Table Rows as Pages

Suggestion Box
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Please allow table rows to be pages (like Notion). This is the single feature keeping me from moving over to Coda.

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Hi @Sarah_Arminta, can’t canvas formulas be the feature you were looking for?
I mean, i don’t know how pages in Notion works, but as now you can “extract” data from any row you desire and you have pretty much a lot of flexibility with what to do with it…
If you just need some data you can use canvas formula, if your desire was to show some rows (or also just one) in a sort of ‘custom layout’ your option today is to create a view that filters for just the row you want, this then in “Detail layout” is gonna work!
In future i deeply hope that some more possibility in the layout will be given to users!

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I’m new, so not super familiar with all of the terms. I’m assuming canvas formulas means inline formulas? That’s a really amazing feature, but not what I’m looking for here.

An example of what I want to replicate. I have a Knowledge Topics table and a Notes table. Each note is related to one or more Knowledge Topics via a lookup and each note has properties. I can click on each Knowledge Topic (as it is a page) and have a bunch of notes plus a self referencing filtered table of notes that are related to that Knowledge Topic. I need my Knowledge Topics and Notes to be fully fledged pages, but also able to have properties and the ability to relate to other things via lookups/relations/rollups.

I can’t currently do this in Coda, I don’t think?

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Hi @Sarah_Arminta, you were right,

I imagined that those was a little bit to “minimal” for your use, but let me tell you that with a bit of creativity in generating their content you can create some interesting dynamic layout :slight_smile:

In your case i would not use pages as content container, but rows and columns of a table instead, that act as a central database of everything (or maybe 2? one for KT and one for Notes, that are interlinked between them), showed to the final user as a view of this table (that is, a view, an exact copy of the original table but filtered in another way, programmed to show just some datas of it, you can also set it’s filter to be dynamic based on the user using the coda doc, or to some control in the page, like dropdowns or buttons or slider ecc…)

This view can be then set in “Detail” view, where you can have some freedom of arranging the layout of the data

So, like this you have just one dynamic page (or more if you prefer) maybe also based on current user, and you can manage those like you would if they were data!

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HI Mario, thanks for the response.

So if I’m understanding correctly you’re suggesting that I put my page content into cells as text/etc instead?

That sounds nice, and could work for some of my simpler notes, but for example, I have a note on Japanese verbs that is 5,910 words long and includes many images and tables within the page content. I have many many notes of similar length and complexity. I’m not sure how I could practically fit that content into one or multiple text fields.

If you have an example that I could see that explains what you are saying, or if anyone else is organizing long complicated text within tables, I would love to see it.

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related:

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I agree that this is one feature that Coda really needs. To give a couple more examples where this would be useful:

Example 1: I have a table for meetings, where each row represents a meeting and contains the meeting title, date, attendees and notes. I take meeting notes by opening up the layout view. However, this view is very limited for notes – for example, what if I want to inline an image or video, or use collapsible bullets?

Example 2: I have a table for books, where each row represents a book and contains the title, authors, cover image and notes. I take book notes by opening up the layout view, but once again I am limited as described above.

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Hi @Sarah_Arminta, yes, you got it right!
I’ve prepared an example of the concept i was presenting you, you can find it here:

If i was you that’s how i would organize content and this is how i suggest you to do this things in coda, but as always there could be better ways (but i’ve been a coda user for 3 years and i wouldn’t do this in another way)

I also do not suggest you to believe too much in “fast fix” for your desire, if you want to use coda today you have to find ways to overcome your desired feature, like in this way, and in that moment you can appreciate the easiness of use of your data thanks to coda!
The trick in my opinion is to focus on your pages as data and not beautifully formatted text, and now that they are data you can do whatever you want with them in coda, also showing them :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the reply and the example. I will have to sit back and see how I can reimagine my content in more of a data-centric way :slight_smile:

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No worries! @Sarah_Arminta
I’ve also updated it to show an alternative route and some guide/instructions, keep in mind that this is just a super basic setup, but you could improve it a lot with little effort!
If after all you decide to give coda a try, update me here and i’ll explain some more advanced cool ideas you can apply to further adapt the doc to you, with pleasure :slight_smile:

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I need exactly what @Sarah_Arminta and @Johnny_Hunter1 are requesting – without clever work-arounds.

I think it’s a pretty big oversight that there wasn’t at least some way to limit the height of a row due to a text column with lots of data (such as a note on Japanese verbs or notes from a long meeting) where that row also has other useful properties (dates, person assignments, etc.). There should also be a way to jump directly to the rich text input area.

Not to sound redundant because there is so much more I like about Coda than Notion – but Notion makes this relatively easy with each row being essentially a page. A page in a cell is fine with me, but, like Sarah, I can’t convert completely to Coda until this is fixed.

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You’re right, there is more that we can do here to make these scenarios easier. They aren’t trivial tasks, but they are on our radar and we do have regular discussions on how to make improvements here.

For the time being though, I make use of embedded tables and have really like it because I actually do more with task tracking in projects and meetings. I have two templates posted and I actually combined them for personal use for my own projects and meetings.

I know it’s not exactly what you’re looking for and I 100% hear your request, I’m just adding these to this topic because it’s one strategy that is possible at the current moment.

Also, any text column type can be expanded to what we call a “big cell” and you have access to more text style options. I know it’s another workaround, but you can also create a column that truncates your big text column to a specific number of characters, so you can have a preview for table view and open the row for the full text.

Again, I completely hear your feedback and can tell you that the team is seeing it as well. We’re a growing product and I think you’ll find that we post continual improvements. Just today we announced file attachments as well as forms, both big customer requests.

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Automatic in Notion. A deal breaker for many use cases.

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Yup – table rows as pages +1!

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Another +1 for table rows as pages!

Any updates on this feature?

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If you’re curious about what we’ve been working on, sign up for our Block Party that’s happening tomorrow!

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Any updates on this?

I want to embed full contents as a table row(or cell),
DON’T want to add page in the left panel (where pages organized).

For well-organized structure,
“table rows as pages” must be implemented like Notion.

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Hi @DOO-FUNK :blush: and Welcome to the Community :partying_face: !

Well, as announced after the last Block Party :partying_face: … Betas for the brand New Coda Editor were rolled out recently :blush: . (on the ~22nd of October 2021)

So, Notion-like features (Canvas Layout (multiple columns on the canvas which allow you to put content side-by-side) and Canvas Columns (A new type of column which lets you create whatever you want (whatever you can create on the the canvas))) should be coming soon :raised_hands: !

If you’re curious about Coda New Editor, here’s the replay from the Block Party concerning these new features :blush: .

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Loving the idea of the Canvas column type. When is this being released? I want it!!

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Hi @Yasutaka_Ito and Welcome to the Community :partying_face: !

As the New Editor and the Canvas Layout (which allows side-by-side content on the canvas) were just released few days ago, I guess the “Canvas Column” will be launched soon :blush: .

I have no ETA to give you though but I can assure you that it’s coming :blush: .

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