How to Build a High-Level / Low-Level Board Structure in monday.com
This tutorial walks you through setting up a scalable board hierarchy in monday.com, connecting a high-level "overview" board to multiple low-level project boards with two-way sync and mirror columns. If you're new to the platform, you might first check out the Monday.com Complete Tutorial: Get Started, Plans & UI Tour to familiarize yourself with the basics.
Step 1: Define Your Naming Convention
- Choose clear names that distinguish high-level from low-level boards.
- Recommended high-level name: Overview or Overall.
- Example low-level names: Project One, Project Two, etc. For more guidance, see How to Set Up High Level Low Level Boards in monday.com.
Step 2: Create the High-Level Board
- Create a new board and name it (e.g., "Overview").
- This board will aggregate data from low-level boards.
Step 3: Create a Low-Level Board
- Create one low-level board and name it (e.g., “Project Number One”).
- Pro Tip: Build and finalize ONE low-level board before duplicating it for others. If you create 20 boards first and later need to add columns, you’ll have to update all 20 individually. This aligns with best practices covered in Building Workflows in monday.com: Best Practices for Board Structure.
Step 4: Add a Connected Board Column on the High-Level Board
- Add a Connected Boards column to your overview board.
- This column links the high-level board to low-level boards.
Step 5: Enable Two-Way Sync
- When setting up the connection, click Two-Way Sync.
- This ensures information appears on both boards, keeping them consistent.
Step 6: Add a Mirror Column (Optional)
- You can add this now or later.
- Mirror columns display data from connected boards.
Step 7: Check the Low-Level Board
- The low-level board will automatically receive a new column linking it to the high-level board.
- The connection is mutual.
Step 8: Connect Items
- On the high-level board, select the items you want to link.
- Check the boxes next to them to establish the connection.
Step 9: Customize Mirror Columns (If Needed)
- Go to Column Settings > Customize Connect Boards > Add Mirror Column.
- Choose which columns to mirror (e.g., status, progress).
Example: Overview Board Setup
In the example overview board, the high-level board pulls in:
- Statuses from all connected low-level boards.
- Total progress across all items. For alternative approaches, check out 3 Ways to Track Projects in monday.com: From Simple Boards to Enterprise Portfolio.
Pro Tip: Check Column Sources
- Click the i icon in any mirrored column to see which board it’s connected to.
- Useful for troubleshooting or auditing your setup.
Summary
This structure is straightforward once you follow the steps. Build one low-level board, connect it to your overview board with two-way sync, mirror needed columns, then duplicate the low-level board for additional projects. This saves time and maintains consistency. For a deeper dive into managing projects at scale, see the Expert Guide: How to Manage Projects Like a Pro in monday.com.
Looking for more advanced workflows? The steps above give you a solid foundation. Once you've mastered the basics, explore our guides on automation and multi-level reporting to take your monday.com setup to the next level.
Related Article: Building Workflows in monday.com: Best Practices for Board Structure
Keyword Tags: monday.com high-level board, monday.com low-level board, monday.com board structure, monday.com connected board column, monday.com two-way sync, monday.com mirror column, monday.com project overview, monday.com workflow automation
This tutorial is part of LunaNotes’ series on optimizing monday.com for project management efficiency. Bookmark this page for quick reference when scaling your workflow.
in this lesson we are going to go step by step through the process of building out a highlevel low-level structure
within monday.com hi my name is Tara and I'm a certified monday.com partner and the
founder of simple day my goal is to help you build powerful yet simple workflows with monday.com if you need help with a
custom implementation my contact details are in the description below let's jump into today's tutorial and make Monday
the best part of your week step number one you need to figure out what your naming convention is what are
you going to call your boards it should be very clear what is a highlevel board and what is a lowl board I normally call
the highlevel board overview or overall because it simply is really clear and describes the purpose of the board step
number two once you have figured out what you want to name your boards create a highlevel board and name it
properly I will call this one overview step number three create a low-l board and name it properly I will
call this one project number one pro tip many times this structure has a number of low-level boards even if
that is the case I would recommend building one low-level board and only when is 100% completed duplicate it for
all your lowle boards if not let's say you're making 20 low-l boards and then you decide to add more columns to the
board you'll have to do that on 20 different boards step number four go back to your high Lev board and add a
new column that is called connected board column step number five make sure you click two-way sync so that way the
information will show up on both boards in most cases I recommend doing a two-way sync again so you can see the
information on both boards step number six you can add a mirror column now if this is relevant you can always add it
later as well step number seven if you go to your low-level board you will notice that a new column was added there
connecting to your highle board step number eight now all you need to do is choose which items you want to connect
and both boards are connected simply click on the items check box and connects
them step number nine if you did not add a mirror column before you can go to the column settings and you can click on
customize connect boards and then click on ADD mirror column then you can customize this
column or any other columns that you want in this setup of a highlevel structure you can see that this project
overview pulls in a number of com columns from the lower level boards here we have a total of statuses
from the lower level boards and a total of all the progress on all items Pro tip if you ever want to check out which
board a column is connected to you can always click in the little I in each column and it shows you which board you
are connected to that's it setting up this structure is straightforward if you just copy the step that we just spoke
about so good luck with your setup hit the like button if you enjoyed this video and remember to subscribe to
receive tips and tricks on how to use monday.com thanks so much for watching and I'll see you soon
[Music]
A high-level/low-level board structure creates a hierarchy where one 'overview' board aggregates data from multiple 'project' boards. This allows you to monitor progress, statuses, and other key metrics across all projects in a single dashboard without switching between boards. It’s ideal for managing multiple projects or teams, providing both a top-level summary and detailed task management in each low-level board.
