4 min read
Introduction to tables
Organize and take action with your data.
What’s in this guide
What you’ll learn...
- Tables, not spreadsheets
- Column types
- Views
- Table options
What you’ll need...
- Tables
- Columns
- Views
- Table options
1. Tables, not spreadsheets.
While tables resemble a spreadsheet embedded into a doc, they function more like a database. A spreadsheet’s smallest unit is a cell; in a table, it’s a row. Table columns store different bits of information about each row. Some people like to think of rows as the nouns of their data, and columns house the adjectives related to each noun.2. Column types.
Another key difference between tables and spreadsheets is how you can store information. Coda supports different column types, meaning you are not restricted to storing data as a string of text or numbers. If we think back to the task tracker we started building above, we might decide to store our due dates in a date column, our owners in a people column, and status in what we call a select-list column (which are helpful for repeating values like statuses, teams, and sizes).3. Table views.
With table views, you can create multiple perspectives of a table, each with its own formatting. Some like to think of views as looking at the same information through different windows. The powerful part about views is that the windows don’t have to look the same. Maybe one window shows everything, while another has a filter that shows only some information, and still another is sorted, displaying the information in a specific order. Since these views contain the same information, any changes made to the data itself, from any of the views, will display in all views of the data. For a deeper dive into views, visit this guide.4.Table options.
Not only are there many ways to configure your columns, there are also multiple options for your table itself. If you select Options in the upper right corner of your table, you’ll find a list of all of these choices, including formatting, grouping, and more. To learn more about specific table options, check out our comprehensive library here.Now what?
- Say goodbye to monotonous, manual data updates and make way for connected views.
- Want to learn more about what you can do with tables and views? Check out our New table or new view? guide.
- Check out our Databases 101 course for more on building amazing tables and databases in Coda.
- Get to building! Where can you create connected views in your docs?
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