7 min read

Feature

At monday.com, we work best when things are organized clearly and visually. This is why we have created monday workdocs! Workdocs are a central place for you and your team to collaborate, brainstorm, plan, and execute. Drop that notebook, close Google Docs, and toss away all your sticky notes - let's learn how to master monday workdocs together! 📝

What are workdocs?

Think of it as a flexible, multi-media whiteboard where you and your team can record all notes and ideas related to one central topic. By adding individual elements to your workdoc, all of your loose thoughts and ideas can come together in one place, right inside monday.com, where all the rest of your work is stored! 

Add a workdoc

You can add a new workdoc just as you would add a new board or dashboard!

Show me how to add a workdoc

• Step 1 - From within the workspace you'd like to create the workdoc in, click "Add"
• Step 2 - Select "New workdoc"
• Step 3 - Type the name of your workdoc into the first field
• Step 4 - Select the type of workdoc
• Step 5 - Click "create workdoc"

Workdocs types

Just like boards and dashboards, there are three types of workdocs:

Show me the three types of workdocs

• Main workdoc- Main workdocs are visible to anyone who is a team member within your account. A team member can be an admin, a member, or a viewer. To learn more about the difference between each type, check out this article. Anything you will create in this workdoc will be accessible and transparent to your team members.
• Private workdoc  - Private workdocs can only be seen by the person who created the workdoc and by the specific team members they invite to join the workdoc. Private workdocs are only for internal users (viewers and team members), meaning that you cannot invite guests to them.
• Shareable workdoc - Shareable workdocs are used when you want to share a workdoc with people outside your team or company, such as clients, interns, or freelancers. You can invite these people as guests within your account in order to collaborate with them. When you invite a guest to a Shareable workdoc, they will only have access to the specific workdoc they have been invited to, and will not have access to any other information within your account. You can also invite viewers or team members to your Shareable workdoc. 

Invite team members

To invite team members or guests, click the "Share" button at the top-right corner of your screen:

Next, type in the name of the team member you'd like to add, or the email address of a guest you'd like to invite if you've chosen a Shareable workdoc.

You can turn any workdoc members into owners by clicking the grey crown icon beside their name to turn it blue! An owner is, by default, the person who created the workdoc and someone who the creator has crowned an additional owner. Like a board, only the workdoc owner can crown other owners and delete or duplicate the workdoc. 

Edit permissions

There are two different types of edit permissions that you can implement in your workdoc:

• Only workdoc owners - Only workdoc owners (members with a blue crown beside their name) can make edits to the docs.
• Everyone who has access to this workdoc - Every account member with access to this workdoc can make edits. This means that if it is a Main workdoc, anyone with access to the workspace it was created in can make edits. If it is a Private or Shareable workdoc, any member of the workdoc will be able to make edits. 

You can change these permissions easily by clicking the "Share" button and then selecting one of the two options at the bottom of the pop-up window, as shown in the image above. 

How to use workdocs?

To add an element on your workdoc, you can either: 

• Click on any of the icons in the toolbar
• Use the keyboard shortcut '/' 
• Click on the + sign

Note: All of your work is saved automatically as you go, so no need to hit a "Save" button!

Move elements

Each element are flexible and can be transformed into other types of elements, moved up or down, duplicated, deleted, and more with the use of the drop-down menu.

To access the menu, hover to the left of an element and click the arrow that appears. Next, you can select an action from the menu. Elements can be moved by clicking the 6 dot menu to the left of the element, and dragging and dropping them within the document. 

Add and customize your text

There are a few ways to add and customize text! Besides using the '/' on your keyboard, as discussed in the previous section, you can add text right from the workdoc's header! Click the arrow beside the text button to select a type of text from the drop-down menu! You can even add bullets or a numbered list using their respective icons in the header. 

Once you have text added, you can customize it however you want! Just highlight any line or piece of text, and a floating toolbar will appear. From this toolbar, you can change the text type, format, color, alignment, and even add a hyperlink. 

'@ mention' team members

Collaborate seamlessly with your team members by '@ mentioning' them anywhere within your workdoc! Just type a '@' symbol on your keyboard to open up a list of all team members who have access to your workdoc. Once you select a teammate, they will be notified right away with a Bell Notification.

Embed boards

Need to reference a board while working in your document? Embed the board directly into your workdoc as a widget so that your content and data stay up-to-date and aligned at all times. 

Show me how to embed a board

• Step 1 - Click the board icon in the toolbar header or click on the + sign
• Step 2 - Choose a board within your board's list
• Step 3 - Collaborate on your embedded board right from your workdoc!

The board is fully functioning, allowing you to view and update everything right from within your workdoc! You can even view the board in full screen, rename, or filter the widget. 

