Your Dropbox Files in Asana
by Greg Slovacek
November 15th, 2012
Occasionally, two products work so well with each other that bringing them together seems inevitable – a pairing so natural that it was only a matter of time.
Today, we’re happy to bring Dropbox integration to Asana. Available now, when you go to attach a file to a task in Asana, you’ll see the new option to “Attach from Dropbox”. This option gives you one-click access to your entire library of Dropbox files, where you can browse and choose the file you want to attach.
In the last couple of weeks, we enabled the Dropbox integration for a few teams that use both products – including Dropbox, themselves. Here are some of the ways it improved the way they work:
When we ask Asana customers what they use to share and sync files, they overwhelmingly tell us Dropbox. So, when Dropbox offered us the early opportunity to integrate the new Dropbox Chooser, we jumped at the chance to bring this to every team using Asana. The simplicity of attaching Dropbox files to tasks in Asana will accelerate the workflow of the many teams whose day-to-day work requires collaborating on files.
We hope you enjoy using it.
To learn more about integrating the new Dropbox Chooser with your web apps, check out the Dropbox developer blog. To stay on top of Asana news, tips and best practices, you should follow us on Twitter.
i ♥ “asana ♥ dropbox”
This is awesome, it makes things easier on our team to upload documents!
Love it!
This is awesome! Great work!
Can’t wait to begin!
Very cool. Can’t wait to play with it.
Great to see Dropbox shares the same goals as us here at filepicker.io (https://www.filepicker.io/), helping developers integrate their apps with cloud storage!
Our goal is for users to be able to connect directly to their online content, and we’re working with Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, Skydrive, Facebook and others to make this happen.
Bro. There’s a pretty well known saying in SV:
“Don’t build a company based on a single feature”
Awesome idea. Can I be so bold as to request the ability to add a Dropbox folder rather than an actual file. Is that possible. A bit more practical for our workflow
Hi Ben,
The Dropbox Chooser is currently designed to link only to files. If/when Dropbox changes it to allow links to folders, we’ll keep your suggestion in mind!
Perfect!
This is a suggestion I also endorse.
In the meantime, I suggest to create the folders hierarchy on dropbox that matches your projects hierarchy in Asana and then keep Asana related files in Dropbox’s matching folders. It is a brittle solution, which would become really good once DropBox and Asana give the needed support for this.
Great addition! I love your progress but I have to say as an avid user of many Google products I feel a bit left out on many of the upgrades (eg. iphone app but no Android app and Dropbox but no Google Drive integration). Don’t get me wrong I love Asana, the team and all the efforts to deliver an terrific experience, but I am just asking for a little more G-love over here! :)
YES!!.. I agree with Terry. we like to have better Google Apps interface.
+1 for Google Drive integration
Would love Google Apps integration!!!!
+1 I like Google drive more, and having tons of service providers is not so comfortable.. gmail, asana, dropbox, etc…
I would +1 the request for google drive integration.
+1 to google drive integration
+1 to drag-n-drop (gmail style) for file attachments ..
+1 for Google Drive integration
+1 for GD
+1 for Google Drive integration
+1 for Google integration: Android App, Drive, & Docs.
+1 Google integration: Android App, Drive, & Docs
I love dropbox … but alas, my company just switched us to Google Drive.
+1 for Google Drive integration.
Pretty please!
+1 for google drive integration
+100 for Google Drive
+100 Android App with widget
YESSSS! +100 for gDocs and Android integration…
Keep us posted please.. I can see myself doing a lot more on Asana when the above go active !
Android App 4tw !
+1… I also switched recently from Dropbox to Google Drive. I really appreciate how Asana is constantly improving. Great stuff.
With some regrets – already had one crash necessitating file rebuild – we are now on Google Drive. Would love this integration. Unlikely to go back to Dropbox. Google has documents and much more power besides, and is vastly cheaper.
Agreed on the Google love. Android app!!!!!!!! Google drive would be nice too. Trello has already integrated g-drive.
I too moved everything to Gdrive since every project of mine has a variety of associated Google Docs.
