I am reaching out to seek guidance on how to effectively manage multiple layers of items within the platform. Currently, we are looking to handle up to three layers of items, including subitems and subitems of subitems. While we understand that managing a fourth layer may not be supported, we are eager to explore alternative methods for organizing and connecting these layers within our boards.
Specifically, we are interested in understanding if there are any viable solutions using automations, mirror columns, or connect columns to achieve this level of organization. Additionally, we are curious about the possibility of transferring of an item to entire workspace of one of boards, including items and their respective subitems, to a different workspace while maintaining the mirroring configurations established in the master board.
We would greatly appreciate your insights on the best approach to address these challenges and any recommendations you may have for optimizing our workflow within monday.com.
Ex:
3rd layer of item or subitem layer manage in monday.com like---
monday.com avalable: item and subitem 2 layers can manage
But,
I want 3 layers atleast like---
**Item**, 1st layer ex: item 1
then **item** of **subitem** 2nd layer ex: subitem 1.1
AND **subitem** of **subitem** 3rd layer ex: subitem 1.1.1
how do i manage in monday.com ?
in above i understand we can add multiple subitem But wanted to know how manage subitems of subitem? any approach/alternative
To clarify: there is no native way to do this in Monday. You only get ITEMS and SUBITEMS (2 total layers) and that’s all that’s supported. I find that frustrating too.
There are probably several third-party apps that can force that functionality, like the one mentioned above—but personally, I can’t abide by having to pay for app licenses on top of the Monday subscription cost. And relying on apps also introduces more layers of vulnerability:
There’s no guarantee that a third party maintaining an app won’t suddenly go out of business or decide to stop supporting it.
For most apps, you’re giving another company access to your data, and you usually won’t be able to get satisfactory information about their data handling / security practices.
I’ll also add that Monday’s support for subitems is pretty feeble across the board. There are so many things you can do with regular items that you—seemingly arbitrarily—can’t do with subitems, especially automation-wise. If you’re a subtask-layer-lover, you should probably pick Asana instead.
Sorry, Monday team, but it is what it is. Give subitems some desperately-needed love or keep losing folks to Asana.
Hello Aniket!
To manage three layers of items in monday.com, you can use subitems and alternative methods like checklists within subitems for more granularity. Alternatively, create separate boards for the third layer and link them using automations or connect columns. For email notifications and mirroring configurations, ensure SMTP settings are correctly configured and test them. If issues persist, contact UniFi support for assistance. This approach helps in effectively organizing and connecting your layers within the platform.
Hi Aniket,
funny, I just bumped into an app in the marketplace that is called Unlimited Subitems which offers this exact multi subitem layers. The issue is that it received a 2.4 score and I’m trying to understand if I can read the reviews but did not succeed up till now… This is crucial at my work also and we are somehow managing.
Agree @michelle653burkes with point. First I also thought for same but, having some challenges manually need to connect with subitem parent summary on 2nd board which we used as third layers of subitem. And again let say we have workflow based on triggered from master “when status changes to something move item to another workflow board” at the time whole item along with subitem will move to workflow board but as in master board it was connected to 2nd board , this workflow board also get connected to 2nd board that was my concern if i do something on 2nd board it also reflect on master board as well as workflow board
For above scenario also anyone have any point please feel free add
Aniket - We found the subitems of subitems app to be limited in functionality and decided instead to layer multiple boards for sections of our work/projects, then have a master board that mirrors the data from the separate boards with information in columns at the item level. Mirrored columns also have some limitations, so depending on what we need the data to do, I create automations to push the data to the record and use one app for subitem automations to help keep historical data at the parent/master board, and that allows us to manage what we need for sections of the project on the other boards. We also use docs for checklists for milestone tasks that require several steps.