Workspace FAQ
Answers to common setup and operating questions about Workspace.
For what the app is and how to set it up from scratch, see the
Workspace Overview.
Setup
Do I need to configure anything before people can start using Workspace?
Enable the app and grant the licence — that is the only prerequisite. Every canvas section (message board, to-dos, schedule, check-ins, Hill Charts, linked tools) is on by default. The AI agent, auto-drafted check-ins, and Hill Chart auto-proposals are also on by default. If you want to restrict who can create workspaces, change the Who can create a workspace? setting; the default is managers and admins, plus anyone with direct reports.
Who can create a workspace, and how do I change that?
By default, managers and admins can create workspaces, and so can anyone who has direct reports, whatever their role. Workspace app admins can always create one regardless of this setting. To change it, go to Workspace Settings, open Workspace Creation, and update Who can create a workspace?. The options are: Managers & admins, plus anyone with direct reports (the default), Managers & admins — by role only, People managers — anyone with direct reports, whatever their role, App admins only, Everyone with access to the app, or Specific people (choose groups). Organizations that were already using Workspace when this default changed in late September 2026 keep Managers & admins — by role only until an admin changes it.
If someone cannot see the app at all, the licence has not been granted — check the app marketplace. If they see it but cannot create a workspace, this setting is why: widen it, or choose Specific people and add a group they belong to.
What are the three workspace roles?
Every workspace has three roles: Owner, Member, and Viewer. Owners can edit the workspace’s details, archive, delete, duplicate, and export it, and manage members — including Make owner on a member’s row, which adds another owner alongside the existing ones. Members can post messages, create to-dos, respond to check-ins, and move Hill Chart dots. Viewers have read-only access — they cannot post, create, or edit anything, with one exception: a viewer who is assigned a to-do can mark that to-do complete, and reopen it — on the canvas, in the Table and on the phone.
Owners, members and viewers can leave an active workspace with Leave workspace in its ⋮ menu; their open tasks there are unassigned. The last owner has to make someone else an owner first, and people who are in through the workspace’s access rule cannot leave one by one — they are offered Mute instead of leaving.
Permissions and access
Why can’t I see Portfolio or Workload?
Portfolio and Workload are advanced planning, which needs the Platform Standard plan or above. Below that plan their rows are not in the Workspace sidebar. Opening either page shows an upgrade panel instead, for example “Portfolio requires Platform Standard.” Admins are told to contact sales; everyone else is told to contact their administrator.
Everything inside one project works on every plan: the Timeline, Plan, Board and Table tabs, milestones, risks and dependencies. The timeline of all your workspaces shows your 100 most recently edited ones on any plan; its later pages need Platform Standard.
Why doesn’t the Portfolio show every project?
The Portfolio shows each person the projects they are allowed to see. Company admins and Workspace app admins see every workspace. People who may open Workspace Analytics and Reports see every workspace except private ones they are not in. That group is managers and admins by default, set by Who can open Workspace Analytics and Reports? in Settings. Everyone else sees only the workspaces they can open, and archived workspaces stay hidden until you change the status filter.
Can people outside the company access a workspace?
Yes — clients, vendors, partners or contractors — if the Enable External Access setting is on (it is by default). A workspace owner issues an access-link invite from the External access card — the external guest views externally-visible updates and can add comments without a MangoApps account. Posts and to-dos marked internal-only are automatically hidden. External guests cannot edit to-dos, post to the board, or create anything.
To make a workspace read-only for external guests, switch off External guests can reply on the workspace’s External access card. It is on by default. With it off, they still read the shared updates but the reply box is gone, and the invite and weekly update emails stop mentioning replies.
How long do access links last?
Each link expires in 30 days. A workspace owner can extend it by another 30 days using the Extend button, which keeps the same URL. A link that has already expired stays on the External access list for 30 more days with Renew, which brings the same URL back to life; after that, send a new invite. Links can also be revoked at any time. Turning off Enable External Access disables all existing links immediately, not just new ones. They start working again if external access is switched back on, so revoke any you no longer want.
How do I get an access link again after it has been sent?
Open the workspace’s External access card or page and click Copy link on the person’s row. It copies the same link they were sent, so you can pass it on yourself if the email went astray. Once the person has opened their link, the row also shows when they last did. Copy link is offered to the people who can invite — the workspace owner or a Workspace admin, within your company’s rule on who may invite people outside the company.
Day-to-day
How do I add a message, task, event or link to a workspace?
Use the Create button at the top right of the workspace canvas. It lists Message, Task (or Task list, when the workspace has no list yet), Event, and Linked tool, and each opens that item’s form in a side panel. An item is left out when its section is switched off, and Linked tool is also left out when the owner has hidden the Linked tools card. Viewers, and anyone on an archived workspace, do not see the button.
