Is it possible to create an outline that can be changed for one page and then gets updated for all pages?
Here is the scenario:
This is for a property management company. I’d like to have a structure for each location (each page would be for each location) that allows for information in a standard format for all locations. Things might include building information, contact info for each, fire and safety info, utility information, etc.
So, if I wanted to add a new category to the outline or even change the name of a category I’d like that to be reflected for all of the locations but the content for each of those sections is customized for the location. Hope that makes sense.
Is there a way to do this? I know I can use a template for new pages and that’s fine but can it update all the rest of the pages already created if I was to add to the template or change anything?
In a table this would be easy, just add a new column but this would likely be a lot of data for each location, so a horizontally oriented table just isn’t suitable.
Hello @Darren_Humphries!
You could approach your problem in different ways. But before choosing I would make a table with all locations and info and then:
Show it as a detail view and copy that view on each section.
Make all your outline directly on canvas and with a select list choose which location to show
Detail view
With detail view you can arrange the information in a more flexible way, the downsides is that this view’s width is narrower than using the canvas.
The detail view by itself lets you select the locations but if you still want to use different pages for each location you could do so and be able to change something in the outline and have them all reflect the change dynamically.
Here’s a deep dive into how to set this up
Canvas with formulas
It is similar to the detail view but you make the outline directly in the canvas. But instead of filling the info manually you do it with formulas and on the top of the page you put a select list with which you select the location to show in your formulas.
In this case you cannot copy this into different pages because you would end up with the same problem you have right now.
Here’s a sample I made to show how could you accomplish both options I just described.
As a side note, if you like the flexibility of canvas, Coda is currently working on some changes that will let you put canvas inside tables, here’s a video where it is shown what is coming so stay tuned!
Thanks so much, Saul. I’ll dig into this and see how it works out.
Since my question I had gone ahead with a detail view since it would certainly work, if just doesn’t give a ton of flexibility on layout and, as you mentioned, is limited even by width. I’ll see what I can do with your suggestion.
If you want to easily add or remove pages programatically, then don’t use the actual pages. Use the table where each row serves as a page, and open it in a row layout.
But if you don’t need to do that, you can have:
table with all the content (texts, files…)
table with blocks (into each block add some of the content)
table with pages (into each page, add some blocks)
Finally, when you create actual page, on it reference the corresponding page on the table. To show the content on the blocks on the page, you need to have a column on each that displays the content. If you want more control of the layout, you can skip the page table and add blocks directly to pages where they go. Now, the content will be displayed, but to edit you need to change things in the tables.
Tomislav, I can’t say that I understand all of this but I’ll see if I can figure out what you mean. I’ll be working on this project later today. Thanks so much for the help!
