# Switch from Trello

> Import a Trello board – or a whole Trello workspace – into Contals in a few minutes, with lists, cards, labels, checklists, custom fields, comments, due dates, covers, attachments and links between cards – then invite your team and switch.

Source: https://contals.com/docs/en/guides/trello-migration/  
Last updated: 2026-10-20

You can move a Trello board – or a whole Trello workspace – to Contals in a few minutes: export the boards from Trello as JSON (or connect with a Trello API key), choose who each Trello member is in your workspace, and start the import. Contals creates a new board for each Trello board with your lists, cards, labels, checklists, custom fields, comments, due dates, covers and attachments. Your Trello boards stay untouched.

> **Free help with the move:**
>
> Contals guides a limited number of organizations through the move in a 30-minute video call – free. You run the import in your own account while we explain each step; we never ask for passwords, never get access to your boards and never receive your export file. Ask for a place on the [migration service page](/en/switch/migration-service/) or with **Free Trello migration** on the Trello import page.

> **Large boards:**
>
> The import runs on the server, so you can close the page while it works. A board can hold 5,000 cards; for larger Trello boards, leave out the archived cards (one switch on the preview page).

## 1. Export the board from Trello

In Trello, open the board, then the board menu (**…**) → **Print, export and share** → **Export as JSON**. Save the file.

Several boards: export each of them, or – where your Trello plan offers it – the whole workspace as a ZIP file; Contals reads every board in it.

Alternatively connect with an **API key**: on the import page choose **Connect with an API key**, paste your Trello API key and a token (Trello Power-Up admin page → API key → "Token"). Contals uses them for this import only and never stores them. You then pick boards from a list grouped by Trello workspace – one, several, or **All boards of** a workspace. The API import also brings **every comment**; the JSON export contains only Trello's latest 1,000 actions.

## 2. Open the import page

In Contals: **Boards** → the import icon next to your workspace's name (or workspace settings → **Import boards**) → **Trello** → choose the file – or several files, or the ZIP file. The files are read in your browser; nothing is imported before you confirm. With several boards, tick the ones you want (at most 30 at once).

## 3. Check the preview

The preview shows what will be imported: lists, cards (and how many are archived), labels, checklists, comments, links, custom fields and due dates – and, when the board has them, checklist items with a due date or a person, covers, reminders, locations, links to cards and template cards. You can rename the board, choose who can see it and whether archived cards and lists come along (they stay archived). Under **Good to know** the preview lists, with numbers, what Contals takes over differently or leaves out.

With several boards, one page shows every board with its counts and its name; the options and the people apply to all of them. Contals also checks that your workspace has room for the new boards before anything starts.

## 4. Map the people

Trello exports names, not e-mail addresses. For every Trello member, choose the matching person in your workspace (Contals suggests one when the name matches), **invite them by e-mail**, or leave them unassigned. With several boards, each person appears once, however many boards they are on. No account is ever created for anyone: invited people get an e-mail and join only if they accept.

- Mapped people become the assignees of their cards and checklist items, their votes are kept, and their comments show them as the author.
- On a new board, mapped people get the role they had on the Trello board: admins stay admins, normal members can edit, observers can view.
- Unassigned people keep their name on their comments ("imported from Trello").

## 5. Start the import

Click **Import … cards** (or **Import … boards**). A progress bar shows how far it is – per board when there are several; you can leave the page. The result page lists what was imported and anything that needs your attention, with a button to open the board.

## 6. Invite the team and switch

Invite the rest of your team (board **Settings** → **Members**, or the whole workspace), agree on a switch date and set the Trello board to read-only.