There is no quick-add bar on the canvas any more. If you like typing, start a message’s body with /task, /msg, /link, or /event (Create → Message) and it creates that item instead of a post:
/task Send the draft @Priya by Friday— a to-do in the workspace’s first list (an “Inbox” list is created if there is none). A teammate you @mention becomes the assignee if they are a member; the date becomes the due date./msg Title -- body— a post, exactly as typed./link https://… Title— a linked tool./event Sprint review Friday 3pm— a schedule event; members are notified.
Dates and assignees are read by the Workspace AI agent. With Enable Workspace AI Agent off, /msg and /link still work, /task is kept as typed with no date, and /event adds nothing.
A shortcut creates a plain item that everyone in the workspace can see — and external guests with an access link, except for links. So it is refused, with a note under the body saying why, when the post has Internal only, Leads only, Post as announcement, the location copies, or attachments set. Remove the command to post with those settings, or clear them to use the shortcut.
How do I import to-dos from Monday.com or a spreadsheet, and what are the limits?
Open the workspace’s ⋮ menu (or the task list’s menu) and choose Import from Monday.com / CSV. Owners and members can import; viewers cannot.
- Size: up to 5,000 to-dos and subtasks per import, and files up to 10 MB.
- Dry run first: Preview import shows what every row will do — create, update, leave unchanged, skip, or refuse with a reason — and saves nothing. Commit import then writes it.
- Large files: an import of more than 200 rows runs in the background. You see its progress, you get an email when it finishes, and each assignee gets one notice for all their new to-dos.
- Re-importing: choose Update them to change what differs instead of creating duplicates. Only one import runs in a workspace at a time.
From Monday.com, export the board to Excel with subitems and upload it as it is: groups become lists, items become to-dos and subitems become subtasks. People are matched to the workspace’s members by email or name; anyone unmatched is named in the preview and their to-dos import unassigned. Extra columns become the project’s custom fields only when an owner or Workspace app admin imports; otherwise they are skipped.
Can I undo a task I linked in, change the order of lists, or reopen a cancelled to-do?
Yes. A task linked in from the Tasks app has Return to the Tasks app in its drawer (owners and Workspace admins): it leaves the workspace with its notes, comments, history and subtasks, and gets back the assignee that linking cleared. If linking unassigned a task because its assignee isn’t a member, the notice names the tasks and each one’s activity keeps who it was assigned to. To reorder task lists, open a list’s drawer and use Move up or Move down. A cancelled to-do has a Reopen control on its row, in the Table and in its drawer, and any to-do can be completed or reopened from its drawer.
Can I add my own fields to to-dos, like a budget code or a vendor?
Yes. A workspace owner or Workspace app admin opens the Table tab and chooses Manage fields. A field can be Short text, Long text, Number, Money, Date, Pick one from a list, Yes / no, Email, Web link, or Person. A project holds up to 30 custom fields, and a pick list holds up to 50 choices. On the Table tab you can also select up to 100 to-dos at once to complete, reopen, reassign, move, reprioritise or delete them.
Why can’t I make this to-do wait on another one?
A to-do’s Waits on section links it to work that must finish first, and a few rules apply:
- Both to-dos must be in the same workspace.
- Only top-level to-dos can be linked — a subtask follows its parent, so link the parent instead.
- A link cannot close a loop, directly or through another to-do.
- A to-do can wait on at most 20 others.
- The gap is a whole number of days from -365 to 365; a negative gap lets the two overlap.
Viewers cannot add links, and nothing can be linked in an archived workspace.
How do dated templates work out the dates — do they count back from go-live?
Yes. A dated template places each to-do and milestone a set number of days from one anchor date, such as go-live or opening day. When you pick it in New workspace, a date field appears under the template’s own label (for example Opening day). Work planned before that day counts back from it (“60 days before opening”), and later work counts forward. The drawer previews every date before you create the workspace, and warns you when items would already be due before today.
Leave the date blank to create the workspace with no dates and set them later. If the template names roles, you also pick who holds each one, and can still change them when you launch the draft; a role left empty keeps its to-dos unassigned and marked with the role’s name. When you use Save as template, to-do dates are saved as days from the workspace’s Starts on date — with no start date, no dates are saved.
Why did my new workspace start as a draft, and who can see it?
A workspace created from a template always starts as a draft; for a blank workspace, tick Save as a draft on the New workspace form. Only the workspace’s owners and Workspace app admins can see a draft. Members, role holders and people matched by its access rule cannot open it yet, and nobody is notified. Your drafts are listed at the top of your Workspaces list under Drafts — only their owners can see these.
