Migrate from Paymo to Trello

Paymo Projects map directly to Trello Boards. Project name becomes Board name, and project-level metadata (status, client association, budget, hourly rate) migrates as Board description or as Custom Fields if the destination Trello workspace uses Premium. We create one Board per Paymo Project and preserve project ordering by appending Board position in the workspace. Archived Projects in Paymo map to Archived Boards in Trello if the workspace uses a Board archiving strategy.

Paymo Task Lists map to Trello Lists within the parent Board. The list order is preserved. If the Paymo project uses a Project Template, the template's Task List structure migrates as a new Board with identical List-Task scaffolding. Note that Trello Lists are board-scoped only; there is no cross-board List inheritance, so each Board gets its own independent List set.

Paymo Tasks map to Trello Cards within the parent List. Standard fields migrate: Task name to Card name, description to Card description, start/due dates to Card due date (a native Trello field), assignees to Card members, and priority to Card labels or Custom Field dropdown (Premium). Estimated hours do not have a native Trello equivalent; we export them to a CSV companion file alongside the migration. Subtasks in Paymo map to Card checklists in Trello.

Custom Workflows introduced in March 2026 define per-project Kanban status columns. We map each project's unique workflow status set to Trello List names within that project's Board. If a status has no direct equivalent, we create a catch-all List (e.g., 'Miscellaneous') and flag it in the migration report for the customer's admin to rename or redistribute. Projects with no custom workflow map to default Lists (To Do, In Progress, Done) unless Paymo's project uses a built-in status set, which we convert to List names matching the source.

Paymo Milestones are tied to Task Lists, not individual tasks. We map each Milestone to a dedicated Card at the top of the corresponding List, titled with the Milestone name and marked with a milestone label or a Custom Field (Premium) to distinguish it from regular tasks. Milestone dates migrate to the Card's due date field. Trello does not support Gantt-view milestone display natively; the customer's admin must use a Power-Up like Chronogantt to render milestones on a timeline post-migration.

Time Entries linked to Tasks carry date, duration, billable flag, hourly rate, and description. Trello has no native time tracking field. We have two options: migrate time entry data as Custom Fields on the Card (Premium feature, limited to numeric or text format) or export to a CSV companion file keyed by Paymo Task ID. If the customer has the Time Tracker Power-Up active in their Trello workspace, we map entries to Power-Up time records linked by Card. Billable status and invoice linkage do not migrate because Trello has no invoicing module.

Paymo Invoices are generated from Time Entries and carry client, line items, totals, tax, and payment status. Trello has no invoicing module and no equivalent object. We export invoices to a structured CSV file keyed by Paymo Invoice ID, client name, and the Paymo Project ID, so the customer's admin can import into an accounting tool (QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks) or keep as a financial record outside Trello. We flag any invoices with an Unpaid status for explicit attention during post-migration reconciliation.

Paymo Clients are separate records linked to Projects and Invoices. Trello has no native client object. We map Clients to Trello by adding a Client Custom Field (Premium) to each Board or Card, or by prefixing Card names with the client name. If the workspace does not have Premium, we create a Client label per board and attach it to every card belonging to that client's project. We preserve the client billing contact as a text Custom Field if available.

Paymo Estimates are project-level financial approximations (available on Small Office and Business tiers) that can be converted to invoices. Trello has no estimate or budget-tracking object. We export estimates to a structured CSV file keyed by Paymo Project ID, with line item descriptions, quantities, unit prices, and totals. If the customer uses a Power-Up like Better Docs or a linked Notion workspace for project scoping, estimates can be attached as a linked document.

Paymo Expenses are logged separately from time entries and carry amount, date, description, and billable status. Trello has no expense tracking module. We export expenses to a CSV file keyed by Paymo Project ID and task ID, preserving amount, currency, date, description, and billable flag. The customer's admin imports this into an expense management tool or accounting software post-migration.

Paymo Project Templates bundle a project structure including Task Lists, Tasks, and Workflows for reuse and are available on Small Office and Business tiers. Trello has a Board Templates feature but it does not include automation or workflow templates. We deliver a Board Template mapping document listing each Paymo template and its Trello Board Template equivalent, noting that the customer's admin must manually configure Lists, Custom Fields, and any Butler rules to replicate the template structure. Template migration is configuration, not data migration.

Paymo Discussions are project-level comment threads attached to Projects. Trello does not have a project-level comment thread; comments attach to Cards. We map Discussions to Card Comments by matching the discussion topic to the most relevant Card (or creating a dedicated 'Project Notes' Card with comments as a catch-all). Chronological order is preserved by setting comment timestamps. Discussion threads that reference multiple Tasks are split into Card-level comments with a reference header noting the original discussion context.

Paymo Users referenced as Task assignees map to Trello Board Members. We resolve assignees by email match against the destination Trello workspace. Any Paymo user without a matching Trello member is flagged in the reconciliation report for the customer's admin to provision. Inactive Paymo users are added as Board observers (read-only) if their historical assignments need to remain visible on Cards.

Paymo Leave Planner records (Business-plan feature) manage employee time off and feed the workload scheduling view. Trello has no HR or absence management module. We do not migrate Leave Planner records to Trello. We export them to a CSV file keyed by user and date range, so the customer's HR admin can maintain the data in an HR tool or spreadsheet. The absence data is preserved and flagged as out-of-scope for the Trello migration.