Trello notification settings reverting after board permission level changes

Question

Teams often configure Trello for low-noise alerts by disabling board-level activity notifications, watching specific cards, enabling due-date reminders, and using Butler automation for targeted messages. A reported limitation is that changing a board's permission level—such as upgrading from Free to Business Class—may reset these notification preferences and require reconfiguration.

The unresolved question concerns the scope and persistence of that reset. It is not clear whether the change affects only board-wide toggles or also individual card watchers, due-date reminders, and Butler rules. There is also uncertainty about whether any low-noise configuration can be exported, saved as a template, or otherwise preserved before a permission change occurs, and whether restored settings will behave identically to the original configuration.

Which Trello notification settings are reset when a board's permission level changes, and is there a supported way to preserve or restore a low-noise configuration across that transition? Can Butler rules and card watchers be scoped or exported to prevent broad automation from recreating notification noise after preferences revert?

Tasadduq Burney · Answer

AnswerWhen a board’s permission level is changed (e.g., upgrading from Free to a paid tier or moving between workspaces), the board‑level “Notify me about activity on this board” toggle and any board‑wide due‑date reminder defaults may revert to their factory settings. Individual card watchers remain attached to the cards because they are stored per‑user, and Butler automation rules stay on the board but any rule that relies on a paid‑only feature can be disabled if the new tier does not support it.Likely explanationThe reset behavior is not officially documented by Trello; community observations indicate that only board‑wide notification preferences are affected, while per‑user data such as watchers and most Butler rules survive the change. The exact outcome can vary with workspace type and whether the board is moved between workspaces.Confirmed factsCard watchers are stored per user and persist across permission‑level changes.Butler rules remain on the board; rules that need a paid feature may be disabled if the new tier lacks that feature.Trello templates capture lists, cards, and custom fields but do not include notification toggles, due‑date reminders, or Butler rule definitions.The public Trello API does not expose endpoints for reading or writing user notification preferences or Butler rules, preventing automated backup/restore.Steps to preserve and restoreBefore changing the permission level, manually note the board‑level notification toggle state (on/off) and any custom due‑date reminder settings.Export the board’s Butler rules by opening Butler → Rules and copying each rule’s description or screenshot; also note any rule that uses premium actions.Optionally create a Trello template (Menu → More → Template → Create from board) to retain lists, cards, and custom fields.Perform the permission change on a test board first, if possible.After the change, verify the board‑level notification toggle and due‑date reminders; re‑enable them if they have reverted.Re‑create any Butler rules that were disabled or missing, using the notes captured earlier.Check a sample of cards to confirm that watchers are still present.Missing diagnostic detailDoes the board stay in the same workspace or is it being moved to a different workspace? A workspace move can affect the reset behavior and may change which steps are needed.

Trello notification settings reverting after board permission level changes

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