Search Operator Syntax

Is there a centralized list of Search Syntax Operations?

I hav eseen bits and peices of ideas within the community and Asana HElp pages but no one stop-easy-refernce guide.

Some very simple functions I’m hoping exist, but can;'t find syntax for are:
Excluding Terms from search (for example google allows you to use -(minus) term (and quotes), eg
-Meeting or -“Tuesday Meeting” to search where “Meeting” or “Tuesday Meeting” is not in the task name

Phrases using quotes or joins, eg.
“Tuesday Meeting” (joining with quotes)
Tuesday-Meeting (joining with hyphen)

Thanks

6 Likes

Hi @Drew_Kese! I’m afraid this is not possible at the moment, all our available Advanced Search functionalities are listed in this handy article: Using Search & Advanced Search in Asana | Product guide • Asana Product Guide.

I have gone ahead and moved your post to the #productfeedback category to allow other user to add their vote for this feature!

1 Like

At least asterisk * should be possible. Often I run into the problem of joint words. Like in German I search for my business travel accounting which could be “Reiseabrechnung” or "Dienstreiseabrechnung. Would be nice to find it with “Reise” or “*reise”, but it does not work and so you need to try both. This is only one of many examples.

1 Like

It’s two years later and I’m still wishing for this

1 Like

See lots of people wants better search commands…ANDs, ORs, NOTs,MINUSs, etc. …

1 Like

Another…

1 Like

…and another…

1 Like

More advanced search options would be most elevating for asana usage :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Does anyone know if it is possible today to be able to do a people search using syntax like “Someone” or “Anyone”…

Interested to see where tasks are commented, liked, etc by anyone besides me. I know there is a “Not Me” but when I use this it doesn’t give me the results I am looking for. Instead, it shows me a list of comments I have NOT commented on (including those that nobody has commented on). I want to see things that ANYONE as commented on but ONLY if they have been commented on.

I know this isn’t as useful for other parameters like “owned by”, “created by” or “assigned by” because that is more specific to the “me” or “not me” syntax which is available.

THANKS!

cc: @Bastien_Siebman, @Phil_Seeman, @lpb, @Marie, @Emily_Roman

3 Likes

Sorry, @LEGGO, I’m not aware of a solution.

Larry

1 Like

Hi @LEGGO,

I’ve searched and asked our support team for workarounds, but there is currently no easy way to achieve this I’m afraid! As you mentioned, we already have “Not Me”, “Nobody”, but we’re yet to add “Anyone” to the list! I’ve filed a task internally and shared it with the team working on Search, and I’ll be sure to to keep you posted as soon as I have an update on this!

1 Like

And I know this is old, but I was trying to create a search today for items due within 3 days OR with the tag “#now”. I guess this is not possible. I’d have to have TWO different reports to enable this? There is no way to enable boolean searches? (This is basic search functionality stuff here…)

2 Likes

I cannot believe how weak Asana’s advanced search is. MAYBE if Asana allowed to create multiple list/board views (a la Airtable), then I would understand it, but considering I have to save only ONE default view, and therefore reports are my only alternative, I cannot believe how weak the advanced search is.

No ‘or’ operator? Come on!

1 Like

Just upvoting this issue.

Advanced search, however paid perk, is not advanced enough.
Exlude/Negate would be really cool.

For me: All task assigned to me, but not in my private board (where I have custom fields and stuff, that does not work in “my tasks”)

1 Like

8 months later, still waiting for some legitimately useful search operators in Asana…

2 Likes

The Asana search engine is useful but has some limitations relative to other software languages and applications.

The most notable is the lack of regular expressions as an search option. Booleans, grouping, quantification and wildcards are powerful features that required to search large amounts of data efficiently and effectively. Pattern matching in its current implementation is unsophisticated. This is a major limitation in Asana Search.

The second limitation is the limited set of search filters. The search engine assumes that you want to search all database object types (projects, tasks, etc.) when you may are just interested in a single type or subset of types. The current filters are usable but understanding the advanced features is somewhat daunting for the casual user.

2 Likes

Hi @Gerald_Garcia you bring up some good points and I agree that such advanced searching features would be powerful and helpful. Your post has been merged to Search Operator Syntax to consolidate the feedback. We’ll see what advancements are made in this area over time. You may want to vote for these features above! :+1:

1 Like

Please just add at least phrase searching, searching for an exact phrase is so essential to weed out noise. This doesn’t have to be all at once. It continues to feel crazy that we can’t just use quotes for “exact phrase” after YEARS.

2 Likes

… 5 years and counting.

1 Like

You guys seem to be being into the search-thing for a long time.

Is there a way to get a list of all projects, which are not in a specific portfolio? I found something like “project not in:” (typing in the searchbar) and then the portfolio name. But it doesn’t work.

Maybe you can help me.