4 min read

Introduction to tables

Organize and take action with your data.

Tables are one way to bring data into your Coda doc and structure it in a way that makes sense for you, your team, and the data itself. Although the table is one of the most basic building blocks in Coda, it’s also one of its most powerful and versatile.

A Coda table can be simple as a list or as deep as a database and is applicable to a range of use cases. It’s also easy to set up. Add a blank table by using the forward slash and typing table or the insert panel in the right corner of your doc. You can also bring a table with existing information into your doc via Packs or CSV uploads. No matter how you create your table, there are a couple of things to note before you get started.

What’s in this guide

What you’ll learn...

Tables, not spreadsheets
Column types
Views
Table options

What you’ll need...

Tables
Columns
Views
Table options

1. Tables, not spreadsheets.

While tables resemble a spreadsheet embedded into a doc, they function more like a database. A spreadsheet’s smallest unit is a cell; in a table, it’s a row. Table columns store different bits of information about each row. Some people like to think of rows as the nouns of their data, and columns house the adjectives related to each noun.

Let’s imagine we are building a task tracker in a table. Each row would represent a different task, with columns to store all information related to that task, such as the owner, due date, status, and maybe some notes.

2. Column types.

Another key difference between tables and spreadsheets is how you can store information. Coda supports different column types, meaning you are not restricted to storing data as a string of text or numbers. If we think back to the task tracker we started building above, we might decide to store our due dates in a date column, our owners in a people column, and status in what we call a select-list column (which are helpful for repeating values like statuses, teams, and sizes).

Each column type also comes with column options, which allow us to customize our column even further. These can be found by right-clicking on column type and selecting Edit column. In our task tracker, for instance, we may want to change our owner column to allow multiple selections, meaning we can assign multiple people to the task. In our select-list column, we may want to add a ‘Postponed’ status option.

3. Table views.

With table views, you can create multiple perspectives of a table, each with its own formatting. Some like to think of views as looking at the same information through different windows. The powerful part about views is that the windows don’t have to look the same. Maybe one window shows everything, while another has a filter that shows only some information, and still another is sorted, displaying the information in a specific order. Since these views contain the same information, any changes made to the data itself, from any of the views, will display in all views of the data. For a deeper dive into views, visit this guide.

4.Table options.

Not only are there many ways to configure your columns, there are also multiple options for your table itself. If you select Options in the upper right corner of your table, you’ll find a list of all of these choices, including formatting, grouping, and more. To learn more about specific table options, check out our comprehensive library here.

Now what?

Say goodbye to monotonous, manual data updates and make way for connected views.
Want to learn more about what you can do with tables and views? Check out our New table or new view? guide.
Check out our Databases 101 course for more on building amazing tables and databases in Coda.
Get to building! Where can you create connected views in your docs?

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