Trello: tips & tricks

Over the past 12 months, Trello has become a crucial part in how I run my business. I now use Trello to manage all of my client projects, keep on top of my project pipeline, and to keep track of what I’m reading and writing. Here’s a few tips and tricks I’ve picked up in that time.

Keyboard shortcuts

Perhaps the best way to become more efficient when using Trello is to learn the keyboard shortcuts. Here are the shortcuts I use regularly:

b Toggles board sidebar so you can quickly move to another board
↑ ↓ ← → Arrow keys allow you to navigate cards
c Archives selected card
d Opens the due date picker
e Opens quick edit mode on selected card
space Assign (or unassigns) yourself to selected card
enter Open selected card
n Insert card after currently selected card
t Edit title of selected card

Multiline entries

Need to create multiple cards quickly? Paste in the names on multiple lines and click ‘Add’. It’ll then ask you if you’d like to create multiple cards. Here’s an example:

This works for todo lists too:

Calendar Power-Up

The Calendar Power-Up can be enabled by clicking ‘Show Menu’ in the top right of you board, then ‘Power-Ups’ and clicking ‘Enable’ on the Calendar option. This gives you a calendar view to see cards with due dates. You can drag and drop cards on the calendar to change the due date and you can also create a card on a specific date by selecting a date and clicking ‘Add a card’.

Card Aging Power-Up

Card Aging is useful if you have a board with lots of cards. When Card Aging is enabled, inactive cards will slowly become more transparent as time passes. Once a card has new activity on them, the age counter is reset. Age thresholds are 1, 2, and 4 weeks. You can enable Card Aging in ‘Show Menu’ and then ‘Power-Ups’.

Drag and drop

Need to attach an image or file? Just drag and drop on to a card:

Paste in links

Need to reference a web page? Just paste the URL on a card and it’ll be added as an attachment:

Create cards via email

I strongly encourage my clients to use Trello instead of email. Inevitably a client will send the odd email and that’s when I find the email-to-board feature handy. Keeping all communication is Trello is crucial; I don’t want anything hiding in my email inbox.

Each Trello board has a unique email address. Click ‘Show Menu’, ‘More’, and then ‘Email-to-board Settings’. In there you’ll see the unique email address for that board, as well the ability to set which list to create the card in.

When you email that email address, it’ll create a card in the appropriate list. The subject becomes the card title, the body is the card’s description, and any attachments will also be added to the card.

Double click to add list anywhere

Want to add a new list in the first position? Double clicking on the board is the quickest way:

Text formatting

Trello supports markdown. Here’s a quick example:

Convert checklist items into cards

Find a particular checklist item is bigger than you thought or needs discussion? Turn it into a card:

Add a card to any position

Add a new card to any list position or another list with the ^ shortcut.

Link to other cards

Need to reference another card in a discussion? Easy:

Any cool Trello tips I’ve missed? Let me know!