Set description item_view/data from API

Platform discussions
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1

Hello,

I’m working on a tool that exports data and creates items on a board using the Monday API.

Current status

  • :white_check_mark: Export works exactly as expected

  • :white_check_mark: I can read description_item content from existing items without issues

  • :white_check_mark: I can create:

    • Items

    • Updates

    • Subitems

    • Most column types

The problem

I’m unable to write data to the item description (the panel that appears next to Updates in the item view).

From what I understand, the description is backed by a Monday Doc, and this doc does not seem to be initialized until:

  • A user opens the item UI in Monday

  • The description already contains data

What I’ve tried

  • Using the create_block mutation

  • Using add_content_to_doc_from_markdown

  • Querying docs to retrieve a doc_id

  • Writing to:

    • The description column ID

    • The hidden “Monday Doc v2” column ID

    • The retrieved doc_id

  • Querying the description to try to force initialization

  • Creating a doc via the API to see if it can be attached afterward

None of these approaches successfully write content to the item description (or i did something wrong).

Sooo

Am I missing something, or is writing to description_item simply not supported yet via the API?

I’ve searched the forum and found similar questions, but most don’t have a clear answer. Since reading description_item is relatively new, I’m wondering if the write counterpart is not available yet.

Related discussion:

Thanks in advance!

2

Hello @Florian_Nyx You’re not missing anything. Writing to the item description via the API isn’t reliably supported yet.

The description is a monday Doc and usually isn’t created until a user opens the item or it already has content. Without that, there’s no stable way to write to it through the API.

Workarounds for now:
Use Updates if it’s log style content.
Use a Long Text column for structured data.
Have a user open the item once to initialize the description.

Dr. Tanvi Sachar
Monday Certified Partner, Monday Wizard

3

How can we export data from the API?

4

Thanks for the clarification — that makes sense.

Given that writing to the item description isn’t supported yet, I wanted to ask whether this functionality is planned for a future API update, and if there’s any rough timeline available.

This feature would be extremely valuable for my use case, so any insight would be greatly appreciated.

5

Hello @sunilkumar You can’t “export to CSV/Excel” directly from the API like you can in the UI. With the API, you query the data you need and then format it yourself.

How it usually works
Use the GraphQL API to pull board/items data
Handle pagination to get all items
Convert the result to CSV, Excel, etc. in your script or tool

Dr. Tanvi Sachar
Monday Certified Partner, Monday Wizard

6

Hello @Florian_Nyx Totally fair question. As of now, monday.com hasn’t shared any public roadmap or timeline for adding API support to write to item descriptions.

Reading the description is supported, but writing to it still isn’t reliably available. If this is important for you, the best move is to comment or upvote existing feature requests so it gets more visibility.

Dr. Tanvi Sachar
Monday Certified Partner, Monday Wizard