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In

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Formula: In()

Category: Lists (Arrays)

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In()

Checks if a value is in a list

Or, as one might say...

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In() uses two parameters. The second parameter is called Value, and just as in with List() and ListCombine(), it is a repeating parameter. This means you can search by inserting a single formula chip (i.e., of a column) or input as many or as few values as you would like to search in.

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In(Search, Value)

This is the item/vaue that you want to search for within a list.

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Value

In(Search, Value)

This is the list or set of values you want to search in.

A Simple Example

The humble In() - while only 2 letters long, it is one of the most useful formulas you will come across in Coda. Let’s see how it works.

In() checks to see if a singular value is in a list of any size and it returns true/false.

True: If the value is in the target list

False: if the value is not in the target list

Type any word or animal into the text-box below to check if that word is in the

People Database⁠

. If you are having trouble thinking of words, try these: dog, keyboard, google, coda, park

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Type in a random word in the box!

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How Can I Use In()?

In() is a powerful formula used in conjunction with Filter() - Lets view two ways we can use it.

1. Use In() to create recurring tasks, schedule tweets, log payments

While many use Automations in their Coda docs, most don’t know this small trick and don’t take advantage of Automations across their docs.

Automations have three triggers:

Time

Row-Changed

Webhook

Form Submitted

But the time based triggers only allow you to choose static time values such as every Monday, or every hour.

Using the trick below you can define custom dates with no set schedule on which your automations can trigger to create recurring tasks, schedule tweets with the twitter-pack, or log expenses/payments.

Below is a table of recurring tasks that acts as a template (the Blue Table) and a table of actual tasks that will be used and checked off by a team (the Yellow Table). You can use an automation to add tasks from the template to the Actual Tasks table that only triggers on the days you set in the template.

The

white button

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below mimics the action an automation would take to create recurring or repeating tasks. Try it out!

Automation Explanation

When Condition: Set an automation that will trigger every single day at 6am

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If Condition: Check if Today’s date exists inside the blue template table. If it does, the automation will continue to the Then section. If not, the automation will do nothing

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Then Condition: This part of the automation will add a row to the yellow table for each of the tasks in the blue table that are marked with todays date

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Add Relevant Tasks

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Recurring Task Template

Name

Day

Day of Week

Standup

Sunday

8/4/2024

Project Proposal

Thursday

8/8/2024

Check in with team

Friday

8/9/2024

Do other stuff

Monday

8/5/2024

Pay the bills

Tuesday

8/6/2024

Take out the trash

Wednesday

8/7/2024

Make sure all is well

Saturday

8/10/2024

There are no rows in this table

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Tasks

Done

Task Name

Due

There are no rows in this table

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2. Compare the differences/similarities between two tables

In() allows easy comparison between two lists.

List 1

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123dog

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List 2

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124dog

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The lists have these elements in common:

12dog

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The items that List 2 does not contain that are in List 1:

3

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The items that List 1 does not contain that are in List 2:

4

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Where this gets really powerful is when you start to compare two tables and run actions based off those differences.

Let’s say you are exporting data from LinkedIn—which currently does not have a pack—and you want to update a list of your contacts with that data and keep those two tables in sync. Watch how the white button below takes the data in the blue table and updates the yellow table to match it

Data copy/pasted from LinkedIn

First Name

Last Name

Current Title

Current Company

Email Address