The move to GDrive allowed me to cut down on user admin and confusion; though sync isn’t yet on par with Dropbox IMO.
Great work Asana!
+1 for Google integration: App, Docs, Drive
Lovin the Asana Banana… for now we’re just dropping the Google Docs link into tasks, but it would be fantastic to see tight integration with all the Google stuff… we’re using it for all our documents/mail/files, etc.
… Rock on Asana
+1 to Google Drive! Would be sweet!
+1 for Google drive integration, this really is a blocker for me
+1 for Google Drive integration
I’ll will <8 you even more, if you make it! ;)
Awesome work, guys. Thanks a lot!
This is great, but I’d be very excited to see google drive integration, since our organization uses this to work on shared documents real-time. Thanks!
Any chance you guys might integrate SugarSync too? Or is the agreement with Dropbox exclusive?
So excited!!!
Sugarsync has increasingly started to annoy me as it’s not syncing properly on most of our team’s computers – that Dropbox is intergrated with Asana starts to convince me we need to move over to Dropbox as it starts to out-weigh the hassle of installing & moving everything…
Love Asana! Would love it even more with Google integration :)
Such a surprising great feature. This is awesome. So excited.
Implement drag and drop file upload first of all…
+1 for Google Drive integration. It’s cheaper and better for Gmail users and Google Docs users.
Awesome work! Is Box integration on the horizon?
+1 for Box!
+2 for Box. We have an enterprise agreement with Box, so integration would be great :)
Thanks! This is great! Love Dropbox… + Asana.
Baaa Da Bing!
+1 on Google Drive!!!
+1 google drive
+1 for Google Docs / Google Drive integration.
This is great! Would love to see Box.com integration as well for us Enterprise users. :)
+1 for Box integration.
+1 for Box.com
thanks for this addition. +1 on google drive! collaborate on documents in real time.
Hi, I’m just adding my voice to the chorus begging for more Google integrations (Drive, Android, and Gmail). Thanks!
+1 MORE GOOGLE INTEGRATION, PLEASE!!!
We Love Asana – keep going – please add Google Drive- we would love that even more !!!!
How ’bout box.com?
+1 for Box.com.
Great to have Dropbox integration!
Dropbox is great, thanks.
also, +1 for Google drive attachments
AWESOME!!! Google could learn a little from you guys and allow me to attach to my Gmail from GDrive.
Awesome!!! Our team’s lovin Asana. It keeps getting better. Would love to see a Git repository integration next.
Thank you great Asana,
I think It’s very annoying to see Dropbox on the menu of “Attach a File” it should be as clean as “Attach a file” may be with drag and drop, but integration with the outdated DropBox is not what I expect from Asana.. if you really want to do it then make it OPTIONAL
+1 to G
Great, but we use Google Drive in our organization as well, looking for the drive integration.
I agree with Sam, I think… very often we attach screenshots to our tasks. Those files are local. Attaching local files now always takes one more click. Actually it often takes two more clicks since the first one doesn’t seem to register. I would love to have the dropbox feature be optional. Thanks. Asana is an amazing product.
Hey Asana, rethink counting file attachment and cloud storage asset sync as the same metaphor! What do you all think?
My thoughts:
Seems we are really dealing with 2 different but similar things here:
‘Attach a File’ is the old but still needed way of uploading a file from a local drive and it’s corresponding metaphor.
‘Attach from DropBox’ is referencing a file in cloud storage and keeping it sync’d. Inevitably Asana will integrate with other cloud storage (hopefully Google Drive next).
So why not have another button separate from ‘Attach a File’? It would be called something like ‘Sync a Cloud File’. This is where you would find your drop-down of cloud storage options you’ve given Asana permission to sync with. This would remove the annoying extra click from ‘Attach a File’, and would also pave the way for more cloud storage integration, preferably with the new metaphor of Syncing rather than attaching.
This is a very good line of thinking and it makes a lot of sense.
File attachment seems like a “one-and-done” action while sync is an ongoing and dynamic relationship to a file.
You are making my life easier every single freakin’ day!
