Grouping fields in a form to create one column

[JRatcliff (Jen Ratcliff)]

I’m setting up a new board in which tasks are created when another department completes a form. Is there a way to combine a number of the fields in the form to create one column? To explain, a number of the fields in the form create a brief so I would prefer to have a brief column which contains all the relevant information. Is this possible? Currently each field has it’s own column so our tables are rather wide!

[FrancisElliott]

Hi Jen,

An alternative to using an additional app in your system could be the following:

1. Use your Form board as something like an “intake” board.
2. Set up an automation on your Intake board:

When an item is created
Create an item in board

3. Point the automation to create this item in your Tasks board. This will allow you to map the fields from your Intake board and do things like concatenate data. In the example below, I have put multiple Text fields into a Long Text field. This will also accept data from other column types such as dates and statuses. Perhaps that will be sufficient.

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Managing wide boards with lots of columns is a column challenge in monday.com. So let me also give you some general advice for making your boards easier to work with:

1. Think carefully about your views. I consider it best practice to have views focused on actions or activities. Try naming them “Assign People”, “Complete Tasks”, “Monitor Progress” etc.—this may help inform the way you choose which columns to show and hide.
2. Don’t forget that you can change the width of columns and zoom out on your browser. I find monday.com almost unusable at 100% zoom on my laptop! Try 80% or 70% and collapse the left-hand navigation tab for even more screen real estate.
3. Aim to keep item names short and keep relevant data in columns. That item name is almost always there, so try to only include an sort identifier at most. Then you can keep the column narrow.
4. The Item Card view in the Item tab is really useful (see below). It gives you a vertical rather than horizontal view of your columns. You can even create multiple Item Card views (use the cog to hide and unhide different columns) and name them—I’d again recommend naming and building these around activities that your users will perform in the board. Working in the item card in this way can be really helpful.
   
   
   
   Remember to “dock this widget” for the expanded view you can see in the screenshot.

Hope that helps!