But now it would be great if we could have “only if checkbox is checked” and “only if checkbox is not checked” as criteria.
Checkboxes are simple Booleans, and are obvious candidates for conditionals.
At the same time we have no way to manipulate a checkbox as an automation action either. so a “Set checkbox to checked/unchecked” action for automations would be great too.
Beyond the obvious uses of checking items off, or saying a step is completed. Here is an example I have in mind for a more complicated workflow:
When _button_ clicked
only if _checkbox1_ is not checked.
and only if _status1_ is _StatusLabel1_
|
set _checkbox1_ to _checked_
set _status2_ to _Waiting_
assign _person_ to _people_
create _item_ in _board_ and link items.
set _status1_ to _StatusLabel2_
move item to _Step 2_
set _checkbox1_ to _unchecked_
This way, if someone clicks button, first thing that happens is the checkbox gets set. That way, if someone clicks button again before all of the steps are done running, it doesn’t trigger. Since the create and link item action needs to copy the status1 value to the new item, it cannot be changed until after the new item is created. But it also cannot be used as a filter.
There are myriad ways to work around this of course, but checkboxes are the simplest value type, and this would be allow consistent pattern.
Really the above is a hack to act as essentially a thread lock, to handle the currently high latency on automations at certain times of day. (A similar automation this morning was taking in excess of 45 seconds to complete…). Solving the latency issue would of course negate this need. Trying to convince users to just sit and wait hoping it catches up sometime doesnt work… they just keep clicking expecting something to happen.
I am not keen on resurrecting a dead thread (necro-posting if you will) but was looking for assistance in using the checkbox column. It appears that this is a practically useless column as you can’t really do anything with it.
An even simpler use case of the checkbox comes from the column description itself:
Once you have added it, you will have the option to “check” all the tasks you have completed. How satisfying is that?!
It would be, if we could link the click to an actual status column. Granted, there may be a way that I am not aware of, but when I think of a checkbox, and the above statement from monday.com, I immediately think of a shortcut to mark that task or item complete. If every item only had a status of “Done” or “Not Done” the checkbox would suffice, but that isn’t how things work.
We should have the ability to say “When checkbox is marked, set status to value.” and “When checkbox is unmarked, set status to value.” With this, the checkbox becomes useful, and not just a pretty column. With even more linking, @codyfrisch 's suggestion, and others could become closer to a reality. We could develop automations that looked at multiple checkboxes to set the status, make assignments, create other items, etc. I think that currently the checkbox, and some other columns available, or only second-class data fields. it is not actionable. Why can we parse through (potentially) long status or label columns, but not a simple boolean field?
This definitely is something I would like to have. One of my scenarios is for a validation when Status is marked Closed to be able to see if the Store Notified checkbox column is checked and if it isn’t be able to send an update or message to the AssignedTo person reminding them to notify the store if they haven’t already and/or check the box.
I have a need for a notification to be triggered only if a checkbox is ticked. This would add great value in regard to informing project members to take an action when a task is completed and has a checkbox ticked.
So just a few weeks ago, I said this is a long way off. Turns out its been released but not as obvious as you’d think. It uses the new “is/is not empty” condition.
That is very odd, because there is no indication that its on a staggered rollout. I’d post in that thread I linked to, to find out why its not available in your account.
