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

Cross-board automation templates offer the ability for boards to interact by allowing an action in one board to trigger an action in a completely separate board.

Many of these templates will also link connected items across boards. These automation templates add a new layer to team collaboration and allow your team to manage interrelated projects seamlessly and cohesively. 

How to add a custom automation

Custom automations allow you to create new automation combinations tailored to your team's needs and make them fit perfectly into your specific workflow.

To add a custom cross-board template to your workflow, click on the Automate button at the top of the board:

Click on the Create tab at the top of the screen and then select Create from scratch:

Next, it's time to choose your trigger. A trigger can involve a column from your board like Status, Person, Date, or an action that happens on your board like item created, item moved to group, etc.

For this example, we'll choose "When Status changes to Something". Then we'll choose the actions that will occur as a result of the chosen trigger.

To create a cross-board automation template, we'll first choose the template block "create item in board & connect boards":

Next, set up the "create item in board & connect boards" block by adding custom fields as needed.

That's it! Here's what this custom automation looks like in action:

How to add an automation template

Navigate to the board Automations page, where you can choose from different templates and set up the cross-board automation that supports your workflow. 

Try searching "in board" or "in another board" to easily locate relevant templates:

Be sure to scroll down to view more cross-board templates, there are many options to choose from!

Note: In order to map across boards, the column you want to map must exist on both boards. Additionally, the information in the updates section will only move over when using "move item" automations but not when using automations that create new items. 

Mirror columns and automations

Most mirror columns cannot be used as automation triggers. However, there are several automation templates that can support mirror columns as a trigger. These are:

• When status changes from something to something else, notify someone
• When status changes to something, stop time tracking
• When status changes to something start time tracking
• When status changes to something, set due date to current date plus some days
• When status changes to something, set due date to current date
• When status changes to something, start time tracking. When it changes to something stop
• When status changes to something, change another status to something

Mapping columns

If the template you choose creates an item or moves an item, you'll have the opportunity to define what information carries over to the selected board and where that information will go within the selected board's structure. This is called mapping. 

Note: Moving items that are synced with third party apps via the Integration Column will break the connection. This means that when this item moves to another board, it will no longer be connected to the integration set up in the original board. 

Subitems do move over when using a "move item to board" automation. If your item has a subitem, the subitem mapping will happen automatically for you.

If the type of column on the subitem and the title of the column on the subitem are the same on both the board where you set up the automation (origin board) and the board where you intend to move the item to (receiving board), the values in your subitem columns will carry over.

Some information will not carry over no matter what. The "static" column types that are not currently supported in mapping include Dependency, Link to Item, and Time Tracking.

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

Note: In order to map column values, the mapped columns will need to be on the origin board and the receiving board. If you see the column you would like to map, but no blue + sign, hover over the empty field (i.e. with the Files column).

Understanding match templates

As part of our cross-board automations, we have a few templates that involve matching the same data between items on two different boards in order to connect them. To locate these templates, search for "match" in the Board Automation center.

These templates work by identifying the same data points from two separate boards, as defined in the template that you choose, and then linking the items together where the data matches using a Connect Boards Column. 

Configuring a match template

There are three match automation recipe variants:

• When column changes, connect the item where this column matches this column in another board by this logic
• When column changes, connect the item where the new value matches this column in another board by this logic
• When an item is created in this board, connect the item where this column matches this column in another board by this logic

Now let's consider the following template:

When column changes, connect the item where the new value matched this column in another board.

Using this template, we want to connect items between one board and another when the Improved text and Name inputs match.

Now if an item the Improved text column on the current board changes to the same Name that is already located on the Product Launch board, the two items will be connected right away in the selected Connect Boards Column.

Supported column types for match templates

The column types supported by match templates include: Item name, People Column, Date Column, Status Column, Numbers Column, Timeline Column, Link Column, Phone Column, Email Column, Text Column, Priority Column, Label Column.

Match template best practices

Best practices

• It's best not to use more than two of the same match automation template on the same board.
• We recommend adding the match automation on the board that is updated most often rather than the board that remains more static.
• Match automations will only connect the first matching item on the designated board.
• Match automations can only support one condition for matching at a time.
• Column values need to be identical to match; this is case-sensitive! So "Smith" won't match with "smith"
• The automation that uses "connected columns change" does not trigger when the connected board is connected using a "match" automation rather than manually.

Limitations

Match template limitations

• Match automations do not support:

• • Dropdown column 
  • Subitems

• Match automations do support the following columns:

  • People Column

  • Date Column

  • Status Column

  • Numbers Column

  • Timeline Column

  • Link Column

  • Phone Column

  • Email Column

  • Text Column

  • Priority Column

  • Label Column

• If a "match" automation is triggered for 500 or more items, you may experience some indeterminate functionality. This is normal for a beta automation.

• If there was not an initial match, the automation will attempt to run 5 more times at 50 second intervals. Once 5 minutes have passed, if a match wasn't made, the automation will not attempt to run again.
  • In this case, you can try to trigger the automation again. There is no guarantee that the second attempt will be successful either.

Cross-board example

Example #1

A Project Management team has a high-level iteration board. Everyone's tasks are listed on this board so that the whole team has a clear picture of each iteration.

The team also needs identical tasks to be created on low-level team member boards. They'll use the following standard automation template:

With this template, when the selected person is assigned to an item, a new item will be created in the board selected under "another board".

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 "another board" field.  

For automation purposes, moving an item to a board isn't considered a new item. So if on the receiving board you have an automation set to notify when a new item is added then it will not trigger.

Want to learn more about our variety of automations? Please check out this article!