In Coda, you only pay for Doc Makers. Period.

That’s why it’s so important to understand how to manage Doc Makers in a workspace.

This article covers how to become a Doc Maker, admin settings for Doc Maker approval, and best practices to consider when removing Doc Makers from a workspace.

Unless added to a workspace as a Doc Maker (more on adding members in this article), new members will automatically join a Coda workspace as an Editor. Editors can edit existing docs, but they do not have the ability to create new ones.

By default, if an Editor does try to create a new doc, they will automatically become a Doc Maker, and therefore count as a paid member of the workspace. Workspace admins hold the power to change this default, and in fact there are a few options for approval that we will cover in the next section.

If you are an Editor who is looking to upgrade to Doc Maker status, try creating a new doc and Coda will lead you through whichever process your workspace admin has set up.

For more on the different roles in Coda besides Doc Makers, check out this article.

*Please note that this only applies to workspaces with paid subscriptions.

Unless your workspace admin has changed the default setting, when an Editor creates a new doc, they'll immediately get promoted to a billable Doc Maker.

Workspace admins have a few options for how this approval works, which is managed by clicking Workspace Settings on the left panel of your workspace home. Within these settings, click Access and the following options will appear:

An Editor who creates a new doc will automatically become a billable Doc Maker.

Choose this option if you would approve anyone who wanted to create a doc anyway, and want to skip the administrative burden of an approval process.

The default option for any Coda workspace, no matter the paid plan.

An Editor who creates a doc will go into a 7-day Doc Maker trial, during which they can do anything a Doc Maker does without any charges to the workspace. The admin(s) will be notified when users enter this grace period and will have 7 days to officially approve or reject the role change request to become a Doc Maker.

If the admin does nothing, the member will automatically become a billable Doc Maker after the 7-day grace period.

This option is good if you want to keep a close eye on who gets to be a Doc Maker without becoming a bottleneck for your team to try out Coda.

Note: If a member is rejected from becoming a Doc Maker by an admin, any docs they created will become read-only, and they will have to request Doc Maker access for their docs to become editable again—or transfer ownership of their docs to another Doc Maker in the workspace.

An Editor who attempts to create a doc will be prompted to either request Doc Maker access or start a 14-day Doc Maker trial, during which they can do anything a Doc Maker does without any charges to the workspace.

If the member chooses the 14-day trial, the workspace admin(s) will be notified and prompted to approve or deny the role change request when that trial period concludes. If the member chooses to request Doc Maker access up-front, the workspace admin(s) will also be notified and prompted to do the same.

Unless an admin explicitly approves the role change request and grants an Editor the Doc Maker access, Coda will automatically downgrade any member in-trial to Editor again at the end of their 14-day trial.

This option is good if you would like to ensure that any new Doc Maker goes through an explicit approval process.

Note: Each member is eligible only once for a Doc Maker trial. Once their trial ends, any docs they created and shared will be become read-only, and the next time they want to create a doc, they will be blocked until an admin approves them.

Admins can manage whether a member is a Doc Maker, an Editor, or removed from a workspace in Workspace settings (click to learn more about removing members and adding new members).

Admins can click on the Members tab within the Workspace settings panel, or click on the Members tab directly in the workspace. Along the right side of the Members page the roles of each member are listed out and can be modified by clicking the drop down options.

If you demote a Doc Maker to an Editor, they will no longer be able to make their own docs. Any docs they created will become read-only, and they will have to request Doc Maker access for their docs to become editable again—or transfer ownership of their docs to another Doc Maker in the workspace.

Note: From a billing perspective, demoting a Doc Maker will reflect on your next bill. You will see a prorated credit that is equal to the amount of time the user was no longer a Doc Maker in your billing cycle.

As an admin, you can track role changes for your workspace. All admins will also get an emailed report that summarizes activity for each day (if there is any). Each admin can manage whether they receive that email by clicking the bell icon on the right of the activity dashboard.

To see the activity in Coda, navigate to the Activity tab in Workspace settings.

There is a special rule for free workspaces that automatically makes users Admins when they create a doc. This enables anyone that is a Doc Maker (Admin) in the workspace to upgrade when the team is ready for the next level.

An admin can control how/if doc makers are added to their workspace via the workspace settings, under “Access.” They have three access options to choose from. If they want to prevent doc makers from being auto-added to their workspace, they should not choose instant approval.

There is no limit! As a reminder, all Doc Makers are paid licenses, including Admins.

If there is a doc in your workspace that has an owner that is no longer in the company, you may see their name appear in the workspace membership list. If you remove this person, then their docs become read only until ownership of the doc is changed. Learn about how to transfer docs here.

When you downgrade or remove a Doc Maker from a workspace, all the docs where the user is the doc owner will become read-only. You can check who the doc owner is in the sharing dialog of the doc (Click Share in top right of the doc to open).

The doc owner who is now an Editor will need to change it to another member of the workspace that has the role of Doc Maker (learn how here). They can also delete the read-only doc, but only if they are the doc owner.

At the end of each billing cycle, you will be billed for the workspace based on how many Doc Makers there are, accounting for the free Editor allowance. Any changes to the number of Makers in the workspace mid-cycle are automatically prorated in the next month.

You'd pay for the prorated remainder of the year sometime in the next month, if you add a new Doc Maker on the annual plan.