How can you differentiate which status columns should be manually updated by the boards users vs. which ones will be updated based off of other actions through an automation?
We have some status columns that are “task-based” and require the board users to manually change the status once the task is completed. Other status columns which track the overall progress of the project (based on the completion of the task-based columns), while these overall progress statuses can theoretically be updated manually, are set to change/update based off of the automation of other actions on the board (like the status changes of the task-based columns). The board users are confused as to which ones they’re supposed to update vs. which ones will automatically update so I’m looking for an easy and highly visible way to differentiate them on the board.
Hi Shannon,
There are lots of good solutions here.
Firstly, you can set permissions on the column and lock it to prevent access:
Secondly, what I really like to do is use emojis to help communicate column, board, and label function. If I expect something to be automatic, I add a 
or a 
. Something manual can be a 
or a 
.
Experiment with using these in your column headers and status labels to create a useful visual language for your team.
1 Like
Thanks Francis - these are some good ideas for the interim. It would be great if Monday could add a feature similar to the “Restrict column edit/view” where you could set the column as a manual or automated column and when you hover over the “information” icon on that status it would give you that information - similar to how it shows more details of which board the mirrored data is coming from.
You can set a column description with anything you like and when you set restrict column edit, you get an icon that indicates it as well.
Is there something else you had in mind?