## What is imported

| Trello | Contals |
|---|---|
| Board name, background color or picture | Board name, the closest of our backgrounds |
| Board description | The board's page of the Read me Power-Up |
| Board visibility (private, workspace, public) | Private stays private; workspace and public become "Everyone in the workspace" – you can change it on the preview |
| Board members and their role (admin, normal, observer) | On a new board, the people you map get that role (admin, editor, viewer) |
| Template board | A workspace template: new boards can start from it |
| Lists (order, archived), list limits | Lists; limits via the List limits Power-Up |
| Cards (order, title, Markdown description, archived) | Cards; card numbers follow Trello's card numbers |
| Due date, "due complete", start date | Due date with the time you chose (Due dates Power-Up), the card is done; the start date becomes the card's start – a start without a due date, or after it, becomes a date field |
| Due reminder | The card's reminder: the exact moment before a due time, or the matching day (on the day, 1 or 2 days, a week before) for an all-day due date |
| Labels (names and colors) | Labels, colors mapped to our palette |
| Checklists with items (done, order, assignee, due date) | Checklists; items keep their person (when you map them) and their due date with its time |
| Members | People you map (or nobody) |
| Comments (author, date), also comments copied with a card | Comments with the original date, marked "imported from Trello" |
| Attachments | Links (Links Power-Up), with their names. Files uploaded to Trello can then be copied into attachments with a Trello API key – see below |
| Card cover (an uploaded picture) | The card's cover, as soon as the picture is copied into Contals |
| Mirror cards, attached cards, board cards | A link to the imported card or board when it is part of the same import, otherwise to Trello |
| Template cards | Cards with the label "Template" |
| Location (place name, address, map) | A text field "Location" on the card front, and a link to the place on OpenStreetMap |
| Custom fields (text, number, date, checkbox, dropdown with colors, shown on the card front) | Custom fields, with the same options and card-front setting |
| Votes | Votes of mapped people (Voting Power-Up) |
| Card aging (regular or pirate), Calendar | The Card aging Power-Up in the same look; the Calendar Power-Up |

Contals turns on the Power-Ups your data needs (due dates, links, voting, list limits, and on a new board Read me, Card aging and Calendar when the Trello board used them).

## What has no counterpart in Contals

The preview names each of these with its number, so nothing disappears silently:

- **Colour covers** and Trello's **full-size covers**: covers in Contals are pictures above the card title. Cover pictures that are not files on the card (a link, or one of Trello's backgrounds) stay available as links.
- **Reactions** to comments: the comments are imported, the reactions are not.
- **Watching** cards: Contals notifies you about cards assigned to you and when someone mentions you.
- **List colours**, and **reminders on checklist items** (the items keep their due date).
- **Template cards**: Contals has no card templates; the cards carry the label "Template" instead.
- Trello's default due time (12:00, also midnight) counts as "no time": such cards are due all day in Contals.

## Not imported, by design

- **Butler automations** are not part of Trello's export; set them up again with the [Automation Power-Up](/docs/en/power-ups/automation/).
- **Stickers.**
- **Activity history**: the board starts its own history; comments are imported.
- **Data of third-party Power-Ups.** Trello's own features with a counterpart – votes, list limits, custom fields, location, card aging, calendar – are imported.

## Files uploaded to Trello

The import turns every Trello attachment into a link. Files that were uploaded to Trello can only be downloaded with a Trello login, so Contals copies them in a second step:

1. When the import is done, its page shows **Files on Trello** with the number of files.
2. After an import through the API, the key and token are still known to the page (in this tab only, never stored): click **Copy files into Contals**. After an import from a JSON file, enter an API key and a token first – how to get them is described under step 1, "Connect with an API key".
3. The files are copied a few at a time – also those of archived cards; each becomes an [attachment](/docs/en/boards/attachments-and-text/) of its card and replaces the link. Photos lose their location and camera data like every upload. Your browser makes the previews of the copied pictures right away, so card covers show on the board without opening each card.

A file that cannot be copied keeps its link, and the page says why – larger than your plan allows per file, the storage is full, or a kind of file that is not accepted. You can start the copy again later. After an import of several boards, each board's result page offers the copy for its files.

## Importing again

Import the same Trello board again later and Contals recognizes it: **Add only what is new to that board** adds the cards created in Trello since, and leaves the cards already in Contals as they are – nothing is duplicated. Or create a separate copy. With several boards, you choose this for each board.

## What is different in Contals

- Volunteers and guests are free on any number of boards.
- Card details open in a sidebar; titles are edited right on the card.
- Power-Ups are first-party and included; there is no marketplace.

Coming from another tool? See [Import from other tools](/docs/en/guides/import/).