Automation Basics
Everything you need to know about setting up your automation and understanding its basic behaviour & logic.
Understanding monday.com Automations
Automation in monday.com follows a general structure - "When something happens, perform an action."
- Trigger, "When something happens" - defines what event or action will activate the automation
- Action, "perform an action" - defines what the automation will do once it's activated.
Understanding Multi-Level Subitem Automations
Multi-Level Subitem Automations expands this logic to work across all 5 subitem levels on monday.com , closing one of biggest native gaps.
What's different:
- Run automations on subitems just like regular items
- Run automations at any level — top item down to the deepest subitem.
- Sync data between parent items ↔ subitems
- Automate subitem creation, movement, and updates
Examples:
With this app, you can create automations like:
- When a subitem is created, copy a value from its parent item.
- When all item/subitem is created, copy all subitems from this item in this board.
- When subitem status changes to something, convert subitem to item in this baord.
How to Customize Your Automation
Once you’ve selected a template, you’ll see a setup screen like this:
Each underlined field in the recipe is customizable — this is where you tell the app exactly how to run the automation.
Here’s what you can adjust:
- Columns — Choose which columns the automation should use (e.g., Status, Owner, Date, Text etc).
- Values — Define specific statuses, labels, or text the automation should apply.
- Boards / Items — Choose where the action should happen (same board or a connected one).
Tip: The available fields depend on the automation you choose, each recipe is dynamic and only displays the options relevant to that specific use case.
Tip: The available fields depend on the automation you choose, each recipe is dynamic and only displays the options relevant to that specific use case.As you can see in the examples below, some automations let you choose columns or dates, while others involve creating subitems, setting owners, or mapping values between boards, all customizable to match your exact workflow.
Once everything’s set, click Create automation — and your custom logic goes live instantly.
Testing Your Automation
Once you’ve created your automation, it’s time to make sure everything runs as expected:
Trigger the automation manually — for example, create or update a subitem according to your recipe.
Check the result — look at the connected parent item (or subitem) to confirm the automation ran and the update applied correctly.
Example: a subitem is created → the automation automatically copies a value from its parent item, keeping both perfectly aligned.
Example: a subitem is created → the automation automatically copies a value from its parent item, keeping both perfectly aligned.If It Didn't Trigger
If the automation doesn't run as expected, try these quick checks:
Automation is activeMake sure the toggle is switched ON in your board's Automation Center (Automate → Manage)
Field selections are correctReopen the automation and review your selections—the wrong column or value can prevent it from triggering
Trigger conditions are metMake sure you're testing with the exact values you configured (e.g., if you set "Done", test with "Done" not "Complete")
Once Everything Works
You're all set! 
Your automation is now active and will continue running automatically in the background.
To manage your automations:
- Go to Automate → Manage in monday.com
- Here you can toggle on/off, edit, duplicate, or delete automations
- View run history to see when they last triggered
Next steps:
- Roll out to additional boards
- Create more automations to streamline your workflow