When it is ready, open the workspace and choose Launch workspace. The panel shows what will go out and lets you confirm or change who holds each template role. Launching makes the workspace live: members are told they were added, each role holder gets one notice listing their to-dos, check-ins start on their schedule, and any welcome post is announced. Choose Not yet to keep it as a draft.
Drafts count toward Max workspaces per business, so each one takes a place under the cap just as a live workspace does.
What does “Catch me up” do?
It generates a 3–5 bullet recap of what changed in the workspace since your last visit. The first time you use it, it covers the last 7 days. Each use updates your last-visited timestamp, so the next recap starts from where this one left off. Your last recap stays in the card for the rest of your browser session, so you can open something it mentions and come back to it; if you press Summarize again and nothing is new, it is still shown underneath.
Can I fix a poll, a reply or where a post went after posting?
Yes. A poll’s author, a workspace owner or a Workspace admin can Delete a poll (its votes go with it) as well as close it. When you edit a reply you can tick or clear Internal only, wherever that box is offered for a new reply. And if you posted from a workspace that has location workspaces under it without ticking Also post to every location workspace, open the post: its Location workspaces panel shows which locations have a copy, which are waiting on their owner’s review and which have none. The post’s author sees a button there to post to the ones without a copy; each copy goes out under the name of the person who posts it.
Can I mute notifications for a single workspace?
Yes. Use the bell button on the workspace’s tab bar, which offers four modes: All notifications, Mentions only, Weekly recap only, or Mute everything. Announcements and requests waiting on your decision still reach you in every mode except Mute everything. Changes to your own access reach you in every mode.
How do recurring check-ins work?
A workspace owner or member creates a check-in with a question (up to 500 characters) and a cadence — Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. The default cadence for new check-ins is set at the app level under Default Check-In Cadence (default: Weekly). When the AI agent is enabled and Auto-Draft Check-In Responses is on, each member gets a draft response based on their recent activity. They review and approve (or edit) it before it posts. Owners can pause and resume individual check-ins at any time.
A check-in can also ask for a typed answer instead of a written one: set Answer to Pick one from a list (a poll — enter the choices one per line), Yes / no, Number (optionally with a lowest and highest value — 1 and 5 make a rating) or Date. Members answer with that input and can add a short comment, and the check-in’s page shows the Results for each cycle: a count for every choice, or the average, lowest and highest number, or the dates given. Typed answers are never AI-drafted; members get the usual reminder. Once someone has answered, the answer type is fixed — the choices and the number range stay editable. To ask a question a different way, create a new check-in.
Can I change a check-in answer after I submit it?
Yes, until the next round opens. Open the check-in (or use Change beside “You responded” on the canvas card) and choose Change my answer: the form opens with what you gave, and saving replaces it. It works on the phone too. The status-update reminder is the exception — its answer is posted to the board as an update, so post a new update instead.
How do Hill Charts work?
Each Hill Chart tracks a scope on a 0–100 scale: 0 is just starting, 50 is the top of the hill (problem solved, now executing), and 100 is done. When Auto-Propose Hill Chart Positions is on, the agent computes a proposed position from completed to-dos. The owner or a member accepts or dismisses the proposal — the live position never moves without a person approving it. Every position change is recorded in the chart’s history, tagged with whether a user or the agent made it.
What can the Workspace AI Agent do, and does it act on its own?
The agent can draft check-in responses, propose Hill Chart positions, generate external digests, summarize long threads, and suggest follow-up to-dos. It never commits a write on its own — every draft or proposal waits for a person to approve, edit, or dismiss it. Approved AI writes are logged for audit. Turn off Enable Workspace AI Agent to disable the agent entirely. Each feature also has its own switch — Auto-Draft Check-In Responses, Auto-Propose Hill Chart Positions, and Enable External Digest Generation — so you can stop one while keeping the rest.
What is the difference between duplicating and using a template?
Duplicating a workspace copies its structure and open to-dos, Hill Charts (reset to position 0), check-in configurations, linked tools, cover image, and layout — but not messages, completed tasks, files, events, or memberships (the duplicate starts with the creator as sole owner). A template captures the reusable skeleton: to-do lists and their to-dos with milestones, dependencies and dates, Hill Chart scopes, check-in questions, the project’s custom fields and its open risks (each risk’s title, category and rating — not its description or how the team is handling it, since everyone in the company who uses Workspace can see a saved template). It carries no messages or history, and templates from the shared library can also post a welcome message.
I asked to join a workspace — can I see where that stands, or take it back?
Your pending asks are listed on My Work under Waiting on owners, each with Withdraw. The ask’s own page shows the same waiting state and Withdraw my request, on desktop and phone. Withdrawing closes the request for the owners; you can ask again after a few minutes.
Are members told when an event moves or is cancelled?
