monday.com Form Connect Boards & Mirror Column Limitations

title: “monday.com Connect Boards and Mirror Columns in Forms — Why They Don’t Work” meta_description: “Can’t use Connect Boards or Mirror columns in monday.com forms? WorkForms doesn’t support relational columns. Here’s why and what workarounds actually work.” keyword: “monday.com connect boards mirror columns forms”

Connect Boards and Mirror columns are powerful on monday.com boards. In forms? They don’t exist.

Can you use monday.com Connect Boards and Mirror columns in forms? If you’ve tried building a form that writes to a Connect Boards column — or hoped to show mirrored data from a connected board inside a form — you’ve hit one of monday.com WorkForms’ hard walls. These column types aren’t supported in forms. Not in WorkForms, not in most third-party form apps, and not in BoardBridge either.

This isn’t about missing features. It’s about how these column types work at the API level. Here’s why they’re unsupported, what that means for form workflows, and what you can do instead.

Why monday.com Connect Boards Column Doesn’t Work in Forms

Pain Point #19: Connect Boards column can’t be populated via form submissions

monday.com’s official documentation and community threads confirm this form limitation:

“Connected board columns (and people columns, mirror columns, drop-down columns, country columns etc) are not supported in forms.” — Support for connected board columns in WorkForms Source

The Technical Reason

Connect Boards is a relational column type. It doesn’t store text or numbers — it stores references to items on other boards. When you link two items via Connect Boards, monday.com’s API expects a payload like this:

“json { "item_ids": [123456789, 987654321] } “

Those numbers are monday.com item IDs from the connected board. For a public-facing form to populate a Connect Boards column, it would need to:

1. Know the item IDs on the target board before the form is filled out
2. Let form submitters browse or search items from the connected board (exposing potentially sensitive data)
3. Handle multi-select (Connect Boards allows linking to multiple items)
4. Validate that the selected items still exist and are on the correct board

This creates a UX problem: how does a client filling out an intake form “select” an item from your internal Vendors board when they don’t have access to that board and don’t know the item IDs?

Real-World Example: Vendor Selection

Scenario: You have a Projects board and a Vendors board. The Projects board has a Connect Boards column linking to Vendors. You want a client intake form where the client selects a vendor, and that populates the Connect Boards link.

The problem:

• The client doesn’t know your vendor item IDs
• The client shouldn’t browse your full vendor list (some may be confidential)
• Even if they could browse, they’d see internal data (pricing, notes, past project history)

What users try:

• Use a Dropdown column with vendor names instead → works, but it’s not a “real” Connect Boards link, so Mirror columns pulling vendor data don’t work
• Pre-populate the Connect Boards link manually, then send the form to update other fields → works, but defeats the purpose of an intake form

Why monday.com Mirror Columns Don’t Work in Forms

Pain Point #20: Mirror columns can’t be included in forms, so data that mirrors from connected boards is invisible to form submitters

Mirror columns are read-only. They pull data from items connected via Connect Boards columns. For example, if your Projects board has a Connect Boards link to Vendors, a Mirror column could display the vendor’s email address, phone number, or status.

The Technical Reason

Mirror columns are computed — monday.com calculates their values automatically based on the Connect Boards link. You can’t write to them, even via API. They don’t accept change_column_value mutations.

Even if you could include a Mirror column in a form, it would be read-only display — the form submitter couldn’t edit it. And since Connect Boards columns aren’t supported in forms either, there’s no way to establish the relationship that Mirrors depend on.

Other Read-Only / Computed Columns

Mirror columns aren’t alone. Several monday.com column types are auto-calculated and can’t be written to:

Column Type	Why It’s Not Supported
Mirror	Read-only; pulls data from Connect Boards links
Formula	Auto-calculated based on other columns
Auto-Number	Generated sequentially by monday.com
Last Updated	System timestamp; can’t be manually set
Creation Log	System metadata; can’t be manually set

These columns are useful on boards for tracking and calculations, but they don’t fit the form submission model — forms write data, these columns compute data.

What the Community Says About Connect Boards and Mirror Columns in Forms

From the 162+ post mega-thread on form limitations:

“Even with Enterprise ‘Edit Responses,’ users can’t edit Signature or Connect Boards question types… Connect Boards fields are permanently locked.” — Community thread: Use Forms to edit/update existing items

“Connected board columns (and people columns, mirror columns, drop-down columns, country columns etc) are not supported in forms. It is important to be able to support these column types, as currently the forms are pretty useless without being able to support them.” — Community thread: Support for connected board columns in WorkForms

“Really need the ability to include mirrored columns/connected boards in forms – The connected boards feature is key to being able to link our data sets together for reporting.” — Community thread: Include connected boards/mirrored columns in forms!

