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 and pages, but they do not have the ability to create new ones.

By default, if an Editor does try to take a Doc Maker action (including creating a new doc, creating a new page, or using Coda AI beyond the free trial), they will automatically become a Doc Maker. They will 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 or a new page, 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 section only applies to workspaces with paid subscriptions.

Unless your workspace admin has changed the default setting, when an Editor takes a doc maker action (such as creating a new doc, creating a new page, or using Coda AI), they'll immediately get promoted to a billable Doc Maker.

Workspace admins have a few options for how this approval works, which is managed within the Admin settings. To access these settings, go to coda.io/docs, click on Admin settings in the upper left, and find the Membership policies tab. Here, you can choose between three ways that new Doc Makers are added:

Instant approval means that an Editor who takes a Doc Maker action (creates a new doc, adds a page to an existing doc, or uses Coda AI) 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.

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

With the 7-day grace period option, an Editor who takes a Doc Maker action 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 admins will be notified when users enter this grace period and will have 7 days to officially approve or decline 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’s Doc Maker request is declined by an admin, the member will lose any access to Doc Maker abilities, including creating docs, creating pages, and using Coda AI (aside from the AI free trial). Additionally, any docs they created will become read-only. 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.

With the manual approval option, an Editor who attempts to take a Doc Maker action 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.

If your workspace uses the Manual or 7-day grace period option for Doc Makers (see above), then you’ll need to know how to approve or reject Doc Maker requests. Workspace admins can follow these steps:

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

From your Coda homepage, click Admin settings in the upper left, then find the Members and roles tab (under the Members section). You'll see a list of all workspace members, with their roles listed on the right side of the screen. To change a member's role, click on their current role, then select the new role from the dropdown.

If you demote a Doc Maker to an Editor, they will no longer be able to make their own docs, add pages to existing docs, or use Coda AI. 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 Member activity tab within Admin settings.