We’ve seen people make Coda docs to run all sorts of unique businesses—from selling baby clothes to baking granola to composting soil.
As different as the docs are, they all tend to follow the same organizational patterns. That’s because taking care of business, whether it’s inventory tracking or customer relationship building, really comes down to a few universal principles: like keeping everything in one place, being consistent in your sorting, and sharing broadly.
A couple weeks ago, we took all those business principles, distilled them into concise templates, then made them available right inside your doc.
I’m here to run you through my personal favorites—the CRM, Check Out system, Gantt Chart, and Photo Table templates—and hopefully show you how they can make your employees happier, your teams more productive, and your business more efficient.
The CRM
Any growing business has an expanding list of contacts associated with various projects, whether they’re sales prospects, internal job candidates, or suppliers. On top of that, there are multiple interactions that need to be tracked for every one of those contacts.
You might think you need an expensive customer relationship management solution to handle all of this, but your Coda doc can do it easily. Drag and drop our pre-built CRM into your doc and you can track companies, contacts at those companies, and interactions with those contacts — all in the same place.
Heads up: The ‘Companies’ table is a great example of our table layouts in action. If you want to reconfigure the layout, click the pencil icon in the top right corner of the table to customize the fields however you’d like.
Check Out System
Regardless of which processes you use to run your business, keeping track of who checked out what is mission-critical. We’ve seen people do this using everything from a pile of sticky notes to a basic spreadsheet. Now there’s an easier way. Our Check Out System lets you record who checked out what, and when.
Pro tip: Did you know Coda tables are automatically formatted to be mobile-optimized? Open this table on mobile to modify rows and press buttons by using familiar swiping gestures.
Gantt Chart
Everyone has a favorite way to visualize tasks. Some prefer calendars, others prefer Kanban boards, and some prefer a simple table view. For those who prefer a classic Gantt Chart to visualize progress over time, try the in-doc template. This simple version comes with tasks, dates, and durations.
Pro tip: Drag the task sliders on the Gantt Chart and watch the table view of the tasks update instantly.
Photos Table
Our photos table is perfect for storing pictures from all areas of your business. You could log photos from a recent workshop you hosted, capture progress from warehouse renovations, categorize and sort images from your inventory, or even file some good memories from your last company off-site.
Pro tip: Upload photos directly from any device by clicking on the + icon in cells within the Photos column.