Even Enterprise customers with monday.com’s response editing feature can’t edit Connect Boards fields after submission. They’re excluded from forms entirely.

Competitor limitations:

• Fillout markets “choose and filter down records from multiple Monday tables” as a feature — but this creates new items on the form’s target board; it doesn’t write to Connect Boards columns.

Source: Fillout monday.com integration

• SuperForm supports many advanced column types (Dependencies, Tags, WorldClock, etc.) but also excludes Connect Boards from form field mappings.

Source: SuperForm features

The best any form tool can do is create an item on a board that has Connect Boards columns — but the user has to manually link those items after submission.

Workarounds That Actually Work for Connect Boards and Mirror Columns

Since Connect Boards and Mirror columns can’t be populated via forms, here’s how teams handle relational data:

Workaround 1: Dropdown with Manual Linking

Setup:

1. Add a Dropdown column (or Status column) to your form’s target board with options matching the connected board’s items: “Vendor A”, “Vendor B”, “Vendor C”
2. Form submitters select from this dropdown
3. After the form is submitted, manually add the Connect Boards link by selecting the corresponding item from the Vendors board

Pros:

• Form submitters see readable names, not item IDs
• No security issues (you control what names appear in the dropdown)
• Works with any form tool

Cons:

• Requires manual follow-up to establish the Connect Boards link
• Dropdown needs updating when new vendors are added
• Mirror columns don’t populate automatically (because the Connect Boards link is added after submission)

Best for: Low-volume intake where manual linking is acceptable

Workaround 2: Automation After Submission

Setup:

1. Form creates an item with a Status or Dropdown column indicating which vendor/item should be connected
2. Use a monday.com automation: “When Status changes to ‘Vendor A’, connect to item ‘Vendor A’ on Vendors board”
3. Requires one automation rule per possible connection

Pros:

• Automated linking after submission
• Mirror columns populate automatically once the Connect Boards link is established

Cons:

• Requires one automation rule per option (10 vendors = 10 automation rules)
• High maintenance when the connected board changes
• Consumes monday.com automation actions

Best for: Small, stable sets of connections (under 10 options)

Workaround 3: Text Field with Lookup via API

Setup:

1. Form includes a Text field where the submitter enters a vendor name, project ID, or other identifier
2. Use Make, Zapier, or a custom API script to:

• Search the connected board for a matching item
• Create the Connect Boards link programmatically via API
• Populate Mirror columns as a result

Pros:

• Fully automated
• Handles large connected boards (100+ items)
• Flexible matching (can search by name, ID, email, etc.)

Cons:

• Requires middleware (Make/Zapier subscription) or custom development
• More complex to set up and maintain
• Slower (introduces delay between submission and linking)

Best for: High-volume workflows where automation investment is justified

Workaround 4: Pre-Link, Then Update Other Fields

Setup:

1. Manually create items on your Projects board with Connect Boards links already established
2. Send form links that update existing items for other columns (status, notes, dates) but leave the Connect Boards link untouched
3. BoardBridge’s “protect existing data” toggle ensures the Connect Boards link isn’t overwritten

Use case: Client intake where you pre-assign a vendor internally, then send the client a form to fill in project details. The vendor link stays intact; the client updates scope, dates, and deliverables.

Best for: Update-existing-item workflows where relationships are pre-defined

Need help setting up monday.com integration services with automated Connect Boards linking? TaskRhino offers custom workflow automation.

Why Third-Party Apps Don’t Solve This

Even SuperForm — monday.com’s most popular form app (10,222 installs, $35-$520/month) — does not support Connect Boards or Mirror columns in forms.

From SuperForm’s feature list:

“Supports Connect Boards, Mirror, Formula, Subitems, Dependencies, Tags, Hour, WorldClock, Week, and Item ID column types”

Wait — it says “Supports Connect Boards” but also doesn’t support it in forms? Here’s the catch:

• SuperForm can display Connect Boards data in forms (read-only, for reference)
• SuperForm cannot write to Connect Boards columns via form submission

Same limitation, slightly better UX. The column is still excluded from editable fields.

Fillout advertises “powerful multi-board workflows” but admits:

“Forms can’t apply conditions using live data from other boards, such as pulling information from mirror columns and connect boards.” — NotesForms analysis of monday.com form tools

No one has solved this cleanly because the API structure makes it nearly impossible for public-facing forms.

