With Coda, you have many options for viewing your structured data. For each table and view, you can choose the display type that you prefer. For instance, if you want to view rows of data in a basic spreadsheet form you might choose the standard table display. If you want to visualize and track your tasks over time, you might choose a timeline display. And if you want to see your data as tiles on a board, you can choose cards display.

This article will walk you through creating and utilizing a cards display for your data, and will cover some tips and common questions about cards.

Create a cards display

It's always easiest to start with a table or view for building your cards display. Once you have the table that you want, follow these steps:

Hover over the table, and select Options in the upper right corner.
At the top of the options panel, select the Cards icon.
That’s it! Your table or view is now a cards display. You can read the sections below to learn about customizing and utilizing your cards.

Customize appearance of cards

Now that you have your cards display, you might want to customize the look and content of the cards themselves. You can adjust which columns are or aren’t shown on cards, decide whether column labels are displayed, and even add color and formatting to your cards.

Adjust which columns are visible

To hide or show certain columns on your cards, just follow these steps:

Hover over your cards display, and click on Options in the upper right corner.
Click on Columns.
Here you’ll see which column are visible on cards and which are hidden on cards. To hide or unhide columns, simply click on the eye icon next to each column name.

💡Tip: You can also rearrange the order of columns on your cards, by clicking and dragging on column names within the Visible on cards section.

Hide or show column labels

You also have the option to choose whether column labels are shown on your cards or not.

Hover over your cards display, and click on options in the upper right corner
Click on cards display
Toggle on or off the column labels option, depending on your preferences.

Note: By design, the display column label will always remain hidden.

Add color and formatting to cards

You can use conditional formatting to add color and text formatting to your cards - just as you would to any other table. Color can be applied to the entire card, or just to specific columns in the card. For instance, maybe you want make an important column bold. Or you want a task card to appear red when it’s past the due date. Check out the article on conditional formatting to learn all about this feature.

Group cards by attributes

One powerful way to visualize and use cards is to group the cards by common attributes. For instance, maybe your cards represent individual tasks, and want to group the cards by their status (not started, in progress, blocked, etc.).

You can group your cards via Coda’s grouping feature. Cards can be grouped along the left, along the top (to create a kanban board effect), or even both (to create swim lanes). Then, you can drag a cards between groups, and the attributes on those cards will update automatically.

To group your cards, just follow these steps:

Hover over your cards view, and select Options in the upper right corner.
Click on Group.
Then click Add group, and choose which column you want to group by (don’t worry, you can add more groups later so just start with one).
Under Group by, you’ll see the columns that are being used to group. Next to each column, choose whether you want to group the cards along the top or along the left.
Add groups and adjust their alignment until the cards display meets your preferences.

That’s it! Now you can start dragging cards between groups, and watch how the attributes on the cards update accordingly.

ℹ️ If you want to learn more about the grouping feature, including group settings, check out this article.

FAQs

How do I create a kanban board?

You can create a kanban board by creating a cards display, then grouping the cards along the top by the status column (as described in the section above). Or you can take this shortcut:

Hover over your table, and select options in the upper right corner
You’ll see a list of display options at the top, with a three-dot button (...) on the right. Click on these horizontal three dots, then select Board from the options.
Coda will automatically group your rows by a certain column, but you can change this manually by clicking Customize grouping.
Now you can drag the items on your board between the different groups, and the grouped attribute will update automatically.

Can I group cards by multiple columns?

Yes! You can group your cards display by more than one column. Not only can you group by one column along the top and another column along the left, you can actually even group by multiple columns on each axis. For instance, you could group by two separate columns along the left. Learn more about grouping here.

Can I group cards along multiple axis?

Yes - you have the option to group cards along the top of your table, along the left, or even both. Check out the section on grouping for more info.

How can I change the order of columns on my cards?

To change the order that columns appear on your cards, just follow these steps:

Hover over your cards display, and select Options in the upper right corner.
Click into the Columns tab.
Now you’ll see which columns are visible and which are hidden (see the section above about hiding or showing columns). Columns will appear on cards in the order that they’re shown here. So within the Visible on cards section, simply click and drag each column until you have the desired order.