I have A TON of templates sitting in Google docs that I’d like to import to Coda and use with clients. My ultimate goal is to have Coda completely replace Google docs.
I started with one – a guided brand discovery that I send to web design clients – but I can’t tell how to save it as a template, or a blank one, that I can use the next time I create a web design package.
Any tips?
Following because I am curious about people’s responses. I have similar issues and some lame solutions.
Hi Kathleen and welcome to the community.
In theory you could create tables with all fields you need and then transform them to Detailed view which looks like fill in template. Then all data is properly collected, organised and visualised.
The main question you need to ask yourself is - how exposed should be the information to all your clints and to a single client.
I have been willing to do exactly what you say and have been going far and beyond Coda’s capabilities (without development and too much APIs). Coda did not work for us because the presumption for Coda is that it is mostly for internal purposes and internal teams. Confirming this observation with this pole: Is Coda for Small Businesses?
Stay tuned and consider this particular security (know-how) aspect, especially if you are consulting business.
Hi Stefan! Thanks for the reply.
I don’t have a ton of tables, per se, but I do ask the same 239 questions every time. So what I’ve done in the past (last week, let’s call it) is send a Google doc that a client spends time with and sends back to me.
So, the information wouldn’t be shared – their answers I assume are safe – but the questions would.
I guess what I want is my own version of “let’s publish a website” or something.
Maybe I need a bit more information but it seems like Coda is not for your purposes, unless you want to collect those responses and then work with them as data. Which is cool but maybe unnecessary.
Google Form might be good option when it comes to collect responses, especially when there are many questions. If the questions are less you might consider alternatives as Typeform which from our experience have higher success rate but are paid.
Here is an example of something which we created recently for a research with linguists and natives in Google form. You can actually fill it in, if interested 
Oh, that was fun. But I think I’m not articulating myself very well, because I do want to use the templates to help people build websites. I just need them to answer their branding questions differently.
Hi @anon24813274,
And welcome to the community!
From my first read through this, it sounds like having a doc with your questions set up the way you want to send them, and just naming it something like “Templates” would work. Each page can be it’s own template. Then if you create a new doc for a client, you can just copy a the pages you need over to that doc, or make a copy of your “Templates” doc and rename it for that client.
The other answers above have to do more with compiling all client information into one place, but if this is a collaborative environment for you and each client, I think one doc each can work just fine.
Personally, I create a “Templates” folder in my Workspace and keep my doc setups there. Then I just copy those docs and rename the new ones when I need them.
Does that sound like something that might work?
I’m happy to elaborate more too.
Ben
We at The i-Mind definitely need such templates
If that helps, I am OK to have a video call and you demonstrate/tell me what you are looking to achieve.
total NOOB question: how do I move a doc baby from one doc mommy to another?
Is copy/paste not working?
If you created a template doc, and if you kept everything in one page, you can just highlight everything on that page and copy it to a new doc to move it each time.
Is that what you’re looking to do?
Copy/paste is, but duplicating a doc means it has to stay with its doc mom. I’d love if it worked the way I expected: duplicate–>move doc to new doc mom.
Copying and pasting feels like a workaround.
What do you mean by this here?
If you copy a doc, it copies the info and is an entirely new doc. It’s not connected to the old doc.
If you duplicate a page, that will be within the original doc as a new page.
Just figured out how to move one! NEVER MIND!
-Kathleen