Column Magic

Welcome to the ULTIMATE columns toolbox.

A collection of over 20 powerful, easy-to-use recipes and automation action blocks that will bridge the gaps and take your columns to the next level!

Before you continue…
For any questions, concerns, or to get help, feel free to contact our Monday Man Support.

Getting started using Bridges: Columns – The ULTIMATE Columns Toolbox is as easy as 1, 2,… actually, that's it.

Click a link below to jump to a section, or just keep scrolling.

1. Install Bridges: Columns
2. Add the Functions to Your Board

For additional information use these links:
Functions Overview
Recipes and Action Block Details
Monday Man Support
Other Monday Man Apps, Updates and Complete Documentation

Install Bridges: Columns

If you are adding Bridges: Columns from the marketplace, click on the blue "Add to your account" button as shown here:

From The Monday Man website, click on the big "Add to monday" button as shown here:

Or this one:


By clicking one of the above buttons you will be directed to the authorization screen shown below. If you happen to belong to more than one monday account, be sure to confirm that you are installing into the correct account by checking the account dropdown in the upper right corner of the screen.

To continue and install, simply click on the blue "Install" button.

Once this has been completed you can now add recipes and action blocks to your boards.

Add the Functions to Your Boards

How to Add these functions to a Board – using the included recipes

  1. Click on Integrate in the upper right-hand corner of your board. Then click Add new integration.
  2. Scroll to the bottom or search for Bridges: Columns and select it.
  3. Select and configure the desired recipe.

How to Add to a Board – with custom automations (action blocks)

  1. Click on Automate in the upper right-hand corner of your board. Then click Add new automation.
  2. Click on Create Custom Automation.
  3. Select and configure the desired trigger and controls.
  4. Click on Then do this.
  5. Click on More options at the bottom OR start typing the name of the desired action block in the search box.
  6. Select and configure the desired action (and add additional actions as needed).
  7. When finished, click Create Automation.

Quick Tip – After you have created a custom automation, if you decide that you need to change it, here's a trick. There currently is no way to directly edit an existing custom automation… But, if you click the three dots in the upper right, you can DUPLICATE it.

This will take you into the editor where you can now make changes! Just be sure to turn off or delete the original before you leave.

Functions Overview
Let's take a look at what you can do with the tools in this fancy new toolbox…

  • Clear a column (most any column, INCLUDING mirror columns)
  • Expand team members to people column
  • Remove "(copy)" from duplicated items & "FW:/Fwd:/RE:" from emailed items
  • Assign acting user to people column
  • When a file is uploaded or deleted, set status
  • Copy column value to another column
  • Approval functions:
    • Approve – Move proposed value to main value and reset
    • Deny – Clear proposed value and reset
  • When a text column changes, check for specific words and set status
  • Remove specific words from a text column


All of these tools have corresponding recipes, just like the ones we're all used to using. Most of them can also be activated as part of a custom automation.

Recipe & Action Block Details:

Below are the function details with descriptions, benefits & use case examples of each, a link to a detailed "how-to" where needed, and a description of the Watts used.

Clear a column

  • Available in custom automations.
  • Will clear every column type EXCEPT the ones that can't be cleared (Name, Auto Number, Progress Tracking, Formula, Item ID, Creation Log, Last Updated).
  • Mirror columns – if there is more than 1 connected item, only the first connected item column value will be cleared.
  • Simple and POWERFUL – this function can be used in SO many situations. For example: resetting recurring tasks for next cycle.
  • 1 Watt – for column types: Status, Date, Location, Link, People, Dropdown, Text, Long Text, Phone, Email, Numbers
  • 2 Watts – for column types: File, Checkbox, World Clock, Vote, Dependency, Color Picker, Rating, Week, Country, Connect Boards, Button, Time Tracking, Hour, Tags, Timeline
  • 2 additional Watts for Mirror columns

