I am attempting to digitize our Community Services department; essentially what I am trying to create are multiple inspections (boards) to be completed by employees which will then tie into a (master board) ‘overview’ of all of the inspection statuses for management in real time.
The following screenshot is of the Master Board ‘Day/Night Shift Checklist’ which links and displays the mirrored inspections as I intended:
The one board I am struggling to connect successfully is the Washroom Checks, as shown in the screenshot below. I would like to mirror each ‘Current Status’ (which is automated/dependent on all of the subitems are marked ‘Complete’) for each Washroom (14 total, separated into their own views on the inspection board) into the subitem portion of the Day/Night Shift Checklist. Washroom Checks is one of the inspection boards to be completed by an employee.
The way I am hoping to set this up will mirror each ‘Current Status’ of each individual washroom (Location, Male or Female) e.g. Wolves Den M, Wolves Den F, etc. within the subitem portion of the Master Board, and this is where I sit, stuck. Clearly, I am missing something, or this is an incorrect set-up altogether, and would appreciate any insight anyone might have.
Further, I hope to connect/mirror and automate the Master View board based on groupings in day or night shift, but that is another problem or another day…
Hi @SpecialProjects , you might want to look into Master Data. It lets you sync items and subitems from any number of boards into one central board. It supports a range of column types including the checkbox column type, so you should be able to see these updated on the master board.
Thank you for the reply! I installed Master Data as I want to give it a try, however I am having trouble setting it up correctly. In booking a consult/demo, the only times available each day are outside of my working hours - is there any chance of receiving assistance outside of those times?
Thank you again! Really hoping I can make this app work for my workflow
A few monday realities that bite everyone at least once (or me several time ):
You can only mirror item-level data
Views don’t exist to mirrors. Groups don’t exist to mirrors.
“Each washroom in its own view” = invisible to the Master Board.
Subitems can’t magically mirror other subitems
You can connect:
Item → Item
Item → Subitem (limited)
Subitem → Subitem
That’s why it falls apart when trying to land washroom statuses into subitems on the master board.
Status based on subitems is local
A status that rolls up from subitems only works inside that board.
You can mirror the result, but only from the parent item.
Option A — Flatten the washrooms (recommended)
On the Washroom Checks board:
Each washroom = one item
(Wolves Den – M, Wolves Den – F, etc.)
Subitems = the actual inspection steps
Status on the parent item auto-updates when all subitems are complete
On the Day/Night Shift Master board:
Create subitems for each washroom (static list)
Use Connect Boards (item ↔ item) from each subitem
Mirror:
Current Status
Last updated
Inspector (optional)
This works because:
You’re connecting items, not views
You’re mirroring a real column, not derived logic
Option B — One connector board
If you want to get fancy without breaking things:
Create a Washroom Index / Registry board
One item per washroom
Connect it to:
Washroom Checks
Day/Night Shift Master
Mirror the status through the registry
This gives you:
One source of truth
Easier automation later (day/night, alerts, overdue)
About day vs night shifts
Don’t try to automate this with views.
Instead:
Add a Shift status or dropdown on the washroom items
I agree with the conclusions here — the setup breaks because mirrors and connect boards treat derived data in a limited way.
One additional angle worth mentioning (for anyone who keeps running into this pattern): all of these issues stem from the fact that monday doesn’t let the same item exist in more than one board natively.
Because of that:
Rollups from subitems are always board-local
Views and groups can’t be reused
Any “overview” board ends up depending on mirrors or registry boards, which adds fragility
An alternative architectural approach (instead of flattening or using a connector board) is to reuse the same item across multiple boards, so each board is just a different context for the same data. When the item itself is shared:
Statuses based on subitems behave consistently everywhere
Automations work without mirror limitations
No registry board is needed
It doesn’t replace the native options described above, but for teams that repeatedly hit the limits of mirrors/rollups, it can simplify master boards a lot by removing duplication entirely rather than working around it.
Instead of fighting with mirrors for every washroom subitem, you can track and report each washroom’s status progression (Complete / In Progress / Not Done) over time and surface that in a clean overview for management. It works well for inspections because you get both current state and historical accountability without overloading the Master Board with complex mirror logic.
Not a replacement for mirrors, but a much cleaner way to give leadership real-time visibility when boards + subitems start to explode.
):
(limited)