Coda

Reviewed July 18, 2019

Coda is a collaborative document surface augmented with functionality from spreadsheets, kanban boards, calendars, databases, automated workflows, and 3rd party integrations. It aims to start as a simple document and grow with the users' needs to be the single place where they add their structure, workflows, data, and customized views. It was founded in 2014 and launched publicly in 2019. While it still has a long way to go to accomplish it, Coda's mission of creating a medium to democratize computation is very compelling.

Product Feel

👍 Slick, clean, modern
👍 Blurs the line between editing a doc and programming
👎 Jack of all trades - master of none
👎 No first-class tables or functions
- Instead: add or modify rows, functional expressions, buttons, buttons pushing buttons

Basic Usage

The above video shows me exploring Coda's CRM template. It demonstrates:

hovering over dynamic values to see their formula and details
viewing the main "All ..." spreadsheets and various subset views
changing the column type to multi-select
changing a table view's filter to sort for active deals of the current user
creating a multi-select that will toggle the filter expression between all deals and this user's deals
the kanban board and calendar interfaces to data
adding lookup columns to data

Templates

Coda launched with an impressive amount and quality of templates, including with brand-name partners, such as:

Uber’s App Redesign
Intercom Feedback Tracker
Box’s Candidate Coordination Doc
Fear-Setting by Tim Ferris
OKRs with John Doer
Gamestorming
Blogilates March Workout
#100AbChallenge

Formulas

There are a lot of little features that make constructing formulas much more pleasant in Coda:

inline documentation
code completion
live data preview
live type error detection

The icons within formulas subtley convey type information, such as:

data type (date, number, text)
single vs multiple (list)
distinguishes between different objects via color

Automations

In Coda, Automations are simple workflows (a la Zapier or IFTTT). They can be triggered via on changes to specific columns in tables or on a set time-based schedule. They can cause changes to data in tables or actions in 3rd-party services via packs.

Doc Map

The Doc Map allows users to see a global structure of a doc, such as where tables are referenced in controls and formulas.

Automatic mobile app interface

The Coda mobile app automatically reskins the desktop interface as a mobile app, converting pages to tab-based navigation at the bottom of the screen, and table buttons to swipe-able actions.

Packs

Packs are Coda's answer to 3rd party integrations. They allow you to pull in data, such as from Figma and Github, as well as send messages to Slack, create Google Calendar events, etc. Adding a pack prompts you to sign in to your account in the 3rd party service, and then provides you with extra views, buttons and formulas specific to that service.

Pricing

Today Coda is entirely free. They plan to introduce a paid tier eventually, but promise to always keep a free version.

Wishes

Create tables declaratively instead of adding rows manually
Trigger multiple actions without a button that pushes buttons

Past wishes that were granted:

Synced pack tables
Faster loading times and a built-in benchmarking tool