Monday.com to Asana Migration: How to Export, Format, and Import Your Data

Looking to migrate from monday.com Work Management to Asana? This guide covers the essentials of exporting your monday.com boards, reformatting the data into a structured CSV, and importing everything into Asana manually. You’ll learn which issues you can address on your own - and which might require a little extra support.

Step-by-Step monday.com to Asana Migration

1. Exporting monday.com boards one at a time

Exporting boards individually gives you more control over the data you export. Your export will mirror the active board view—reflecting the filters applied and the columns you have visible.

(Note: Custom sort orders won’t be maintained, as the export always uses the default order.)

Step-by-Step: Export Your Board

1. Open the board you want to export.

2. Click the three-dot menu (•••) in the top-right corner.

3. Select More actions > Export board to Excel.

4. Optionally choose:

   • Include Updates: If selected, comments are exported as a separate sheet in the Excel file and not structured for importing.

   • Include subitems: If selected, this option exports subtasks; however, they are not formatted for direct import and will require additional formatting to establish proper parent-child relationships. We'll cover the necessary steps later.

5. Save the Excel file to your computer.

   
   

2. Bulk exporting multiple boards

For larger migrations, exporting boards one at a time might not be practical. Instead, you can export all your account data at once.

Step-by-Step: Export All Account Data

1. Navigate to your user icon, then select Administration.

2. Scroll down and click on Export account data.

3. Click Download data to generate a .zip file containing your account data.

4. Extract the .zip file. Within the extracted folder, you will find:

   • A folder named boards, containing multiple Excel files—one for each board.

   • A folder named assets, containing all attachments.(Note: Attachments are exported separately and are not linked to their respective tasks, so you'll need to manually reattach them in Asana after import.)

   • A folder named updates, containing an Excel file with comments.(Note: Like the individual board exports, this file isn’t structured for import.)

     
     

3. Why monday.com’s export format requires adjustments

Regardless of whether you export boards individually or in bulk, you’ll notice that the exported Excel files aren’t structured for a seamless import.

Monday.com exports data in a way that mimics its visual board layout rather than providing a clean, structured dataset.

This results in several challenges for data import:

• Merged Headers: Column names might span multiple rows.

• Grouped Sections: Tasks and subitems are visually grouped rather than organized as flat data.

• Irregular Task Rows: Not every row represents a distinct task.

• Non-Standard Column Order: The "Name" column isn’t necessarily first—each column reflects a Monday.com-specific field rather than a standard data field.

• Unlinked Subtasks: Subitems are exported as separate rows without clear parent-child relationships.

• Separate Comments: Updates (or comments) are stored in separate sheets or files and aren’t attached directly to their corresponding tasks.

  
  

Because monday.com doesn’t offer an export option optimized for data processing, some challenges are inherent - but there’s a lot you can do on your own to format the data correctly. I'll cover everything you need to know to prepare your data for import. If you're migrating many boards, the process may require extra time and care.

4. Formatting your data for importing into Asana

To prepare your monday.com data for Asana, you’ll need to reformat the exported Excel files:

1. Ensure Each Row Represents a Task

   Verify that every row in your spreadsheet corresponds to a single task.

2. Consolidate Column Headers

   Make sure all headers are on one row—with one header per column.

3. Remove rows of Groups - replace with a column for Section

   Delete any groups manually, and instead, create a column called 'Section' and input the name of the Group into each row, mapping each task to the section it should end up in Asana.

4. Adjust Subtasks (Optional)

   • In the monday.com export, the parent task contains references to subitems in the "subitems" column. However, Asana’s importer expects each child task to include a reference to its parent.

   • To resolve this, create a new "Subtask of" field in your CSV and, for each subitem, enter its parent’s name.

   • Once the mapping is complete, you can either delete the original "subitems" column or simply ignore it during import.

5. Separate and Format Dates (Optional)

   • Ensure that start dates are separated from due dates—“Date to Date” won’t work.

   • Format all dates as YYYY-MM-DD (which is monday.com’s default format).

6. Map Person Fields to Assignees (Optional)

   • Convert the person field to an email address rather than a name.

   • If you have a larger number of assignees, it’s useful to refer to the Excel sheet in the teams folder from a bulk export, where names are in the first column and emails in the second.

7. Export as CSV

   Save your final, reformatted file as a CSV (UTF-8).

   
   

5. Importing into Asana using the CSV importer

Once your CSV file is ready, use Asana's CSV Importer to bring your data into a project. Follow these steps:

1. Initiate the CSV Importer

   • For a New Project:

     1. Click New Project > Import project.

     2. Give the project a name and adjust privacy settings as needed.

   • For an Existing Project:

     1. Click the dropdown next to the project title, then select Import > CSV.

     2. Add any fields from your library that you want the fields in your CSV to map to. Note that each option name must be spelled exactly the same in your CSV.

2. Select Your File

   • Choose the CSV file you prepared.

3. Configure the Import

   • Click Make Changes to begin mapping CSV columns to Asana fields.

   • The importer will automatically create new fields based on your CSV columns and infer data types—but you can adjust these mappings to use Asana’s built-in fields. For example:

     • Map the person column (exported as text) to Asana’s built-in Assignee field (which accepts emails).

     • Map the formatted ‘subitem of’ column to Asana’s built-in ‘Subtask of’ field.

     • Map the formatted date column to Asana’s built-in ‘Due Date’ field.

   • There are additional built-in options available should you wish to explore them—such as mapping Collaborators (which accepts emails) or Actual Time (which accepts various formats, e.g., “x hr y min”). Review and adjust these as needed.

   • If the CSV data isn’t valid for a built-in field, Asana will indicate which rows are problematic when you hover over the grayed-out field option.

4. Finalize the Import

   • Click Continue to project to complete the import.

5. Post-Import Customization

   • You can further customize your project by clicking Customize in the top-right corner and selecting Fields.

   • Adjust settings such as renaming fields or their options and customizing their colors.

Important Reminder:

Attachments are only exported with the bulk export and are dumped into a single assets folder with no linkage to their respective tasks. Additionally, comments are exported separately in the updates folder and aren’t structured for import. These elements will need to be manually reattached or transferred once your tasks are imported into Asana.

6. Additional Support to Streamline Your Migration

Manually formatting and importing your monday.com data can be very time-consuming and error-prone - especially when attachments and comments are lost. If you'd prefer to skip all these steps and have attachments and comments brought over automatically, my custom migration service streamlines the entire process, doing what monday.com's built-in exporter simply doesn't.

What I Offer:

✅ All-in-One Automated Migration: I do it all with my custom tool, saving you time and effort by managing the entire migration process for you.

✅ Attachments & Comments Preservation: monday.com's exporter leaves comments behind, but my tool ensures that attachments are reattached and comments are recreated—so nothing gets left behind.

✅ Consulting & Training: Benefit from expert, personalized guidance to optimize your Asana workflow and ensure a seamless, efficient transition.

If you're ready to streamline your migration and save valuable time, book a free discovery call to discuss your needs and explore my migration services.