monday.com Conditional Email Template Selection

You need one automation rule that sends different email templates depending on column values. When Status changes to “Advanced” and Trip Type = “Outbound”, send the Outbound Travel Email. When Status changes to “Advanced” and Trip Type = “Return”, send the Return Travel Email.

monday.com’s automation builder doesn’t support if/else branching in board automations. You can set up ONE trigger (status change) and a fixed set of actions, but you cannot say “if Column X = Y, send Template A, otherwise send Template B.” The workflow builder can: its If/Else and multi-branch conditions give each branch its own Send email step (monday.com Help Center).

The result? Teams create separate automations for every scenario — one automation for outbound trips, one for return trips, one for canceled trips — multiplying maintenance overhead and increasing the chance that one automation breaks while others work.

This article explains where monday.com’s board automations stop and the workflow builder starts, and what BoardBridge adds. Emails sent from a button are covered further down.

The Problem: No If/Else in Board Automation Actions

monday.com board automations follow a simple structure:

Trigger → Condition (optional) → Action(s)

The Condition step lets you filter WHEN the automation fires (e.g., “only if Person = Manager”), but it doesn’t let you branch the action. Once the trigger and condition pass, the actions are fixed.

In a board automation, several conditions combine with AND, so you can narrow when one automation fires, but every automation still sends the one email it was built with. Choosing between emails needs either a separate automation per email or the workflow builder’s branches (monday.com Help Center).

The Same Gap on a Button Click

monday.com’s button column connects to one automation recipe. That automation can include multiple actions (send email, change status, create item, etc.), but all actions are fixed. Board automations have no else branch that says “if Column X = Y, do Action A, otherwise do Action B.” The workflow builder does have If/Else and multi-branch conditions, but monday.com’s docs don’t confirm a Button column click as a workflow trigger (monday.com Help Center).

The workflow builder is also limited by plan: 3 active workflows on Standard, 20 on Pro and 250 on Enterprise (monday.com Help Center).

What This Means for Button Emails

If you need to send different email templates based on item data, you have two bad options:

Option 2: One button with generic email

• “Send Travel Email” button sends a generic template that covers both outbound and return trips

Problems:

• Email contains irrelevant information (return trip details when it’s an outbound trip)
• Looks unprofessional and confuses recipients

Neither is acceptable for client-facing workflows.

What Users Need vs. What monday.com Offers

What Users Need

What monday.com Offers

Example: Multi-Stage Approval Workflow

Take a company managing project approvals across multiple departments.

The Scenario

The company uses an Approvals board with:

• Status column: “Submitted”, “In Review”, “Approved”, “Rejected”
• Amount column: Dollar value of the request
• Department dropdown: “Marketing”, “Sales”, “Operations”, “Finance”

When the status changes to “Approved”, the system needs to send different email templates based on:

1. Amount: Large approvals (≥$10,000) require detailed documentation. Small approvals (<$10,000) get a simple confirmation.
2. Department: Different departments have different next steps (Marketing needs creative assets, Finance needs invoice details, etc.)

This creates 8 possible email scenarios:

The monday.com Approach (8 Separate Automations)

Here’s what teams have to do:

Automation 1:

• Trigger: When Status changes to “Approved”
• Condition: Person is in “Marketing” AND Amount ≥ $10,000
• Action: Send “Marketing Large Approval Email”

Automation 2:

• Trigger: When Status changes to “Approved”
• Condition: Person is in “Marketing” AND Amount < $10,000
• Action: Send “Marketing Standard Approval Email”

…repeat for Sales, Operations, Finance (8 total automations).

Problems:

• 8 automations to maintain — if you update the email template or change the $10,000 threshold, you have to edit 8 automations
• No branching — each combination needs its own automation; to branch on Amount and Department in one place you need the workflow builder, whose conditions check any item value
• Easy to break — deactivate one automation by accident, and one scenario stops working while others continue (hard to debug)
• Hard to audit — no single place to see the full approval workflow logic

The monday.com Workaround (Separate Automations)

If you’re not using BoardBridge, here’s the most reliable monday.com-native approach:

Setup

Create separate automations for each combination of Department and Amount tier.

Automation structure:

• Trigger: When Status changes to “Approved”
• Condition: (optional) Person is in [Department]
• Action: Send email using [Department + Amount Tier] template

Example:

Problems:

• Intermediate columns — teams often add an “Amount Tier” or “Department Status” status column so a simple condition can test it; the workflow builder’s conditions can check item values like Amount and Department directly (monday.com Help Center)
• Person as a proxy for Department — doesn’t work if multiple people from the same department are involved
• Maintenance nightmare — changing the $10,000 threshold requires editing all 8 automations

This workaround is technically possible but painful to build and harder to maintain. In the workflow builder, one workflow with a multi-branch condition on Department and Amount can replace the eight automations, though each condition step counts toward your monthly automation actions (monday.com Help Center).

