If only cell referencing was in fact bi-directional!
I found Notion first, and it has a certain visual appeal that CODA does not have. I think the availability of columns have a lot to do with that, also the fact the page links in CODA are hyperlink blue. But the columns is the big thing.
But as most of the commenters noted CODA’s implementation of tables is far superior to that of Notion. I liked Airtable but did not spend much time on it as it was too expensive for the people that I primarily have in mind as customers. (Small business in South Africa).
And I experienced the same frustration with the lack of info outside of the CODA bubble. Unfortunately I do not have enough time to learn CODA properly. It is an hour here, and an hour there, and by the end of the week I have forgotten much of what I have learned,
I have worked through most of the topics suggested in the Learn doc, but I feel that there is a lack of a structured set of course(s), aimed at slightly above the real starter level. I am trying to fill that by building out my “Rambling Pete Quick Examples” CODA doc, but it is slow going because of my 9-5 job.
Which also frustrated me - it is a massive international organisation, but we are locked tight into MS Teams to communicate and Box to store files. Without even the ability to create lists in MS Teams. I could increase our project teams productivity by 30-50%, partially by just getting all the various teams from all the consulting houses and regions to work in the same environment… &^^$@^&
Sorry for the side track - I miss a structured course that will take one into the mid-level complexity. There are people here that are doing weird and wonderful stuff. But I would like a 8-16 hour course that will take one from an absolute beginner to familiar with tables, the canvas, some button functionality, maybe the gmail and calendar pack. The structure of CODA is very different to both spreadsheets, databases and word processors, and one needs to be indoctrinated. I would really like to do it, but have two go lives in the next six months.
But @Sarah_Arminta it was nice to hear other people have the same frustrations. Hopefully the community will grow quickly.
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I just had an idea, maybe CODA can implement it, or I could give it a shot using a community building app?
The information in this community is very specific questions and answers, on any topic under the sun. If we could have a group for Button tips and tricks, one for formulas, another for working with tables - joining, filtering, linking etc.
Any feedback?
Time to revive this thread 
@Sarah_Arminta @Connor_McCormick @GiacomoPasini @Breno_Nunes @Joseph_Murphy @JHConsulting and others in this thread —
This year I decided to gradually step down from consulting (i.e. building docs for hire privately,) get back into the Community and create more educational content. My plan for February is to:
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Start recording a Coda Basics tutorial, which is not really specifically about Coda but the general logic behind calculations, data design, and computer science that one can find in any programming and also Coda (i.e. what @Christiaan_Huizer said here)
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Finally launch the blog. I think I have a solution for beating my perfectionist’s deadlock: I’ll live record unedited videos about topics I want to write about, and gradually convert them into text form. This means that either way the knowledge will be out there, either in an unpolished video form or in a concise text form.
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Speaking of the blog, just like @Piet_Strydom said, I want to have it all well categorized like “Everything you need to know about buttons”, “Everything you need to know about layouts” etc. The Coda Basics course will actually be the “Everything you need to know about formulas”.
I’m really going to focus on it now. Strategically for me it’s more important and more rewarding in the long run to be “the one who shared their knowledge and taught everyone to use Coda efficiently”, and not “the one who did paid work for some companies and then got exhausted and surpassed by other consultants”. Especially since we’re at a point now where more people and agencies do Coda freelancing but nobody else is willing to share what they know.
So yeah, aiming for a win-win here. I started a new YouTube channel because YT wouldn’t let me rename the old one:
And I launched a Patreon! If you’d like to support me on my journey and also get some perks please check it out There’s a video of me explaining why I chose to go this way.
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@Paul_Danyliuk great to hear that, I am quite sure you will have a quick ramp up and I wish you all the best. A good format could also be hosting people from the community to work or showcase some Coda doc together. I am sure you will find interesting insights
Cant wait for it!
HI All,
I have made the jump, taken the plunge and/or pulled the trigger and created a Community for CODA Education Resources. It is called "Rambling Pete’s CODA Education community. It is built on the Tribe.so Community software. I hope that it will complete what CODA has here, rather than compete with it.
It is early days on how to structure it - but I have created three groups in which to post, or which to belong to - Beginner, Medium and Advanced.
I have created a few product related topics, e.g. Buttons, Tables and Formulas. SO the idea is that if you provide a complicated “button” example. you would post it in the Advanced group, and add the topic Buttons. Etc More than one topic can be added. You can also create your own topics where necessary.
Further, I have created a topic for “Links to other contributors” IN there I currently have links to @Paul_Danyliuk 's YouTube Channel and his Patreon page. I have also added a link to @Christiaan_Huizer 's page in Medium. (Please let me know if you prefer not to have the links published there, and I will remove them.)
I have also provided a link to this community, as well as to the official CODA YouTube channel.
Finally there is a topic where you can make comments, suggestions and complaints.
The functionality exists in Tribe and Zapier to build an integrated Facebook Group, but that costs $85 per month, so maybe a little later down the line. However, I will create a group on Facebook as well, at the moment you CAN share posts on Tribe to Facebook.
Enjoy, and please provide feedback.
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goodmorning @Piet_Strydom ,
I created a profile and entered the community. Why not a Coda doc?
When I follow the official Coda communication, my understanding is that their main focus is on getting teams to work together (posts about Wiki, the examples of Maria and so on). I cannot speak for others, but I do not know a lot about this, I focus on calculations and automations, so I cannot tell what makes Coda great as collaborative tool (besides a lot of hassle linked to sign-up).
My Medium contribution is for free and I hope it inspires others to pick up faster the Coda logic. An important motivation for me writing is trying to understand how to explain Coda in an efficient way to starters. What do you need to know at the beginning, what is good to know second etc… If somebody would have shown me the logic around lists, the difference between thisRow and thisTable and so on, I would have picked it up a bit faster I guess.
Once I have a new article, I’ll mention it overhere, it always contains the functions that helped me solving the issue at hand and I am considering a doc in my Gallery (as @joost_mineur has) to publish the tables I used in my examples.
Best! Christiaan
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Hi Christiaan.
Thanks for signing up.
Why not a Coda doc?
There is always the question about whether one uses “best of breed” or do everything in the same tool. What I put together in Tribe was done in a few hours, over at most two days. To do all of what is currently in there in a CODA doc, would have taken me months, if I could get it to work.
An important motivation for me writing is trying to understand how to explain Coda in an efficient way to starters. What do you need to know at the beginning, what is good to know second etc…
For me this is also important, and which is why I maintain my Doc with examples, I want to give people examples that are working. Also somewhat behind the idea of the community - easily find how to do things, techniques. Problem is, my personal focus is on tables and their manipulations, somebody else might have a completely different focus, say on integration and API’s, etc. But hopefully the community will be able to build some structure to the documentation that is available about CODA.
Thanks, that would be great.