Creating a Master Database that's easily searchable

I’m working to create a “Master” Sales Enablement resource in coda leveraging tables to categorize a wide range of data and information. Using Coda tables, we will be organizing Demo materials, FAQs, Objection Handling, marketing resources/collateral, testimonials and case studies, and more.

If we organize all of the above data/files/resources in tables, what is the easiest way for the end user (our Sales team) to query or search the databases using a variety of different inputs or variables?

My first approach is by leveraging drop down tags and by filtering tables based on those tags and table columns, but I’m curious if there’s a better, or easier way for the sales team to search a vast database using a variety of different variables. Is it possible to set some search criteria using a form? Does Coda AI support the ability to search for all relevant information from the databases? Thanks in advance!

Hi Kyle,

Welcome to Coda and the Community!

How long is a piece of string… :wink:

My first piece of advice is always to spend enough time to get to know Coda. It looks a lot like Word, Excel, Access and even Notion, but it is nothing like any of them. A month or three experimenting up front , will save you many months of rework later on.

Personally, I put everything in tables, and if I want a page layout, I use a canvas column. How many tables, depends on exactly what your data looks like, as well as what the volumes of data are.

Searching the doc will be a combination of the below

  • tags, to allow you to structure your data
  • filters on one or more of the columns in a table
  • searching a single table using the table search box
  • searching the whole of the doc, and multiple docs, using the general search box
  • searching the doc or a page using the Coda AI

There is no one best way. I would strongly recommend that you start small, get good requirements and build it out from there. The solution can get very unwieldly very quickly, and once you have lost your users, it is very difficult to win them back.

It’s just a ramble,
Rambling Pete

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