Trello is one of the world’s best productivity apps that helps users to organise projects. What makes Trello so successful is its simple approach of setting up a board where you can list out all tasks and make cards to keep another member of your team updated. 

Trello’s basic capabilities may appear restricted at first look, but digging deeper reveals a wealth of features and conveniences that most casual users are not fully aware of. So, in this article, we compiled 6 hidden tricks in Trello that you can use to boost your productivity. 

1. Turn Emails Into Cards

One neat trick that Trello has is to turn your emails into Trello cards. Every board you create in Trello gets its own email address. Simply forward an email to your board’s email address, and the item will appear in the specified list as a card. So if you have to update your Trello card, instead of logging into Trello, you can simply send an email (even from your mobile device), and the Trello card will be updated automatically. 

To find out Trello’s unique email address, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Navigate to the Menu on the right side of the board.

Step 2: Select the email to board set from the dropdown menu. 

Step 3: Here, you will see an email address; you can copy it to your clipboard.

Step 4: Choose which list you want the card to fall under and the position it should take.

All set, now every time to send an email to this address, your Trello cards will be updated; how cool is that? 

Trello changes the subject line of your email into the card’s title and the body text into the card’s description. By entering @username in the subject line or body of an email, you can also add board members.

2. Automate tasks with a butler 

Do you want to hire a butler who would automate all tasks for you? In Trello, you can just do that, which would simplify your workflow drastically. Using the butler feature, you can automate tasks like archiving a Trello card after moving it to a “Done” list or putting a new card on your board will automatically add the “in progress” label. There are use cases where you can use the Trello butler feature, and the best part is that this is a free feature and can even be used in Trello free account. So there is no reason o take advantage and automate some of your predictable tasks. 

Here’s how to enable butler in Trello 

Step 1: If not already visible, open the Trello right menu bar by clicking on Show Menu in the upper right corner of your Trello board.

Step 2: Click on Power-Ups.

Step 3: Scroll to find butler and click on Enable.

3. Copying data from a spreadsheet 

You may import spreadsheet inputs into Trello and convert cells into cards, eliminating the need to enter each one manually. Trello allows you to select whether to make each cell into a card or display a list in one card with just a few clicks. This is a huge convenience factor, and we know many new users like managing tasks in Trello but are not hooked on the idea of manually inputting all data from a spreadsheet. For them, this is a life savour. 

You can copy data from the spreadsheet by dragging the sheet on the Trello board; you will be asked if you want the items on the list to be on one card or separate cards. It’s that simple.

4. Connect Cards and Boards to each other 

When you connect a file to Trello, you can attach it to another card or board in Trello. To put it another way, if you’re working on Card A and Card B is connected, you may attach it and see a preview of Card B inside Card A. In simpler terms, linked cards allow you to see their contents so you can quickly glance at the essential information. 

We at Growth Newsletter use this feature all the time to keep track of our dependent tasks. For example, if we have an article to publish that references another article, we have to make sure both the articles are posted simultaneously. Connecting cards allows us to keep track and see if the other is published or synchronise our tasks. 

To connect cards, click the button for attachments. Choose Trello as the source. When the list of all available cards and boards appears, simply choose the one you want.

5. Quickly Glance at your cards 

If you are assigned to a project with many members, it is easy to get lost in a sea of cards. Only if there was a way to quickly filter between the cards that matters the most to you, well, someone at Trello listened to your wish. You can now press the ‘q’ button on your keyboard once, and a filter will be applied to hide all cards that do not belong to you. Sure, you still need to browse through each card yourself, but it is still a great trick to stay focused. 

6. Use Templates to get started quickly 

Why work hard when you can work smart? Trello comes with an array of useful templates that you can use to get started and organise your workspace quickly. They will save you time setting up the board, and also, for new users, using a template will ensure that you are taking full advantage of the features Trello has to offer. Sure, you may still need to make some manual tweaks to customise the workflow according to your need, but it will still be worth saving some time. 

That concluded our list of hidden tricks in Trello. Make sure to use them in your workflow and let us know which one you find the most useful in the comment section. For more productivity tips and tricks, do not forget to keep an eye on our Newsletter.