Migrate from Basecamp to Trello

Each Basecamp Project maps to a Trello Board. The Project name becomes the Board name, the description migrates to the Board description, and the archived status is set on the Board. Basecamp membership (team members and guests) maps to Trello Board members at the Board level. We create one Board per Project and preserve the project creation timestamp as a custom field. Projects that were archived in Basecamp are migrated as archived Boards in Trello.

Basecamp To-do Lists map directly to Trello Lists within the target Board. The list name, ordering within the Project, and which To-dos belong to which list are preserved. Basecamp does not support nested To-do Lists, so there is no equivalent to Trello's List limit or collapsed state. The List position in Trello is set using the sort order from Basecamp.

Basecamp To-dos map one-to-one to Trello Cards. Assignee (person assigned), due date, completion status (checked/unchecked), notes (rich text), and checklist state are preserved. The To-do name becomes the Card title. If the To-do was completed in Basecamp, the Card is created in a Done or completed List. We preserve the Basecamp creator and completion timestamp as custom fields on the Card.

Files attached to Basecamp To-dos, Messages, or Documents are downloaded and reattached to the corresponding Trello Card. Basecamp stores attachments with a download URL and filename. We download each file, upload it to Trello using the Card attachments endpoint, and preserve the original filename. File size limits on Trello (10 MB on Free, 250 MB on Standard+) are checked during scoping, and large files are flagged if they exceed the destination plan limit.

Basecamp Schedule events carry a title, start/end datetime, all-day flag, and assigned person. Trello has no native calendar or event object. We extract the event date and set it as the Card due date. For all-day events, we set the all-day flag. For events with a time component, we set the due time in UTC. Events with no due date are flagged in the migration report. Multi-day events spanning a date range are set to the start date with a note referencing the end date.

Basecamp Message Boards contain discussion threads with a title, body, author, timestamps, and comment threads. We create one Trello Card per Message thread and set the thread title as the Card name, the thread body as the Card description, and the comments as Card comments with the comment author and timestamp preserved. The comment hierarchy is flattened; nested replies are posted as sequential comments on the Card.

Basecamp Documents are rich-text pages created in Workdocs. We export the full HTML content, title, author, and creation timestamp. If the Document is short and task-relevant, we attach it as the Card description. For longer documents, we create a linked Card that holds the document title and a note pointing to the exported HTML file stored in the Trello Board workspace. Embedded images in Workdocs are downloaded and reattached to the Card.

Basecamp Comments attach to To-dos, Messages, and Documents. We preserve the comment text, author (matched by email to a Trello member), and timestamp, and attach them as Card comments on the migrated parent. The comment author and timestamp are prepended to the comment body so reviewers can identify who said what and when.

Hill Chart progress is unique to Basecamp and stores only a numeric value (0-100) per To-do. The hill curve itself cannot be exported. We extract the numeric progress value and create a Trello Custom Field (type: number) called Hill Chart Progress on each Card. This preserves the momentum data for teams that track work completion on the hill curve. The custom field is set up during the schema design phase.

Basecamp Users are mapped to Trello Workspace members. We resolve by email match. Guests (clients and contractors who do not count toward Basecamp billing) are invited to the relevant Boards as Board members rather than Workspace members. If a Basecamp user does not have a corresponding Trello account, they are added to a reconciliation queue for the customer to provision before migration.

Basecamp Project Templates store a reusable structure of To-do Lists, scheduled items, and initial messages. Project Templates are not API-accessible in Basecamp Classic. We can replicate the template structure as a new Board in Trello, but this requires manual mapping of To-do Lists and scheduled items. We flag migrated templates as Board Templates in Trello using a custom label and deliver a written list of template elements for the customer to configure manually.

Pings are direct messages in Basecamp with no persistent archive beyond recent history. They are not reliably exportable via API or built-in export. We flag Pings as a data-loss gap during scoping and recommend that teams export or screenshot Pings manually before migration begins. Pings do not map to any Trello object.