Excel files, sheets and file names
The file should open ready to read, with nothing to clean up.
The board sheet
- Status colours: status cells are filled with the colour they have in monday.com. The text turns white on a dark fill and black on a light one.
- Links: each item's name links back to the item in monday.com, for people who already have access to it. Subitems aren't linked.
- Frozen header: the header row has a filter and stays on screen while you scroll, and so does the Name column.
- Totals: if the file has number columns, a "Total" row under the last item adds each of them up. A mirror column of numbers is shown as one number when its calculation is sum, average, min, max or count. Otherwise it stays as monday.com shows it.
- Subitem columns: tick Include subitems and a second list, Subitem columns, lets you choose which of their columns to print. They appear after the board columns, headed "Subitem: " and the column title. Parent rows leave them empty and subitem rows leave the board columns empty.
CSV files get the same Subitem columns. Cells from the board are never run as formulas: the totals are the only formulas in the file.
The Summary and Changes sheets
On Starter and above, every Excel file has two more sheets after the board. CSV files and the Free plan have neither.
Summary
The date of the copy, the number of items, a row for each label of the column you track changes in, the overdue count, a "Total of …" row for each number column, and the same added, removed and changed counts the email gives. Counts are of main items, not subitems. On a first copy the overdue and "since" rows are left out, because there is nothing to compare with.
Changes
Every difference from the previous sent copy: added and removed items, each changed cell with its Before and After, and columns that were added or removed. The first copy has a single row saying there is nothing to compare yet.
File names
Each schedule has a File name setting that names every file it sends or keeps. You can use:
| Write | You get |
|---|---|
{schedule} | The schedule's name |
{board} | The board's name |
{date} | The date, like 2026-11-04 |
{week} | The ISO week number, two digits |
{month} | The month, like 2026-11 |
The default is {schedule} {date}. The form shows a live example as you type. Dates are in the schedule's time zone, so a run late in the evening UTC can carry the next day's date. Any other text, including an unknown {word}, stays as typed.
The pattern applies to email attachments, single downloads and the zip of a schedule's history. Characters that Windows or email programs dislike become "-", names are cut to 100 characters before the extension, and an empty name becomes "Export". The file made by Compare keeps its own name.