What BoardBridge Doesn’t Do (And Won’t Pretend To)

BoardBridge does not support Connect Boards or Mirror columns in forms. We’re upfront about this because:

1. API complexity. Connect Boards requires item ID lookups, validation, and multi-select handling that breaks the simple form submission model.
2. Security concerns. Letting external users browse connected boards exposes internal data they shouldn’t see.
3. Workarounds are better UX. Dropdown columns with readable names + automation or manual linking is cleaner than asking form submitters to search for item IDs.

We’d rather be honest about limits than ship a feature that’s fragile and confusing.

What BoardBridge Does Support

While we can’t handle Connect Boards or Mirror, BoardBridge does solve several WorkForms gaps:

• Update existing items (not just create new ones) — the #1 requested WorkForms feature for 6+ years
• Dual-board mapping — one form writes to two boards simultaneously (different from Connect Boards — creates independent items, not relationships)
• Conditional logic with AND/OR operators on any plan — Enterprise-only in WorkForms
• Rich text emails with CC/BCC groups and custom SMTP
• 10 field types with full read/write support: text, long text, email, phone, number, date, dropdown, status, checkbox, location

For the column types we support, we support them fully — with pre-fill, validation, overwrite protection, and cross-board mapping.

Common Questions

Q: Can you use Connect Boards and Mirror columns in monday.com forms? A: No. monday.com WorkForms and third-party form tools don’t support Connect Boards or Mirror columns. Connect Boards requires item ID references that external users can’t access, and Mirror columns are read-only computed columns that can’t be written to.

Q: Will Connect Boards support ever be added to forms? A: Unlikely. The UX problem (how does an external user select an item from a board they can’t see?) is unsolvable without compromising security or creating a clunky search interface. Dropdown + automation is simpler and safer.

Q: Can I at least display Mirror column data in a form? A: No, because Mirror columns require a Connect Boards link to exist first. Since Connect Boards isn’t supported, Mirror has nothing to pull from. If you pre-link items manually, you could use a Text field to display mirrored data via API — but that’s a custom build, not a native form feature.

Q: What about Subitems — can forms create subitems? A: BoardBridge does not currently support subitem creation via forms. Subitems require parent item references and nested data structures that don’t fit the standard form submission model. This is another area where manual creation or automation is the better path.

Q: Can I use Connect Boards in the form’s target board, even if the form doesn’t populate it? A: Yes. Your target board can absolutely have Connect Boards and Mirror columns — they just won’t be editable via the form. You’d link items manually or via automation after submission.

Q: Why do some apps claim to support Connect Boards if they can’t actually write to it? A: Marketing. They may support displaying Connect Boards data (read-only) or creating items on boards that contain Connect Boards columns (but not populating the column itself). Always test before subscribing.

Q: Can I use monday.com’s automations to link items after form submission? A: Yes, with limitations. You can set up automations like “When Status = X, connect to Item Y on Board Z” — but this requires one automation rule per possible connection. For 50+ vendors, this becomes unmaintainable.

Q: What if I use the form to update an item that already has Connect Boards links? A: The links stay intact. BoardBridge (and most form tools) won’t overwrite columns they don’t support. If your item is pre-linked to a vendor via Connect Boards, sending the form to update project details leaves the vendor link alone.

Q: Can I pre-fill a form with data from a connected board via Mirror columns? A: No. Since BoardBridge doesn’t read or write Connect Boards/Mirror columns, we can’t pull mirrored data for pre-fill. If you need to display vendor details to the form submitter, use a Text field populated via API before generating the form link.

Q: Are connected board columns and mirror columns supported in WorkForms? A: No. monday.com WorkForms does not support Connect Boards or Mirror columns. Forms can’t apply conditions using live data from other boards, and you can’t populate Connect Boards columns via form submission. Use Dropdown + automation as a workaround.

Who This Matters To

This limitation affects teams who:

• Need client-facing forms that establish item relationships (projects → vendors, tasks → clients)
• Want form submitters to “select a vendor” and have that populate a Connect Boards link
• Expected Mirror columns to display related data inside forms
• Assumed Connect Boards “just works” like Dropdown or Status columns

If your workflow depends on Connect Boards relationships from form submissions, you’ll need automation, middleware, or manual linking as a follow-up step.

Need monday.com forms that update existing items, write to multiple boards, and include conditional logic? BoardBridge by TaskRhino handles what WorkForms can’t — with honest limits on relational columns. Book a free 30-minute consultation at https://calendly.com/rp-spaceo/call-with-rakesh-est-timezone