Hello, I have a simple question, but first I’ll make an analogy with google docs and/or excel web: Let’s say I have a sheet opened and I have selected the cell A1, and let’s say a colleague of mine also has the same sheet opened and he has cell B1 selected. I can actually see this in real time in these applications so, if my partner is doing something at that cell, I can use the common sense that he is doing something there, so I’ll not interfere on that cell, and vice versa.
Now, comparing to coda, let’s say that in any given table with some parameters (a to-do table) I have a record (row) opened/clicked/selected and my colleague has another one. There’s no way to actually know which record he has selected and vice versa. I know we can work fine even if we have the same record selected, but it is really annoying the fact that, at least, I cannot know if he has or not the record opened because he might be working with that or not and I cannot know just by looking… several times we have to contact each other to know in what we are working so we are not doing the same thing. In summary, if my colleague is working in a record and I open that, if I can somehow know that he has that opened, then I would close it and jump to the next task in the table and do not lose time.
With all that being said, I have two questions:
- Does anyone know if this is a planned update for the near future that covers that?
- Does anyone know a way (formula) that can work as a workaround for this? Like, for example:
"
if (recordIsSelected)
{show who has it selected}
else
{return 0}
"
I know that this example does not apply to coda this way, but at least is a nice explanation of what I’m hoping to achieve.
To all the community, thanks in advance and my best regards,
Tiago Melo
I thought this functionality existed? When more than one person is working on a doc, I see a little version of their icon in whatever cell they are working on. Is this something other than what you are asking?
This is not true.
Let’s say you have a blank page in a doc. There, you can see this happening if you type just texts outside tables and databases, but if you have a page with a table only and select a record, there’s no way for another person working in the same doc to see what record you have selected.
I mean, you can see the icon up in the page all right, but not what the person is doing or have selected in the document
Maybe this is just happening during my experience with Coda Support, but when I have been working with them on issues, I can see the icon on the top, and an icon in any cells (or column headings) they are looking at. I don’t know if the experience is different in other contexts…
I work with only one person in this document, it’s kind our main task/projects doc for everything.
He is enjoying his day off today, but I’ll pay close attention tomorrow on how Coda behaves to us and send screenshots. That might help to explain better the situation
1 Like
Hello again, I’m about to explain exactly what happens with screenshots. Both screenshots were taken from my computer while my colleague was selecting cells and records at his’, let’s keep this in mind. Also, I blurried some sections that contain confidential information. You’ll see that this is a complex Doc
In the screenshot below, what was said about this being a implemented feature already (see what other has selected) is true to some extent that I did not realize before.
If the database is being shown in a table view, here is what happens:
- My colleague clicked the expand icon to open this record;
- His initials appeared there, meaning that he has that selected;
- Hovering the mouse cursor at his top icon show only that he has the section Calendar (due dates) opened, but not the record/row 355
We can say, then, that this is OK to some extent, because… check out the next screenshot and my observations:
- Hovering the mouse cursor at his top icon show only that he has the section Tasks by ID selected, but not the record 540.
- These are some sections from this doc. The section Tasks Main group has several subsections; they’re all table views from a table called Tasks with different filtering, sorting and configurations. The view actually selected (Tasks by ID) shows a Detailed view from a table. Please keep this in mind.
- I have selected the same record (540) and have no clue that my colleague has it selected as well because there’s no way to tell.
- Here, I’m pointing with the purple arrow an area in which his initials should likely appear, that makes sense to appear there. The green arrows merely are pointing to random locations, stating that his initials are nowhere to be found:
Now, why I told you to keep in mind the bullet point 2 above? Because, even if he selects a record in some table view in a section, if I go to another section that has a view of the same table, I cannot see his initials. So it means that I can only see his activity (what he has selected and is working on) if I select the exact section he has selected (which I can tell by hovering my mouse cursor on his top icon) and if the database there is in a view that permits it.
That kills the purpose I want, because if I’m taking care of some section and I click on something that he is working on, I’ll not be able to see it right away.
So, I’ve been giving this some thought and got to the conclusion that the best solution for us is to:
- Insert a new column to the main table that will be displayed in all other views after some adjustments in layouts;
- Insert a formula in this column that shows… something, anything if that is selected and shows nothing if it is not selected. This would be the ideal solution, but I cannot come up with a formula that solves this (because there may not be a formula that deals with it anyway). However (again), if there’s a way, even if a formula would have to be adapted for that, it would be awesome.
PS.: Please ignore the time trackers, as this is a feature that I’ll remove in a future update to the doc.
I hope that this is well explained and also that my explanations are not too… boring… haha
Best regards,
Tiago Melo
