I have a board where we collate all of our inbox queries.
I wanted to have Status 1 to be the broad category (Order Issues), then once that is selected for Status 2 to populate a small number of sub categories related to the selection in Status 1 (e.g. Unable to Raise PO, Order Blocked) in Excel I could use dropdowns to do this, but I cannot see a way to do this on a board.
I have used Status columns in my example, but I am happy to change columns where required if this allows me to do what I require.
Great question, this is a common setup people try to recreate from Excel.
At the moment, monday doesn’t support true “dependent dropdowns” natively within Status or Dropdown columns the way Excel does. One Status column can’t dynamically change its label options based on another column’s selection.
That said, there are a few ways teams usually approach this:
Option 1: Use separate Status columns with conditional visibility
Create one Status column for each main category’s sub-options (for example, one for Order Issues subcategories, another for Shipping Issues, etc.). Then use board views to show/hide relevant columns based on Status 1. It’s not fully dynamic, but it keeps things organized.
Option 2: Use automations to guide users
You could add an automation like “When Status 1 changes to Order Issues, notify item owner to select a relevant subcategory.” This doesn’t restrict the options, but it reinforces the workflow.
Option 3: Use Forms (if intake is external)
If these are coming through a form, you can use conditional logic in monday Forms to show different subcategory questions depending on the first selection. That’s often the cleanest experience if the board is fed by form submissions.
If you’re trying to keep everything clean and structured, many teams choose a combination of Status columns plus filtered views to make it feel more controlled.
If you’d like hands-on help or want us to walk through this live, you can book a 1:1 paid 60-minute strategy session with our team here: Calendly
I think using a Dropdown column would work well as a simple workaround here.
You could replace Status 2 with a Dropdown column that includes all of your possible subcategories. While it won’t dynamically change based on what’s selected in Status 1, it will still keep your data clean and structured.
From there, you can rely on board filters and saved views to easily manage combinations and reporting based on both columns.
It’s not a perfect replica of Excel’s dependent dropdowns, but it’s a practical approach.
