1. Adding Highlighter to a board
- Open the board where you want to use Highlighter.
- Click the Add View button to the right of your existing view tabs.
- Select Apps → Highlighter to add the app to your board.
- Highlighter opens with the rules sidebar on the left and your board table on the right. If this is your first time, you'll see a set of quick-start template cards in the sidebar.
2. Creating your first rule
- In the sidebar, click Add rule from template to start from a preset, or click a template card if the empty-state cards are visible.
- To create a blank rule, open the Add rule from template menu and choose New blank rule.
- The rule editor opens in-place within the sidebar.
- Give the rule a name, or leave it blank. Highlighter will auto-generate one from your conditions as you build them.
- Press Ctrl+Enter (or Cmd+Enter on Mac) to save, or click the save button. Press Escape to cancel.
As you edit, a live match preview at the bottom of the editor shows how many rows currently match your rule, so you can see the effect before saving.
3. Building conditions
Each rule has one or more conditions. Click Add condition to add a row, then:
- Pick a column from the column picker. Most column types are supported, including text, numbers, dates, status, dropdown, people, checkbox, and more.
- Choose an operator (for example: is before, contains, is one of).
- Enter a value if required: text, a number, a date, or a label selection depending on the column type.
When you have more than one condition, a combinator dropdown appears at the top of the condition list. Switch between AND (all conditions must match) and OR (any condition must match).
Rules with zero conditions never match any row, which prevents accidentally highlighting everything.
4. Styling options
The style section of the rule editor controls how matching rows look:
- Row-level styles: background color, text color, bold, italic, and strikethrough apply to the entire row.
- Cell-level overrides: click Add cell override to apply different styles to individual columns. Cell styles take precedence over the row style for that column.
All styles respect monday.com's light, dark, black, and hacker themes automatically.
5. Using templates
Highlighter includes four built-in quick-start templates:
- Highlight overdue items: flags rows where a date column is before today (red background).
- Due this week: highlights items with a date falling in the current week (yellow background).
- Flag high-priority: matches status values like "High" or "Critical" (red background + bold).
- Done items: matches a "Done" status (green background + strikethrough).
Templates are smart: they automatically select the most relevant column on your board (for example, a column named "Due Date" for the overdue template). If no compatible column exists, the template card is disabled.
6. Managing rules
Rules run top-to-bottom. The first rule that matches an item applies its styles, and later rules are skipped for that item. Use the drag handle on each rule card to reorder them.
Each rule card has a three-dot menu with these options:
- Edit: opens the rule editor in the sidebar.
- Duplicate: creates a copy of the rule.
- Use as board view filter: translates the rule into monday.com's native filter format and applies it to the current view. (Pro)
- Move up / Move down: reorders without drag-and-drop.
- Delete: removes the rule immediately.
The toggle on each card enables or disables a rule without deleting it. Disabled rules are skipped during evaluation and show no match count.
The Import and Export buttons at the top of the sidebar let you save your rule set as a JSON file and restore it on another board, with automatic column remapping when column names match. (Pro)
7. Getting help
The fastest way to get help is to email support@asplundsoftware.com. Please include:
- The name of your monday.com account or workspace
- The board you are working on
- A short description of what you tried to do
- Any error messages or screenshots if available