collaborate on files securely. This cloud-based tool provides storage that can be accessed on any device and edited on the go. You can also:
Share files with people from outside your business
Drag and drop uploads
Access advanced search features
In Asana, you can attach files directly from the drive to Asana tasks. Simply add Google Sheets or Google Docs as file attachments and it will generate a link under the attachment, which will let you open it on Google Drive.
With Google Drive and Asana integration, you can also:
link Google Drive files to tasks in Asana
receive comment notifications from Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
display file details in Asana (such as the owner, comments, and other activity)
OneDrive
OneDrive is another cloud storage service thanks to which you can share and access files anywhere and anytime. With the Asana integration with OneDrive, you can connect all of the files with Asana and make collaboration quicker and effortless.
Dropbox
Dropbox is another secure way to store files, which can increase your file size limits. You can quickly add the selected file to Asana with a click on the paperclip icon. Then select Dropbox from the menu.
Box
This content management platform helps you share files with all the people you collaborate with. Asana integration with Box gives teams seamless collaboration enabling sharing files in one place. You can also attach any file from Box to an Asana task easily.
Communication integrations
Email hosts
What integrating Asana and your chosen email host (e.g., Gmail, Outlook) does, is lowering the number of emails exchanged between the team members but still keeping them actionable. In your inbox, you can turn emails into tasks, assign tasks to teammates, set the tasks' due dates, and add the tasks to projects.
Slack
If you need a way to communicate quickly, choose Asana for Slack. If you already use Slack you will not have to leave the app to turn conversations into actions and create new Asana tasks. Moreover, you can get notified when Asana tasks get assigned to you. Other displayed aspects include task details, completing the tasks, changing the assignees, and due dates, adding tasks to projects, or opening the tasks in Asana.
You can keep all notifications centralized thanks to linking specific Asana projects to a Slack channel. This channel will then receive notifications when updates and changes are made to the project. You can also turn Slack messages into tasks in Asana or add the message to an existing project (the 'asana/create' command).
Other Slack features include:
management of documents (including tracking)
the possibility of sharing channels across workspaces
effortless navigation
the ability to integrate with other apps
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams takes team collaboration to a different level, with its ability to host online meetings, share documents, and video conferencing. You can share and search Asana projects, portfolios, and tasks within Microsoft Teams, convert Teams conversations into Asana tasks, and do multiple actions on tasks within Teams (eg., creation, assignment, display). Great efficiency and organization on a single platform.
Other useful integrations
For an extra boost to your productivity, you may need various other types of integrations, depending on your business type. Let us propose some of the well-known and useful ones.
Salesforce
Salesforce is a cloud-computing customer relationship management service that can assist you in many daily activities connected with sales, marketing, commerce, and IT.
What can Salesforce do?
Provide actionable data dashboards
Enable customer-centric automations so the sales reps work faster and smarter
Make processes simple and collaboration effective
Forecasts made with the help of AI
Who is Salesforce for? The businesses that would like to connect Asana tasks with the sales pipeline. It can help in running client campaigns, give visibility across business operations and sales teams, as well as help in efficient collaboration.
Trello
Trello is a tool that helps to manage work thanks to great design and visual aspects. Collaborate, organize projects, highlight tasks, and streamline communication thanks to Trello's digital board with sticky notes.
You can import your Asana tasks to Trello which is a great help in the visualization of your to-do lists. The integration works both ways so importing items from Trello to Asana will also be a good idea. Asana will be a great tool to oversee your due dates. You can also create an integration, which will issue new Trello cards for completed tasks in Asana.
If you create a custom Trello and Asana workflow, everything will be synced and tailored to your way of work.
Loom
Visual arts has recently boomed in popularity. Even social media channels now consist primarily of videos. Therefore Loom, a screen-casting, video messaging add-on, is a great aid to your chosen array of custom integrations within Asana. What does Loom offer?
possibility to capture the computer screen
user recording with their own camera.
custom recording dimensions
viewer insights
All the features aid one prime goal: quick and clear communication, which will work especially well in the case of training videos or any time you need to present expectations of steps, create overviews, or record tutorials. Loom allows you to contextualize the message and therefore make your team better understand the shared message.
Thanks to not having to write everything down but record videos you significantly speed up the process of creating Asana briefs. All you need to do is simply embed the video in Asana once it is done.
GitLab
If you are a web developer, you know how important making things simple is. You will be pleased to know, that one of your favorite work tools, GitHub, can also integrate with Asana. You can sync tasks, issues, projects, repos, assignees, custom fields, and many more- anything you need to simplify the collaboration on your development projects.
GitLab also allows you to create visual connections in the form of adding blocks of work representing your projects and then drawing flows between them.
With its easy-to-use interface, automations, rules, field mapping, and numerous other settings, GitLab allows you to keep an eye on the information flow and helps you shape your workflow according to your business processes.
Jotform
Many times during administrative duties, there comes the need to create online forms. They can help to collect data (e.g., on products, bookings, applications, registrations) or take surveys and responses directly to email addresses. If it seems like something you would have a use for, get Asana integration with Jotform. You can easily customize the appearance of your forms and change validation messages. You can then effortlessly convert the Jotform submissions into Asana tasks in a few clicks.
Integrate and get the best of your Asana tool
Asana integrations are the best way to get the most out of your tool. With the number of add-ons you can get, Asana can be turned into the one and only tool you will ever need to conduct your business. If you did not find the tool you are looking for in our article, you can visit the Asana App Integration page and browse there. There is also another alternative, which is building your own plugin. Thanks to Asana’s APIs you can develop custom solutions so you and your team can work the best way - your way.
Time management