After adding a 'Connected Boards' column to your high-level board, click on it to create a connection. During setup, toggle the 'Two-Way Sync' option—this ensures that any changes made in the high-level board (like updating a status) automatically reflect in the linked low-level board, and vice versa. This keeps data consistent across the hierarchy without manual updates.
Mirror columns display data from a connected low-level board on the high-level board, showing fields like status, progress, or dates. To add one, go to your high-level board, open the 'Connected Boards' column settings, select 'Customize Connect Boards,' then 'Add Mirror Column,' and choose which columns to mirror. This gives you a real-time overview without duplicating data.
Build and finalize ONE low-level board completely, including all necessary columns and settings. Then, duplicate it for each new project (e.g., 'Project One,' 'Project Two'). This saves time and ensures consistency—if you create 20 boards first and later need to add a column, you’ll have to update each one individually, which is inefficient.
On the high-level board, select the items you want to link by checking the boxes next to them. This will connect them to the corresponding items on the low-level board via the Connected Boards column. The link is mutual, so changes on either board sync automatically if two-way sync is enabled, allowing you to manage individual projects while tracking overall progress.
Click the 'i' (information) icon in any mirrored column on the high-level board. This will show you the source board and the specific column it’s connected to. This is useful for verifying connections, especially if data isn’t syncing correctly, or for auditing your setup when scaling to multiple low-level boards.
- Define a naming convention (e.g., 'Overview' for high-level, 'Project X' for low-level). 2. Create the high-level board. 3. Build and finalize one low-level board, then duplicate it for other projects. 4. Add a 'Connected Boards' column to the high-level board. 5. Enable 'Two-Way Sync' during connection setup. 6. Optionally add mirror columns for key metrics. 7. Link items by selecting them on the high-level board. This approach ensures consistency and scalability.
Keep this summary
Save it to LunaNotes and it becomes a real note in your library — editable, searchable, and ready to turn into flashcards or a diagram. Free to start.
Save to LunaNotesOr summarise for another video.
This summary and transcript were automatically generated using AI with the Free YouTube Transcript Summary Tool by LunaNotes.
Related summaries
How to Set Up High Level Low Level Boards in monday.com
Learn how to create a powerful high-level/low-level board structure in monday.com to connect projects and tasks, track progress from macro to micro views, and automate connections. This step-by-step guide covers connected board columns, mirror columns, and match automations to streamline your workflow.
Expert Guide: How to Manage Projects Like a Pro in monday.com
Learn the scalable project management system used by experts in monday.com. This tutorial reveals how to avoid the common mistake of creating a board per project, and instead build a connected, automated workflow from projects to tasks to sub-items. Master status-based automation, Gantt and Kanban views, and crucial formulas for tracking time and profit.
3 Ways to Track Projects in monday.com: From Simple Boards to Enterprise Portfolio
Learn three proven methods to manage and track projects in monday.com, from a basic single-board setup to advanced high-level/low-level board connections, and finally the powerful enterprise portfolio feature. This tutorial by a certified monday.com partner covers practical steps, column rollups, and automation tips to streamline your workflow.
Monday.com Complete Tutorial: Get Started, Plans & UI Tour
This video walks you through setting up a monday.com trial account, comparing paid plans, and taking a complete tour of the user interface. You'll learn the core concepts of workspaces, boards, items, dashboards, and automations, plus how to create a fully functional guest house booking system.
Building Workflows in monday.com: Best Practices for Board Structure
Learn how to build effective workflows in monday.com by first defining your use case, instance, and complexity. This guide covers the key differences between process and project workflows and helps you choose between vertical, horizontal, and hybrid board structures for optimal results.
Most viewed summaries
A Comprehensive Guide to Using Stable Diffusion Forge UI
Explore the Stable Diffusion Forge UI, customizable settings, models, and more to enhance your image generation experience.
Kolonyalismo at Imperyalismo: Ang Kasaysayan ng Pagsakop sa Pilipinas
Tuklasin ang kasaysayan ng kolonyalismo at imperyalismo sa Pilipinas sa pamamagitan ni Ferdinand Magellan.
Mastering Inpainting with Stable Diffusion: Fix Mistakes and Enhance Your Images
Learn to fix mistakes and enhance images with Stable Diffusion's inpainting features effectively.
Pamamaraan at Patakarang Kolonyal ng mga Espanyol sa Pilipinas
Tuklasin ang mga pamamaraan at patakaran ng mga Espanyol sa Pilipinas, at ang epekto nito sa mga Pilipino.
How to Install and Configure Forge: A New Stable Diffusion Web UI
Learn to install and configure the new Forge web UI for Stable Diffusion, with tips on models and settings.
Found this summary useful?
Take it with you. One click puts it in your own LunaNotes library.
Save to LunaNotes