Sounds great, although unfortunately we use Box.com for business. So I’d like to +1 similar integration with box. We’d basically have the perfect task management tool for us in that case.
Love the fact that I’m actually excited every time i see that notification bar on top of the Asana window when you make updates :)
Yes, please! It would be even better it were possible to create Asana tasks attached to Box files from within Box.
I’ll add my two cents in for Google Drive integration. I use Dropbox also so I love this new feature but I also use Google Docs a lot so it would be awesome to link to a file there also.
Loving Asana Trying to get more people I work with to use it with me so I can really take advantage of this great product.
Please also integrate Evernote into Asana!! If you did that, it would be complete. I have posted many requests for this feature. Pelotonics has done this and it really worked well when I used Pelotonics. Please integrate with Evernote!
+1 for Evernote!!!
+1 for Evernote
+1 for Evernote
Another reason why we love you. Although we love you so much anyways. Just want to say ‘keep up the amazing work guys’. Best wishes :)
Asana Team – you are doing an AMAZING job. Keep up the great work.
amazing loving asana more and more as i use it
How are permissions going to work on this? For example if I add a Dropbox file, but someone else in hte team isn’t on the applicable Dropbox folder will they get to see it ?
It would also be great if we could open the file locally. if I share a Dropbox file I usually want any of us to be able to open it in our usual editors (depending on file type) which would mean opening it through the Finder (on the mac).
Ok I like the integration, but…
It still seems to me that dealing with shared editing is problematic. I follow the following steps:
1) Connect a dropbox file to an Asana Task
2) have someone else open asana and retrieve that file.
3) Select Preview: all is good.
4) Select “Show in My Dropbox” I can now see the Web based Dropbox page.
5) Click on the document.
6) It now downloads a new cloned file to my computer. Since this is a different file any changes made are not reflected in the document. This makes it difficult to actively work on a document: in order to do so I need to find the location of the original Dropbox linked file on my computer: there does not seem to be a way of getting to the original file from the Asana.
Am I missing something?
We are using this at RealtyCandy.com and it is a super cool tool. This allows us to share images with clients and between our real estate development team.
Thanks,
James
Can you guys also prioritize Google Drive integration? Would be super useful
This is only getting better!
For Google drive and before the integration with Dropbox I have been using public links form the file where I simply copy and paste to the link and it works extremely well.
The most amazing feature and time saver for me was the ability to grab a very long check list from excel, copy past and (bingo)!! each of the items on the checklist became a task right in front of my eyes. I love it! Thank You Asana, you guys rock!
oh yeah!
DropBox is fine, but my organization uses SugarSync (which in all features but speed seems to be superior). Any plans to integrate SugarSync?
Great work guys. This solved a major disconnect for our operation, which is entirely powered by Asana. Thanks!
Wow, guys. These constant enhancements are amazing. Thanks.
Can you please offer the same functionality with Box.com?
Yes, please – we use Box. Add it in!
And, how about Trac? http://trac.edgewall.org/
would love to see the popup screen just show a straight list, like you would see in a normal finder view. Not a fan of the column view. I dont think people normally scroll left to right to read files. my .02! but love this addition!!!
I’m with Jenny and we are very into Asana….like daily task by task….I would also like to learn more tricks on using Asana….do more regular teleseminars for 15 min pop in training
Thank you.
Awesome work Asana! You guys rock! Thank you for keeping me organized and on top of things.
Got to go with the masses and say: +1 for Google and Evernote Integration
Great, we use drop box a lot at IT Chimes and this helps us so much. we dont have reupload things again and again and again Or even Cross reference it any further. thank you.
Thanks! I’ve rarely used file upload because I prefer shared docs via email or Dropbox instead. This will make it much easier to share files within the structure of our projects and tasks.
Great, we use drop box a lot at IT Chimes and this helps us so much. we dont have reupload things again and again and again Or even Cross reference it any further. thank you.
What about SkyDrive integration too?
uber awesome!!!!
Nice… but anoying that I have to re-klick into the folder after uploading each dropbox file.