The Button Workaround (Multiple Buttons)

If you’re not using BoardBridge, here’s the cleanest monday.com-native approach:

Setting up the buttons

Step 1: Create button columns

• “Send Outbound Email” (connected to Automation 1)
• “Send Return Email” (connected to Automation 2)

Step 2: Configure automations

Automation 1:

• Trigger: “Send Outbound Email” button clicked
• Action: Send email using “Outbound Travel Email” template
• Recipient: Team Member Email column

Automation 2:

• Trigger: “Send Return Email” button clicked
• Action: Send email using “Return Travel Email” template
• Recipient: Team Member Email column

Step 3: Hide the wrong button based on Trip Type

Workaround: Use conditional formatting to visually hide buttons that shouldn’t be clicked.

Problem: Conditional formatting only changes appearance — it doesn’t actually prevent the button from being clicked. A user can still accidentally click a visually dimmed button.

Alternative: Separate Boards

Some teams create separate boards for outbound and return trips to avoid the multiple-button problem.

Problems:

• Data fragmentation — travel data split across two boards
• Harder reporting — can’t easily see all travel items in one view
• Double the board maintenance — column changes, view setups, and automation updates must be done twice

How BoardBridge Handles Conditional Email Templates

BoardBridge — Form & Workflow Automation for monday.com — sends button-triggered emails from monday.com items. Several of its email features help with the same problem:

BoardBridge uses the monday.com API, so its calls count toward monday.com’s daily API limit (200 on Free, 1,000 on Basic and Standard; 10,000 on Pro; 25,000 on Enterprise) (monday.com developer docs).

Whether one BoardBridge email can choose its template from column values depends on your setup: ask us with your scenarios.

Common Conditional Email Scenarios

Here are five workflows where one workflow with branches replaces a separate automation per email:

1. Multi-Language Client Communication

Trigger: Status changes to “Confirmed”

Conditional logic:

• If Language = “English” → English Confirmation template
• If Language = “Spanish” → Spanish Confirmation template
• If Language = “French” → French Confirmation template

Why it matters: Client communications must match their preferred language. One automation handles all.

2. Tiered Support Responses

Trigger: Status changes to “Resolved”

Conditional logic:

• If Priority = “Critical” → VIP Resolution template (includes escalation manager contact)
• If Priority = “High” → Standard Resolution template
• If Priority = “Low” → Self-Service Resolution template (includes knowledge base links)

Why it matters: Different priority levels require different follow-up content. One automation adapts.

3. Internal vs. External Handoff

Trigger: Status changes to “Complete”

Conditional logic:

• If Team = “Internal” → Internal Handoff template (casual tone, includes Slack channels and internal process links)
• If Team = “External Vendor” → External Handoff template (formal tone, self-contained instructions)

Why it matters: Internal and external audiences need completely different language and content. One automation handles both.

4. Geographic Region Routing

Trigger: Status changes to “Shipped”

Conditional logic:

• If Region = “North America” → NA Shipping Confirmation (includes FedEx tracking, 2-5 day delivery)
• If Region = “Europe” → EU Shipping Confirmation (includes DHL tracking, customs info, 5-10 day delivery)
• If Region = “Asia-Pacific” → APAC Shipping Confirmation (includes different carrier, 7-14 day delivery)

Why it matters: Shipping logistics vary by region. One automation covers all.

5. Subscription Tier Notifications

Trigger: Status changes to “Renewed”

Conditional logic:

• If Plan = “Basic” → Basic Renewal template (includes upgrade incentives)
• If Plan = “Pro” → Pro Renewal template (includes advanced feature tips)
• If Plan = “Enterprise” → Enterprise Renewal template (includes dedicated account manager contact)

Why it matters: Different subscription tiers receive different renewal communications. One automation scales across tiers.

6. Event Type Confirmations

Button: “Send Confirmation Email”

Conditional logic:

• If Event Type = “Wedding” → Wedding Confirmation template
• If Event Type = “Corporate” → Corporate Confirmation template
• If Event Type = “Concert” → Concert Confirmation template

Why it matters: Wedding confirmations include ceremony details, corporate events include branding requirements, concerts include setlist and soundcheck info. Three completely different emails.

7. Invoice Amount Tiers

Button: “Send Invoice”

Conditional logic:

• If Amount < $5,000 → Standard Invoice template
• If Amount ≥ $5,000 → Large Invoice template (includes payment plan options)

Why it matters: High-value invoices require different payment terms and approval workflows.

8. Approval Status Notifications

Button: “Send Status Update”

Conditional logic:

• If Status = “Approved” → Approval Notification template
• If Status = “Rejected” → Rejection Notification template (includes next steps and appeal process)
• If Status = “Pending” → Reminder template

Why it matters: Three distinct outcomes, three different tones and content blocks.

When Native Emails Are Enough

monday.com’s native button-triggered emails work perfectly fine when:

• You only need one email template per button
• You don’t need CC or BCC recipients (see CC and BCC in monday.com email automations)
• You’re okay with limited email formatting (plain text in classic recipes; HTML needs the New Automation Builder or workflow email blocks)
• Your workflow doesn’t have branching scenarios (if this, send A; if that, send B)

For these simple cases, stick with native monday.com automations — they’re fast to set up and require no additional tools.

Frequently Asked Questions