Embed widgets

Add dimension and visual context to your workdoc by embedding widgets.

Show me how to embed widgets

• Step 1 - Click on the widget icon within the toolbar or on the + sign
• Step 2 - Click on "+More widgets" to open up the widget center
• Step 3 - Select the widget you'd like to add
• Step 4 - Choose which boards you want to connect to the widget
• Step 5 - Click on "done"

And you're ready to go! You can interact with your widget just as you would on a dashboard, and can rename it, filter it, and open up the settings menu to customize it exactly as you want!

Tip: To learn how to master widgets, you can check out this article, or read any of the respective widget articles. 

Add images and videos

Adding an image or video is similar to adding text. You can do so using the '/' keyboard shortcut and typing either "image" or "video", or by clicking the respective icon in the workdoc's header. You can also drag and drop images from your desktop right into your doc, or copy and paste them from anywhere. 

To edit or annotate the element, double-click the image or video to open it up in full-screen editing mode. From the toolbar, you can add updates, download, print, delete the image or video, and more. You can even get more information on your file with the vertical menu on the right side of your screen:

Add Updates

One of our favorite monday.com features appears in monday workdocs as well! You can add updates as annotations on images or within the text of your workdoc! You can even view them in a concentrated Updates Section on your workdoc, just like you would have in each item on your board.

• Add updates to images

To add updates to your images, first double-click the image to open it in editing mode, and then click the speech bubble at the left side of your toolbar:

Next, click anywhere on your image to annotate in that spot! You'll activate a pop-up window where you can type and format your update exactly how you would on your board, including '@ mentioning' your team members! 

To view all of the updates on your file at once, click the "Updates" icon in the vertical menu on the right side of your screen. Each update will be marked with a number, coordinating to the same number on the original image or video! That way, you can easily understand which updates relate to each aspect of your image. This is great for collaborating on designs or graphics, for example!

• Add updates to the body of your workdoc

To add updates to the body of your workdoc, click the speech bubble on the right side of the workdoc's header to open up the Updates Section, like this:

From the Updates Section, you can begin typing an update, just as you would within an item on your board!

You can tell the difference between general updates and annotations by checking if there is a header above the update. If it says "Update on file", you know it was added to a specific spot on a file within your workdoc. There will be an image of the file within the update, as well. If you click this image, you will open up the file and the update in full screen. 

Create new items

Workdocs are all about real-time collaboration and turning words into work. And what better way to connect your work documents to your workflow than to turn your text into items on any board as you type! 

To turn text into an item, highlight your text and click the "Create items" icon in the toolbar, as shown below:

Tip: If you have a list of items, you can highlight all of them, and we'll create each numbered or bullet point as a separate item in the selected board! 

Choose the board you'd like your item to be created in by selecting one of your recently visited boards or searching for another board in the search bar. 

Next, choose from the list of groups on your selected board.

Now, you'll see a message at the top of your screen letting you know that your item or items have been successfully added to the board you've selected. 

Add tables and layouts

Take your workdocs a step further by adding tables and layouts. Type '/' or click on the plus sign within your doc and select "Table" and "Layout". Tables allows you to create simple tables that can contain any type of content.  Layouts allows you to organize your content side by side and add as many columns as you'd like. It is that easy! 🤩 

Presentation mode

Take your presentations to the next level by using our new presentation mode! This mode brings with it a new, sleek look by utilizing a view only mode with a wider layout. Additionally, you can switch background themes during your presentation. View your presentation in light, dark, or night mode! 

Save as a template

Now, you have the option to save your monday workdoc as a template, just as you would a board! When saved as a template, the doc will be easily accessible in your template center. Everyone in your account will be able to use the saved template to create a new doc. Once the doc is saved as a template center, you can access it anytime!

Note: When making a workdoc a template, permissions settings will change to "Only Doc owners can edit" to prevent non-owners from making changes to the doc template. You can go to "Doc permissions" to edit these settings within the original doc.

Create a workdoc within the File Column

In addition to creating a free-standing workdoc, you also have the option to create a workdoc that exists within an item on your board! 

Let's say one of the items on your to-do list is to record meeting notes. By adding a workdoc to the File Column for this item, you can keep your work in context right within the item on your board! No need to flip between platforms or attach external files - everything is already here in the right place!

First, make sure you have a Files Column on your board. Then, click the item's cell within the Files Column and select "New monday Doc", like this:

Now you can click the cell to open up the workdoc whenever you have something to add or edit!

Note: You won't find this workdoc within the left pane where your other workdocs, boards, and dashboards are stored. This workdoc will be exclusively located within your item.

If you have any feedback or questions, please reach out to our team by using our contact form. We're available 24/7 and happy to help!