How to Use Variables in Task Names in Planfix
Variables in task names let Planfix fill in the part of a name nobody should be typing: a number, a date, a client. A variable is a field of a task or another object written in double curly brackets, and it is replaced with its value once, at the moment the task is created — the Help Center article on variables in task names and descriptions lists what is available. This one-minute video sets one up from scratch: a deal created with its number already in the title.
What you’ll learn: how to use variables in task names
- What a variable is and where Planfix takes the value it inserts.
- Open the object settings and type the fixed part of the name.
- Reach the list of variables from the name field itself.
- Pick Task as the object and Number as the field.
- Create a deal and find the number already in its name.
How to add a variable to a task name in a Planfix object, step by step
Step 1. Open the object you create tasks in
A name built from variables is a setting of the object — the entity whose tasks you are naming, such as a deal, an order or a request. Open Account management → Types of objects and click New Object to build one, or pick an existing object under Account management → Objects. An object is the digital twin of a process: it carries its own form of fields, set of statuses, scripts and buttons, as the Help Center article on objects in Planfix describes.
Step 2. Type the fixed part of the name
In the object, find the Name of created task field and enter the text that stays the same in every task; in the video it is simply “Deal number”. Keep it short and recognizable — this is what your team reads in lists, boards and notifications across task management in Planfix.
Step 3. Open the list of variables
Click the three dots in the top right corner of the name field and open the list of variables. The list comes from your own account: about 30 system variables for time, date, day of the week, month and year in various formats; every task field, including each custom field; the fields of any directory used in task fields; the project the task belongs to, with its custom project fields; the counterparty, with data from the customer card; and the parent task of the current one.
Step 4. Pick the object and the field
Select Task as the object, then Number as the field, and add the variable to the name. In the saved setting it looks like a field path in double curly brackets — {{Task.Number}} for the number, {{System.Today}} for the current date — sitting right after your fixed text. Save the object.
Step 5. Create a task and check the name
Create a deal from the object. Its name already contains the number, and nobody had to open the previous deal to work out which one comes next. Two details are worth knowing: values are substituted once, when the task is created, and a task created as a Draft gets them when it moves to a working status. Dates can be formatted, and when several fields share a name, each has to sit in its own set of fields for the variable to resolve correctly.
Example: every deal created with its number in the name
The example in the video is the one most teams meet first. The words “Deal number” sit in the object’s name setting, the number variable follows them, and from then on every deal arrives numbered — on the board, in search and in any document built from it. The rule lives in the object rather than in a habit people have to remember, which is part of what lets Planfix work as a CRM for processes that each number their own records.
Where else variables work in Planfix
- Task descriptions: the same variables fill the description of the created task, not only its name.
- Email templates: a reply that already carries the task number and the client’s data.
- Script actions: sending an HTTP request, an SMS or a message to WhatsApp or Instagram.
- Bulk actions, scripts, buttons, webhooks and email rules: changing a name or a description, adding a comment, or setting the value of a Text field.
Who it’s for
- Sales: every deal numbered at creation, so proposals and invoices quote the same number.
- Support teams: incoming requests numbered the moment they arrive, whatever channel brought them.
- Project teams: a project code in the name tells typical tasks in different projects apart at a glance.
- Finance and back office: names assembled the same way every time, so records and documents match.
- Administrators: one setting in the object instead of a naming convention nobody follows.
FAQ
How do I add a variable to a task name in Planfix?
In the object, type the fixed text in the Name of created task field, click the three dots in the top right corner of the field and open the list of variables. Select the object and the field — Task and then Number in the video — add the variable to the name and save the object.
When is a variable replaced with its value?
Once, at the moment the task is created from the object or template. If the task is created as a draft, the variables are filled in when it switches to a working status.
Are variables in tasks available on every Planfix plan?
No. Variables in tasks are available in paid and premium accounts.
Automate the name nobody should be typing
Pick the object whose tasks your team still renames by hand — deals, orders, incoming requests — and put the variable in its name setting once. From there it joins the rest of business process automation in Planfix: scripts, buttons and templates that fill in data instead of asking people for it. For the same idea taken further, see how a numbered deal turns into a finished document in automating commercial proposals and deal numbering. New to Planfix? Sign up to try it.