Expand team members to people column

  • Available in custom automations.
  • Expands all individual team members into a people column.
  • Can be used to expand a team into the same column where the team exists.
  • The expansion will overwrite any previously existing values in the people column.
  • Provides ability to use dynamic filters with teams. To use, simply expand your team to a people column then add a filter (using advanced filters): "{people column} is Me (dynamic)"
  • 1 Watt

Remove "(copy)" & "FW:/Fwd:/RE:" from item names

  • Removes "(copy)" from the end of the name.
  • Removes "FW:/Fwd:/RE:" from the beginning of the name.
  • It just works. Now, copied items and forwarded emails aren't quite so annoying.
  • 1 Watt per trigger (new Item)

Assign acting user to people column

  • Available in custom automations.
  • Can be used with Button Click, Status change, Column change and other triggers.
  • Auto assign item OR easily give visibility to "who changed this column last"
  • 1 Watt

When a file is uploaded or deleted, set status

  • Trigger column MUST be set to the file column to be checked.
  • I use this on my video board in combination with "When status changes notify someone" to alert my video editor or me when one of us has uploaded a file
  • 1 Watt per trigger

Copy column value to another column

  • Available in custom automations.
  • 20 different column types are supported. Here's the breakdown of which columns can be moved where:
    • Any of the supported column types can be copied to a column of the same type. Supported column types are: Connect Boards, Country, Date, Dropdown, Email, Hour, Link, Location, Long Text, Numbers, People, Phone, Rating, Status, Tags, Text, Timeline, Vote, Week, and World Clock.
    • Any of the above column types can also be copied to a Text or Long Text column.
    • A Text or Long Text column can be copied to the following column types: Country, Date, Dropdown, Email, Link, Location, Long Text, Numbers, Phone, Status, Tags, Text, Timeline, Vote, Week, and World Clock.
    • Mirror columns are not yet supported. (Let us know if this is important to you.)
  • Now, as the Genie says, "There are a few, uh, provisos, a couple of quid pro quos."
    • IMPORTANT: in most cases, copying an invalid value/format to a column will clear the "to" column.
    • Connect Board to Connect Board will only copy item links that are also valid in the "to" column.
    • Text to Dropdown and Tags columns should have labels separated by commas.
    • Text to Numbers can not include thousands separators.
    • Text to Dates are just weird.
    • When you want to copy text to another type, it can sometimes be helpful to go the other way first to better understand how the formatting should look.
  • This seems to be a popular one! Please share with us how you are using it.
  • 1 Watt

Check a Text Column for specific word(s) and set status with results (Audit)

  • Available in custom automations.
  • Can be used to check for action words, triggers, status updates, profanity, etc.
  • To use it, simply list your words (or phrases) separated by commas when configuring the recipe.
  • We're not sure how WE can use this one. But, we think it's cool.
  • 2 Watts

Check a Text Column for specific words and remove all that are found (Redact)

  • Available in custom automations.
  • Can be used to redact names, proprietary words and phrases, profanity, etc.
  • To use it, simply list your words (or phrases) separated by commas when configuring the recipe.
  • Not everyone needs this. But for those that do, now you have it!
  • 2 Watts (1 Watt when no words are found)

The Approval Recipes:

Provide an easy-to-use workflow for controlling column change requests at the item level. The following describes the recipes and how to use them:

Click here for detailed board setup instructions: Approvals How-To

Approve

"When status changes to something, move value from column to column and clear the From column and change status to something else"

  • From and To columns can be any of the following types but MUST be the same type: Date, Status, Number, Text, Long Text, People.
  • The trigger status column and the change status column should usually be the same column but are not required to be.
  • 1 Watt

Deny

"When status changes to something, clear column and set status to something"

  • The clear column may be any column type EXCEPT the following: Name, Auto Number, Progress Tracking, Formula, Item ID, Creation Log, Last Updated.
  • The trigger status column and the change status column should usually be the same column but are not required to be.
  • 1 to 4 Watts (same as clear column, usually 1W for this use case)