Everything You Need To Know About Subitems In monday.com

What Is A Subitem In monday.com?

A subitem is an item that sits underneath another item, and any board can have them. Hover over an item and click the faint arrow on its left to open its subitems, then type to add one.

Once an item has subitems, it shows a count of how many it has, and the arrow stays visible so you can open them again.

Can Subitems Have Their Own Columns?

Yes. Subitems work almost exactly like items. Press the plus button on the subitems to add a column. As far as we know, every column you can add to an item can be added to a subitem too.

Each subitem then holds its own data, so one subitem might be marked finance and another sales, all under the same parent item.

Can You Have A Subitem Of A Subitem?

Not in the traditional sense. monday.com's multi-level boards do something different. Our workaround is a checklist inside the subitem's updates.

Open the subitem's updates, choose the checklist option on the right and add each task. A tick appears on the subitem showing how many are done, so you can track tasks within a task. You may need to refresh the page to see it update.

How Do You Show Subitem Data On The Parent Item?

Click the three dots on any subitem column and choose Show summary on parent item. The parent item then shows a summary of its subitems, so you can see what's going on without opening them. It works on almost every column type.

These summary columns are mirror columns underneath, so in the column settings you can show every label or only what's done, and for dates, the earliest or latest date across the subitems.

How Do You Create Subitems Automatically?

Go to Automate, create an automation and pick a trigger such as when an item is created. Then search for subitem, choose Create subitem and fill in its columns. Add as many as you need, so every new project starts with the same tasks.

Add a condition, such as only if the project type is Website, and each type of project can get its own set of subitems.

Can Automations Run On Subitems?

Yes. When picking a trigger, search for subitem to see the options, such as when a subitem is created or when a subitem's status changes. For example: when a subitem is created, set its date to today.

There are fewer subitem automations than there were six months ago, but the main ones are still there.

How Do You Create Subitems One At A Time?

Sequential subitems only appear when the one before is done, so there's one active subitem at a time. Here's how we set them up:

1. Add a status column to the subitems to use as the sequence number, with the labels 1, 2 and 3. Make sure the subitems' main status has a Done label.
2. When an item is created, create subitem 1 with its sequence set to 1.
3. When a subitem's status changes to Done, and only if its sequence is 1, create subitem 2 with its sequence set to 2.
4. Duplicate that automation for each step after.

Turn off any automation that creates all the subitems at once, or both will run.

Can Subitems Connect To Another Board?

Yes, but only to items on the other board, not to its subitems. Add a Connect boards column to the subitems and set it as a two-way connection.

The connection has to be made from the subitem side. From the other board, you'll only be offered the subitems of the first item on the board, which is a quirk of monday.com. Mirror columns then work as normal, and the connection can be automated with Create item in board and connect boards.

Can You Filter A Board By Subitem Columns?

Yes. In the filter, choose where and scroll down to the subitem columns. Subitems always stay inside their parent item, but only the ones that match are shown, and the parent shows how many match.

Mixing item and subitem filters is where monday.com starts to struggle.

Can You Report On Subitems In A Dashboard?

Yes, but a chart can use subitem data or item data, not both at once.

The workaround is the summary columns on the parent item, which you can report on alongside item data, for example a stacked chart of each item's subitem statuses. For anything they can't show, build the report entirely from subitems.

Do Formula Columns Work With Subitems?

They work on subitems, but rolling a formula up to the parent item and then building more formulas or automations on top of it tends to struggle, in the same way mirror columns do.