Curious to try out Coda. How do I replicate this Notion setup?

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Hi, I’ve set up a database on Notion for my workspace based on this template discussed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMkGyMhM7OM&list=PLSJs1Zr9x2wAhLHDcKvp8KUou0d9PypBy&index=2&t=0s

I tried replicating it in Coda, but discovered quickly that Coda is not structured the same way as Notion. One of the main example of that is the main column in a Notion database can be a full page in itself, while in Coda, it can’t.

  1. I have made a database in Notion that is called Areas, and within the database is a row called Contacts. Now this ‘Contacts’ is a page in itself, which lists a database of all my contacts. How would you replicate this in Coda? Make a separate page?

  2. In Notion, I have a database called Projects, in which each project is listed per row, and then when I click on it, there is a full page listing the project tasks (linked database with filter to show relevant tasks only), etc… How do I achieve something similar in Coda? Do I need to make separate pages for each project, but then how do I list the projects in a table, so that I can sort them as needed?

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Dear @hbm,

I recommend to check out the templates section with the business category.

From this template you will be able to amend it to your specific needs.
In case questions come up, feel free to get in touch

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I have the same question with respect to projects- I looked through the templates and cannot find one that is similar to Notion. In Notion, each item in a database/table is it’s own page. You can click on each item (whether it’s a task, project, or something else) in a database and it opens a page where you can add text, links, images or other tables. It seems like that is not how Coda is built - unless I am missing something?

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You are right. A row in Coda represents a data record. You can add comments or link to other records of any other database or page in Coda. Notion works the same, but you can a text to a record in Notion. In Coda, this would be a page.

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If you would share an example of your notion doc as well as whatever progress you’ve made on the Coda doc I’d be happy to help you transfer!

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You have identified one of the main differences between Coda and Notion. @JHConsulting is right in saying that rows in Coda are functionally different than pages in Coda. However, a very similar functionality can be achieved using the full screen view of individual rows. In essence, you can open any Coda row into a full page view, just like opening a Notion row as a page. More information and an example (following the format of the setup you linked) can be seen below.

Hope this is helpful, let me know if you have any follow up questions!

You can find more info about using custom layouts here: Using Layouts

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