Do you have boards on monday.com that organize separate projects and tasks but still contain related information?

Cross-board automation templates allow your lists to work together so that an action on one board will trigger an action on another board entirely. Many of these templates will also link connected items between boards. These automation templates add a new layer of collaboration to your team and allow you to manage related projects seamlessly and seamlessly.

How to add custom automation

Custom automations allow you to create new combinations of automations tailored to your team’s needs and perfectly fit your specific workflow.

To add a custom automation template between boards to your workflow, you’ll first need to visit our Automation Store at the top of your board:

There you can select the “Create Custom Automation” option:

Choose your trigger. A trigger can be a column from your board (like status, person, date, etc.) or an action that occurs on your board (like an item created, an item moved to a group, etc.). For example, we chose “When status changes to something “. In our board, we used the column “Have you tried this?” and the label “Yes”.

Then we select the actions that will be performed as a result of the selected trigger. To create an automation template between boards, first select the “Create an item in a board and link boards” template block:

Now, let’s set up the “Create a board item and link boards” block!

The steps to set up this customized automation are:

1. Select the board you want to create the new item in. In this case, we’ll create a new item in the “I Tried This!” board to keep track of the restaurants we’ve tried.
2. We will link the information from the item (or restaurant) we tried in the Local Lunch Spots board to the new board we will create in the I Tried It! board.
3. Select the board where we want to display the connection between these two items.
4. Then we’ll choose the column in which we’ll display this connection. If you don’t already have a Connect Boards column on your board, you can create one during the setup of this template by clicking “Add New Column.”
5. Click “Create Automation” to finish.

And that’s it! This is what this customized automation looks like in action:

How to add an automation template

To add the right template between boards to your workflow, you’ll first need to visit our Automations Hub at the top of your board:

There you can choose from our range of templates and set up the automation between boards that supports your workflow. Try searching for “in board” or “in another board” to easily find relevant templates:

Make sure to scroll down to view more automation templates between the boards:

There are many options to choose from!

Note: To map between tables, the column you want to map must exist in both tables. Additionally, the information in the updates section will only move when using ” Move Item ” automations, but not when using automations that create new items.

Column mapping

If the template you selected creates an item or passes an item, you will have the opportunity to define what information will be passed to the selected panel and where that information will appear within the structure of the selected panel. This is called mapping .

Note: Moving items that are synced with third-party apps through an integration column will break the connection. This means that when that item is moved to another board, it will no longer be connected to the integration that was set up in the original board.

Regardless of whether it is an item or subitem that is being transferred, some information will not be transferred. The column types below are considered “static” and are not currently supported :

• dependence
• Link to item
• Time tracking

When mapping an item, static columns will not have a blue + sign in the empty field:

Note: To map column values, the columns being mapped will need to be on both the original and the resulting table. If you see the column you want to map, but there is no blue + sign, hover over the empty field (for example, with the Files column).

Understanding “match” patterns

As part of our cross-board automations, we have several templates that involve matching identical data between items in two different boards to connect them. To find these templates, simply type “match” in the search field in the Automation Center!

These templates work by identifying identical data from two separate boards, as defined in your chosen template, and then connecting the items together where the data matches using the Connect Boards column.

Let’s learn how to set it up below!

Setting a “match” pattern

To learn how to set up a “match” pattern, we will consider the following pattern:

When the column changes, connect the item where the new value matches that column in another table.

Using this template, we want to connect items from one board to another when the employees match. To do this, we first selected the “Employed” column from the current table. Then, we selected the second table “High-Level Projects”, the Connect Boards column that we have in the current table, and finally the “Project Managers” column from the High-Level Projects table from which the data will be matched.

Now, if an employee on the current board changes to the same employee already on a high-level project board, the two items will be immediately connected in the selected Connect Boards column!

Supported column types for “match” templates

• Item name
• People column
• Date column
• Status column
• Column of numbers
• Timeline column
• Link column
• Telephone pole
• Email column
• Text column
• Priority column
• Label column

Good guidelines for the “match” template

Since the matching automations are in beta, there are some good guidelines and limitations to be aware of. These templates can be very powerful, but they are still experimental! Based on our customers’ experiences, consider the following:

Good guidelines

• It is recommended that you do not use more than two matching automation templates on a single board.
• It is recommended to add the adjustment automation on the board that is updated more frequently rather than on the board that remains more static.
• “Match” automations will only connect the first item that is matched in the designated panel.
• “Match” automations can only support one matching condition at a time.
• The column values ​​must be the same to match; it is case sensitive! So “Smith” does not match “smith”
• The automation that uses “Change Connected Columns” will not trigger an action when the connected table is connected using a “Match” automation rather than manually.

Limitations:

• Matching automations do not support:

• • Drop-down menu column
  • Sub-items

• If “match” automation is enabled for 500 or more items, you may experience some erratic behavior. This is normal for automation in beta.
• If there was no initial match, the automation will try to run 5 more times at 50 second intervals. After 5 minutes if there was no match, the automation will not try to run again.

If so, you can try running the automation again. There is no guarantee that the second attempt will also be successful.

We’re open to hearing your feedback about our “matching” templates! We’re always working on improving.

Examples between panels

Example #1

A project management team has a high-level rehearsal board. All of everyone’s tasks are on this board so the entire team can see a clear picture of each rehearsal.

The team should also create identical tasks on the lower-level team member boards. They will use the following standard automation template:

When a person is employed by someone , create an item in another board and connect them to the selected board.

With this template, when the selected person is assigned to an item, a new item will be created in the selected board under “Other Board.” This will allow the team member to have a separate board with a complete list of their tasks!

Note: When you click on the “Connect Them” field, you will have the option to add a Connect Boards column on the selected board in the “Other Board” field.

Example #2

A marketing company uses a monday.com embedded form for their email list. Once the form is completed, an item is submitted to a monday.com board. If approved, the item should automatically move to the next board in the chain. This is what the original board looks like:

To complete their workflow, they will use the following template:

When a status changes to something , move an item to the board.

Note: For automation purposes, moving an item to a board does not count as a new item. So, if you have an automation set up on the resulting board to notify you when a new item is added, this will not trigger an action.