I like the integration! Would like to have the ability to open up a file from within Asana, edit the file, then simply save back into Asana without having to re-save back onto my hard drive or Dropbox. Then I would truly be able to work out of Asana and not have to leave in order to edit a file.
I agree +1 here (note I posted a much more long winded version above: this is more succinct)
Love the new update! Asana & Dropbox, two of the most application I use everyday. Thank you for creating awesomeness!
Please add feature like upload folder?
Maybe a better user interface on dropbox end?
Request: Is it possible to link to the file on the local drive? [for instance, can the link on the task include just that last part of the path so we can navigate to the local file, not the cloud based version?] Opening the file in the browser is not part of the process of getting our tasks done, but opening the local file in Photoshop is. After all, this is why we use dropbox, to have have the files we need to accomplish our tasks sitting there waiting for us in local, syncable folders.
Thank you for all the great work!
+1 for google docs integration.
What the heck… it looks as if i can no long drag and drop from my hard drive to attach… a big boo hoo if that is what dropbox integration means.
That’s so, so great! Thank you for this update!
Offline apps for Desktops and Android would be great!
OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is great =)
I can’t wait to see who else you guys partner with in the near future to make the already amazing Asana that much better.
You guys are the best :)
Awesome!!!
This is awesome as your product is and its overwhelmingly fast. I am going to live my professional life with Asana.
Can you please do the same Integration with Box.net!
We’ve been using drop box and Asana at our web design company http://www.nwonline.co.uk for about the last year – this is a great new feature bringing two of the best collaboration and file sharing tools together – great work guys!
This is good.. Do you have any plans of integrating with Google Drive? That would even more awesome..
Hi guys, I Iove the attach files function! It’s great! I use it a lot on a daily bases.
I would be great if you can also improve it to be able to:
- Attache multiple filles at one time.
- Remember last time dropbox file location.
Keep the great job up!
Great with Dropbox… but when are you going to create a timetracking feature…?
Fantastic! Another reason to keep loving your product… Thank you!
Another +1 for Google Docs integration!
This is awesome and very useful! Thank you!
But I just have a little suggestion. It would be better if thumbnails in task view could be updated when we had updated the source picture in dropbox.
This is great and I have been hoping this for a while.
How about integration with Evernote to allow links to documents as a two way link. That and Google docs would also be really good.
Make drag and drop attachments work again first!
This is a great addition. I would suggest making it possible to upload files TO a specific Dropbox via Asana in addition to being able to FROM a Dropbox.
not bad at all! :)
Neat work, Google drive and Github integration with ASANA would be awesome. Currently I am using a bash script that my friend wrote to mark off completed tasks when I push commits to the Github repo. It would be great if this was a native feature of ASANA.
I’d like to see Box.com and Google Drive support added. Dropbox is nice, but we use Box for business files and Google to some extent.
This is great, but if you really want to demonstrate you are an enterprise app you should add support for Box.com.
well i think some od us will be Also happy to have offline apps Both for Windows and android devices. Young CANT be online all the time.
Thank you for your integration (Asana & Dropbox).
Love it.. ♥
truly AWESOME .. it keeps my client approvals in check :P
+1 Google Drive!
Thanks, this is Great !
You guys keep reading my mind. Just a few weeks ago I was thinking how cool if I could link tasks to my Dropbox files…
Truly love working with Asana!
+1 for Google Drive
and about DropBox integration. I just tried it, and when I renamed the file in DropBox, link no longer worked in Asana.
+1 for Google Drive. Keep up the great work otherwise.
I love this feature on Asana. Every day I use Dropbox at least twenty times, and now my job is much easier.
why the F can’t you select multiple files?!?!?!?! Going crazy over here
Unbelievable….
+1 for Google Drive
Google Drive integration!
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So I didn’t read all 181 comments, but it looks like Google Drive integration should be on your road map, Asana. It could be argued that having the Drive client to sync locally would suffice, as your files are local as well in Drive, but as a SaaS it makes sense to do this. Love it or hate it, Drive and Google aren’t going away soon.