tl;dr - You can now use Coda to make forms! Just type /form to get started in a new doc. 
Existing docs will gradually have this feature enabled over the next few days.
Read on for more details & helpful background on how forms work.
Tables can assume many shapes in CodaăŒcard views, timelines, calendars, and charts. And now, forms! Weâve applied all of the great feedback from our Beta, and Iâm excited to share that all Coda makers can create forms starting today.
Forms are a new way to collect data to be reviewed, analyzed, and managed in Coda. Just like with any table or view, you have the option to view and manage your form in the context of the rest of your doc, and to connect it with other building blocks like buttons, automations, and packs. Or, if you prefer, you can publish your form to a unique URL so that it can be shared with other people who may then complete your form without ever seeing the rest of your doc.
Creating & Editing your form
To build and customize a form, access the âForm Optionsâ menu by either typing /form to create a new form, or by hovering to expose the âOptionsâ menu, and then clicking âMoreâ (next to the Calendar view option) and selecting âForm.â
From the âForm Optionsâ Menu, you select âLayoutâ to open the editing mode for your form. From the Layout Menu, you can take several actions for various components of your form.
Form details
Update your formâs title, add a description, and add a cover photo by clicking on the options at the top of your form in the main panel.
Questions & layout
Click on any column âblockâ to update it.
- Change the column name to update the name of the column in the results table
- Add a unique question to show people who fill-out your form a different prompt than the column name. For example, if your table has a column called âDiscussion Topics,â you could add a long name so that people who fill-out your form see the question as, âWhat would you like to discuss?â (If you do not add a long name, the question will display as the column name by default)
- Add a description or help text for the question
- Click in the upper right corner of the column block to change the column type. For example, you could change a text column to a select list to display the input options as radio buttons or a drop-down in the form.
- From the column type menu, you can also open the column options menu, or choose style options for some question types
- When you click the icon in the upper right corner of the column block, you can also set a question as required.
- âGrabâ the toggle handle on the left of any column block to drag it to a new location in the form and to customize your layout
Form settings
From the layout options panel, you can publish your form (more on this feature below), adjust privacy settings, rearrange and edit columns and their visibility, add new columns, and manage confirmation settings.
Published forms vs. Forms in your documentâs context
Forms can âliveâ in two different environments.
Sometimes, youâll want a form that your entire team can see, fill-out and manage. You might even want to place the form directly above the results table. This is especially helpful for things like bug trackers or ticketing systems, where everyone with access to the doc should have access to the form and its results for confirmation and collaboration. This is the default mode for forms in Coda.
If you want a traditional form where users only ever see the form itself (and not the results), youâll want to create a published form. Published forms are assigned a unique URL, and can have cover images and additional privacy settings. For example, if you build a form to gather external user feedback in a doc shared with your entire team, you can make sure all of your teammates are not selectable in a form field built from a people column.
Note that published forms are not considered published docs, and as such, will not show up in Codaâs Doc Gallery. However, if you publish a doc that has a form and/or a results table in its pages, those items will be included in the published doc. When viewers copy the doc, they will get new template versions of the form and/or table, which will not be linked to your form nor its results.
Publishing your form
To publish your form to a unique URL so that it can be shared with people who can complete your form without accessing its results:
- Select âPublished Formsâ from either the Table Options or Form Options menus
- Select an existing form or click the â+ Create newâ button
- From the published form layout menu, click âCreate linkâ under the Sharing section to generate your URL
You can also hover over a form in your doc and select âSharingâ to access the option to create your unique URL.
Applying your results
At the end of the day, if you can add data in a certain format or style to a table in Coda, you should be able to collect that same data and information via forms. This means you can manage form inputs as you would any other table, so if you want to have multiple views of the same results, you could maintain a base table and copy a chart view of results to another page in your doc. Or cross-doc form input results to share with other teams. Or set-up an automation to notify you on Slack every time a new form response is submitted.
For more details on forms in Coda, please see this set of FAQs in our Help Center.
We canât wait to see what you build with Coda forms!
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