Yes. When a future event’s time or place changes, or the event is removed, the members who were told about it get a notification with the new time (or that it was cancelled). Changing only the title or notes tells nobody. On the phone, each event on the schedule has Change or cancel, which opens the event’s form on the full page.
What happens when I archive or delete a workspace?
Archiving makes the workspace read-only and, when the message board is on, posts an internal-only “Project recap” message to the board summarizing the workspace’s entire history. The workspace stays archived and can be restored at any time. Deleting is a soft delete — the workspace moves to My Trash and can be restored within 30 days; after that it cannot be recovered. Both actions are restricted to the workspace owner or a Workspace app admin. Anyone who follows an old link to a workspace in Trash is told so: an owner lands on the Trash list with Restore, and a member is told when it was deleted and that its owners can bring it back.
When something looks wrong
“I can’t see next week’s schedule in my workspace”
The schedule section may be turned off. An admin can disable it at the app level (Enable Schedule), and a workspace owner can also hide it per workspace via the workspace’s feature toggles. Check both. If the section is on but the user is a viewer, they can see the schedule but cannot add events.
“My to-do disappeared from the Board”
When a member is removed from a workspace (or leaves it), their open tasks are unassigned — but the tasks stay on the Board. If a to-do is missing, check whether it was moved to a different column or completed. The Board tab shows up to 50 tasks per column. If a column has more, the count shows the true total and the column ends with “+N more not shown · Show all”, which lists every task in that column.
“My post was not approved” — how do I get it on the board?
Open the post, fix what the reviewer asked for and save it. Saving sends it back for review, whatever you changed; if the workspace has stopped reviewing posts since, saving posts it. A workspace owner or Workspace admin can also open the post and choose Approve after all.
“My post, reply or attachment disappeared”
A workspace owner or Workspace admin can move a post or reply to Trash. You get a notification naming who did, and they can restore it for 30 days — ask them if it was removed by mistake. A post, reply or attached file that you removed yourself is in your own Trash (profile menu) for 30 days; restoring a file puts it back on its post.
“I didn’t get notified about a new post”
Check the member’s per-workspace notification setting (the bell on the workspace’s tab bar). If they chose Mentions only, Weekly recap only or Mute everything, regular posts will not notify them. Also confirm the admin-level toggle Notify on New Message is still on — it defaults to on, but turning it off suppresses message notifications for the entire business.
Why is my project flagged red on the Portfolio?
A project is flagged red when a milestone is past due or a high or critical risk is open. It is flagged amber for overdue to-dos, a check-in that is due, or any other open risk. The project’s Plan tab lists its milestones and risks, so clear the flag there: complete or re-date the milestone, or close the risk. The Health rating (On track, At risk, Off track, Not set) is separate — an owner or Workspace app admin sets it when editing the workspace.
Why does Workload say someone is over capacity?
Workload spreads each open to-do’s estimate evenly over its weekdays, from today to its due date. It compares that with the hours the person has that week. Those hours come from their contract or their role’s expected hours, else a standard 40-hour week; a manager’s hour target on a schedule covering the week wins, and approved leave is taken off. Each week then shows Room to spare (under half), Well loaded (half to full), Stretched (up to 20% over) or Over capacity (more than 20% over). A to-do with no estimate is counted but adds no hours.
How do I move work off someone who is overloaded?
Select a person’s week on the Workload page to open Reassign, tick the to-dos, and choose who should take them. You can move up to 100 to-dos at once. You can only move to-dos in active projects where you are an owner or member; Workspace app admins can move them in any project. The new assignee must be a member of that project, and each person is told once about the whole move.
Licensing and limits
Does Workspace require a licence?
Yes. Workspace requires a licence and must be enabled by an admin in the app marketplace before anyone can use it. Portfolio and Workload additionally need the Platform Standard plan or above.
Are there limits I should know about?
By default, the number of workspaces per business and members per workspace are both unlimited. An admin can set caps via Max workspaces per business and Max members per workspace in settings — leaving them blank means no limit. Drafts count toward the workspace cap.
| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| Workspace name | 200 characters |
| Cover image | under 5 MB; PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF |
| Check-in question | 500 characters |
| Hill Chart scope label | 200 characters, unique within its workspace |
| Custom fields | 30 per project; 50 choices per pick list |
| Dependencies | 20 per to-do; gap of -365 to 365 days |
| Import | 5,000 to-dos and subtasks, 10 MB; more than 200 rows runs in the background |
| Table bulk actions and Workload reassign | 100 to-dos at a time |
Content governance flags workspace content for review every 90 days by default. An admin can change this with Review Interval (days) in the governance settings, from 7 to 365 days.
More help
- Workspace Overview
- Ask AI — the assistant answers Workspace questions from these articles.