How do I use formulas across monday.com boards to update board columns?

Need formulas to calculate across multiple monday.com boards? Spreadsheet Gorilla lets you calculate values with spreadsheet Excel style formulas and update board columns from the result.

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Teams often manage related data across multiple monday.com boards. Projects may live on one board, invoices on another, time entries on another, and support tickets somewhere else. That structure works well for managing work, but it can become difficult when you need to calculate values across boards and write the result back into a monday.com column.

Native monday.com formulas can work for simple calculations on one board. But when the calculation depends on data from several boards, you may need a spreadsheet style workflow. Spreadsheet Gorilla lets you organize monday.com board data in spreadsheet templates, calculate values with formulas, preview the result, and update monday.com board columns with the calculated output.

Using formula columns

Can monday.com calculate formulas across boards?

monday.com can support some cross board scenarios with Formula Columns, Connect Boards Columns, and Mirror Columns. This works well when the calculation is simple and the related data is already available on the board. Use native monday.com formulas when:

  • The calculation only uses values from the same board
  • The related data is already connected
  • You only need one or two mirrored values
  • You do not need to update many target items
  • You do not need a reusable spreadsheet template

Native formulas become harder to manage when the calculation needs data from several boards, lookup logic, totals from related items, or a controlled way to write results back into normal monday.com columns.

How to calculate across boards with formula columns

  1. Open the board where you want to include the cross board calculations
  2. Add a Connect boards column along with its Mirror columns for each board
  3. Add a Formula column and create the function manually or with the AI assistant
  4. Iterate on the formula function until the results match your expectations
  5. Collapse each Connect boards and Mirror column to keep your board clean

Using Spreadsheet Gorilla

When to use Spreadsheet Gorilla for cross board formulas

Use Spreadsheet Gorilla when you need to calculate across monday.com boards and update a board column with the result. It is useful when:

  • The source data lives on more than one board
  • You need Excel spreadsheet style formulas
  • You want to use lookup, sum, count, or conditional logic
  • You want to preview results before updating monday.com
  • You want to bulk update several items
  • You want to avoid adding many helper columns to your boards

Spreadsheet Gorilla for monday.com acts as a calculation layer between your monday.com boards and the final column you want to update.

How the general workflow looks like

  • Decide exactly what the formula should return. For example, total invoiced amount, remaining budget, or number of open tickets.

  • Select the boards that contain the data needed for the calculation. For example, a Projects board and an Invoices board.

  • Decide where the final calculated value should be written. For example, update the “Total invoiced” column on the Projects board.

  • Use a spreadsheet template to organize the monday.com board data before calculating.

  • Include only the boards and columns needed for the formula.

  • Add the formula that calculates the value.

  • Check the calculated values before updating monday.com.

  • Write the calculated values back into the selected monday.com column.

Most cross board formula workflows follow this basic process. For detailed formula setup, use the Spreadsheet Gorilla docs on custom formulas.

Use case + Example

Calculate total invoice amount per project

This is one of the most common cross board formula examples. A team manages projects on one board and invoices on another board. Each invoice is connected to a project. The team wants the Projects board to show the total invoiced amount for each project.

Goal

Calculate the sum of all relevant invoices for each project and update a “Total invoiced” column on the Projects board.

Example boards

  • Projects board
  • Invoices board

Example columns

On the Projects board:

  • Project name
  • Total invoiced

On the Invoices board:

  • Invoice amount
  • Invoice status
  • Connected project

How to calculate total invoiced amount per project

  • Open Spreadsheet Gorilla and create a new spreadsheet template for the invoice calculation.

  • Add the Projects board to the template. This is the board that contains the target items you want to update.

  • Add the Invoices board to the same template but to another worksheet. This is the board that contains the invoice amounts.

  • Include the project identifier, invoice amount, invoice status, and connected project reference.

  • Create a formula that finds the invoices connected to each project and sums the invoice amounts. If only approved or sent invoices should count, make sure the formula only includes invoices with the right status.

  • Check the calculated total for several projects before updating monday.com.

  • Choose the “Total invoiced” column on the Projects board as the target column.

  • Update the Projects board so each project receives the calculated invoice total.

After the update, the Projects board contains a normal monday.com column with the total invoiced amount. That value can then be used in views, reports, dashboards, filters, or automations. Need the calculated data in an Excel report instead of writing the result back to monday.com? Learn how to create cross board Excel reports from multiple monday.com boards or learn how to create and export project profitability reports.

Questions + Answers

Frequently asked questions about cross board calculations

  • monday.com can support some cross board scenarios using Connect Boards and Mirror Columns. For more advanced cross board calculations, Spreadsheet Gorilla can provide a spreadsheet style setup that works across multiple boards and can update target board columns.

  • A monday.com Formula Column calculates values directly inside a monday.com board. A Spreadsheet Gorilla custom formula is created inside a spreadsheet template and can use board data in a spreadsheet style workflow before updating a target monday.com column.

  • Yes. Instead of only displaying a calculated value, you can write the result into a regular monday.com column.

  • Yes. For example, you can calculate invoice totals, ticket counts, tracked hours, task counts, budget usage, or other values from related board data.

  • Yes. Previewing is important because it lets you check calculated values before they are written back to monday.com items.

  • Yes. Once the formula has been tested and the previewed values are correct, you can update several items in one workflow.

  • Usually, no. If a simple monday.com Formula Column solves the problem, that may be the simpler option. Spreadsheet Gorilla is more useful when the calculation involves multiple boards, custom formula logic, lookup style calculations, or updating target columns.

Conclusion

Create cross board formulas for monday.com

Native monday.com formulas are useful for simple board calculations. But when your data lives across several boards and you need to calculate, preview, and write results back into monday.com columns, Spreadsheet Gorilla gives you a more flexible spreadsheet style workflow. You can organize board data in reusable templates, create custom formulas, preview calculated results, and update monday.com board columns with the final values.

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