Multiple levels of subitems on monday.com
You asked, we delivered! You can now create up to four levels of hierarchy on your boards, bringing even more structure and flexibility to complex workflows. In other words, subitems of subitems are finally here!
Introduction
To accommodate different use cases, multiple levels of subitems are available on both regular boards and projects. The right option depends on what you’re setting up.
If your team uses the Work Management portfolio solution and works with projects, start by creating a multi-level project. If you don’t use projects, start by creating a multi-level board instead.
Boards and projects follow different creation flows. The next sections explain how to create each type.
Create a multi-level board
You can create a new multi-level board directly from your workspace as so:
1 Click the blue + in the left pane
2 Hover over Board and select the arrow next to it to view more options
3 Select New multi-level board
Create a multi-level project
To create a multi-level project board, create a new project as so:
1 Click the blue + in the left pane
2 Select Project
3 Choose Multi-level sub-tasks project by monday.com template
Understand the subitem hierarchy
Project managers (and any team juggling multiple layers of tasks) can now structure work with much greater precision. Break down complex projects into clear, manageable steps and track progress at every level.
In your multi-level board, you can add up to 4 levels of subitems:
Each board starts with a regular item—this is considered level zero. In the example below, User Persona Development and UI/UX Wireframes are level zero items.
The first subitem you create beneath an item becomes level one. Any subitems created at the same level remain the same level. This logic continues down to level four. For instance, Conduct user interviews is a level one subitem. If you add Schedule Sessions and Prepare Questions beneath it, those become level two:
When you add subitems to Schedule Sessions and Prepare Questions—like Send Calendar Invites, Review with team, or Finalize template—you’re now working at level three:
If you continue and add subitems like Confirm attendance or Share interview guide beneath Send Calendar Invites, you’ve reached level four—the maximum depth allowed. Once an item is at level four, you won’t be able to add additional subitems beneath it.
Once your multi-level board is set up, you can take the following actions on subitems at any level:
- Batch actions
- Duplicate
- Move (within the same board)
- Drag and drop
- Delete
- Archive
- Restore
- Group by (excluding roll up columns)
Search and filters
When you use search or filters on a board with multiple levels of subitems, results are shown with context.
If a subitem matches your search or filter, you’ll see the matching subitem together with its parent chain. For example, if the Confirm Attendance subitem is set to Stuck, and you filter the board by Stuck, you’ll see Confirm Attendance along with its parents (Send Calendar Invites, Schedule Sessions, Conduct User Interviews, and User Persona Development). You won’t see sibling subitems that don’t match the filter.
If only a parent item matches your search or filter, you’ll see the matching parent item only, without displaying its subitems:
Use rollup columns for a high-level view
You can track progress and metrics across all levels of your hierarchy using rollup columns. These columns automatically pull values from the lowest-level subitems in each branch—specifically, from subitems that don’t have any children of their own. Only those lowest-level subitems can be updated manually. Once values are added there, they automatically roll up to their parent items, and you won’t be able to manually change the rolled-up values at higher levels. However, if a subitem doesn’t contain rolled-up data, you can still enter or adjust its values directly.
For example, you can update the status of Confirm attendance and Share interview guide because they’re the lowest subitems in the hierarchy. You can also update Finalize template, even though it's not on the last possible level, because it doesn’t have any subitems under it. All these values will roll up to their parents. You won't be able to edit the parent’s status directly, but you’ll be able to hover over it to view a breakdown of how each status contributes to the overall rollup. If all of a subitem’s children are marked as Done, the parent will be marked as Done automatically.
By default, the entity Timeline column on the multi-level board is not a rollup column. Any Timeline column you add later will automatically function as a rollup column and display data according to the rollup logic described above.
If you prefer, you can turn off the rollup for an added column and return it to its standard view. To do this, open the column’s three-dot menu, go to Settings, and select Turn off rollup:
Set dependencies across levels
To better manage task relationships, you can now set dependencies for subitems at any level. Simply use the Dependent on column as you normally would. Click the arrow next to an item’s name to reveal its subitems, and continue expanding until you find the task you want to link. You can create dependencies all the way down to level four.
Once your dependencies are set, you can visualize them on a Gantt chart along with the project’s planned schedule:
The chart mirrors the structure of your board, allowing you to expand each level and view dependencies across your project timeline:
Automations on multi-level boards
Automations are supported on multi-level project boards, and rollup columns can be used as triggers. You can see this logic in a recipe like When status changes to Done, then move item to group. The level that triggers the recipe depends on where you select the rollup column in the trigger block.
If you select the rollup Status column under Select a column, the trigger runs on the parent item only (level zero). This means the trigger is based on the most rolled up value, such as when all children are Done and the rollup on the parent reflects that.
If you select the rollup Status column under Select a subitem column, the trigger listens to subitems instead. This means the trigger can come from any subitem in levels one to four. For example, if you have this recipe set up and you change the status of the Share interview guide subitem to Done, the parent item User Persona Development will move to the selected group along with all of its subitems:
The same guideline applies when you use other rollup-style columns as triggers, such as Timeline and Date.
There are a few limitations to keep in mind when using automations:
- Rollup columns are only supported in triggers. They are not supported as conditions or actions. If you select a rollup column in an action block, the value change will not override the rolled up values. It will only update the lowest-level subitems in each branch.
- Find matching workflow blocks will not work as expected
- Some automation recipes are not supported. If a recipe isn’t compatible, the platform will give you an indication
- Keep in mind, there is a difference between the triggers When column changes and When status changes to anything. When column changes is triggered by any change that affects the rollup values, including adding or deleting a subitem, as well as any status value change. When status changes to anything is triggered only when there is a status value change.
Current limitations
- You can add up to 750 subitems total. This means that a single level zero parent item can have up to 750 subitems across all levels
- You can add up to 5,000 total items on both regular boards and projects (including all subitems)
- Mirror and Formula columns do not support roll up values
- Granular permissions for specific subitem levels are not supported
- Rollup columns cannot be set as required fields
- AI Autofill is not yet supported for multi-level subitems
FAQs
Yes. It’s in gradual release and available on both. The creation flow differs, and it’s available on newly created boards only.
You can add up to four levels beneath the level-zero item.
No. You can only edit the lowest-level subitems. Parent values update automatically and show a breakdown on hover.
Yes. Open the column menu, select Settings, and choose Turn off rollup.
Yes. Export is supported for both boards and projects with multi-level subitems. The export works like a standard board export and includes your hierarchy.
Before you import, add a Subitems column in Excel and enter the exact name of each row’s direct parent. Make sure you have a unique identifier for item names in your sheet.
During import, map your Excel Subitems column to the matching field on monday.com. The hierarchy will be created based on those parent names.
There is no direct migration action, but you can move items and groups from a non-multi-level board to a multi-level board by batch selecting them and choosing Move to board. During mapping, make sure to map the item and subitem columns, since unmapped columns will not be moved. If an item column and a subitem column have different meanings and the parent item column is not an aggregation of the subitem column, add the subitem column as a new column in the destination board to avoid data loss.
Your feedback
We’re all ears! If something isn’t working as expected or you have thoughts on how we can make multiple levels of subitems better, let us know here. Your feedback helps us improve!
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