Every doc in Coda lives within a folder. Folders are a great way to organize the docs in your workspace (think departments, teams, and projects). Not only can you use folders to group docs by topic areas, you can also use them as a way to control access to docs. If you’re on a Team or Enterprise plan, you have the option to make folders private (so only you can access the docs within) or share them with collaborators you see fit. You can even control the level of access - view, comment, or edit - that collaborators have to the docs inside each folder.

Check out the sections below to learn about using folders to organize information and manage access to docs.

The My Docs folder

When you create or join a workspace you will see a My Docs folder, indicated by a lock icon. This applies to all plan types - Free, Pro, Team, and Enterprise. Only you have access to this folder, and it cannot be shared or deleted.

This is your personal space where you can create and interact with your own private docs. Any doc you create in your workspace will be added to your My Docs folder by default, and therefore is private by default.

You can share each of your docs in the folder with other people via the Share dialog. Or you can move docs from this folder to other folders, depending on who should have access to the doc.

Create folders

To add a new folder to your workspace, just follow these steps:

Note that you must be a Doc Maker in that workspace in order to create new folders or manage existing folders. Check out this article to learn more about the different roles in Coda.

From your workspace home (coda.io/docs), click on your workspace name in the left panel
Next to the Folders section, click view all.
In the upper right corner, click the +New folder button.
Give the folder a name and (optionally) a description, then press Create

You then have the option to share the folder with specific people, groups, or with everyone in your workspace. To learn more about sharing folders, check out the section below.

ℹ️ Note that if you are in a Free or Pro workspace you can still create folders but only “shared folders” (i.e. folders that are already shared with everyone in your workspace).

Delete folders

To delete a folder from your workspace, first move, remove or delete all of the folder’s contents. You can learn how to move docs to new folders here.

Next, click into the folder, and hover next to the folder name at the top of the page. A three-dot menu ( ... ) should appear. Click on this menu, then select Delete folder. Then click Delete again to confirm. Note that the button with remain disabled until all docs in the folder are relocated or deleted.

Deleting a folder will delete it for everyone in your workspace. If you just wish to remove the folder from the lefthand menu of your workspace, check out the section below for adding and removing folder shortcuts. Or if you wish to remove folder access, check out the folder’s Share dialog.

Share folders

If you’re on a Team or Enterprise plan, you can adjust the permissions of a folder to choose who has access to the docs inside. When you create a folder, it is private by default. This means no one else in your workspace has access to any of the docs within that folder. But you also have the option to modify these permissions and share the folder as you see fit.

📣 If you’re on a Free or Pro plan, you will not be able to change the permissions of folders. All folders will be shared with the workspace, meaning anyone in the workspace can edit the docs within that folder. The only exception is the My Docs folder, a special type of private folder, which you can read more about in the section below.

Interested in upgrading to a Team or Enterprise plan to get access to folder permissions? Check out our pricing page for more info.

For instance, maybe you have a number of docs that you regularly want to share with the same limited group of people. In this instance, you may want to use folders to manage sharing. Just as with sharing docs, you can choose what level of access to grant these folks: can view, can comment, or can edit. Once you grant these people access to this folder, they’ll automatically have access to every doc within the folder - without you having to manually invite them doc by doc. More on folder permissions and how to understand them below.

You can also grant folder access to groups or the entire workspace. When you share a folder with the entire workspace, everyone in the workspace can access the folder by clicking on the View all button next to folders in the workspace’s lefthand menu.

To share a folder, you must already have edit access to that folder. Once you do, you can simply follow these steps:

Find and click into the folder you wish to share
Towards the top of the page, near the folder title, click Share.
If you wish to share the folder with your entire workspace, you can do this via the Anyone in the workspace option. Just click on the drop-down next to this option, and choose the appropriate level of access (can edit, can comment, or can view).
If you instead with to share with specific individuals or groups, use the text bar at the top to search for and add these users. Then use the drop-down to the right to choose which level of access they should have (can edit, can comment, or can view). Finally click send to notify these users.

Note that the “can view” and “can comment” access levels for folders are only available on the Team and Enterprise tiers of Coda.

Understand folder permissions

The level of access that someone has to a folder also dictates the level of access they have to the docs inside that folder. For instance, if you give someone edit access to a folder, they will automatically have edit access to all docs within that folder.

But what if the user is given one type of permission on the folder level, and a different type of permission for a doc within that folder? In this case, they are given the most permissive access level between the two. For example, if Anna is granted “can edit” access on a folder and “can view” access on a doc that is within the folder, she will have “can edit” access on the doc, as it is the most permissive access level. If Anna is granted “can view” access on a folder and “can edit” access on a doc, she will also have “can edit” access on the doc, as it is the most permissive.

Browse folders and add folder shortcuts

To browse all the folders you have access to within your workspace, click on your workspace name in the lefthand menu and then click on the View all button next to Folders. This will open the the entire catalog of folders that you have access to. You can use the search bar to quickly locate the folder.

If you want to easily access a folder from the lefthand menu of your workspace, you can add a shortcut by clicking on the star button on the folder’s page. Starred folders will appear on the lefthand menu of your workspace. Any folder you create will be automatically added as a shortcut on your workspace’s lefthand menu.

Your shortcuts only affect you and are only visible to you.

Add, move, or remove docs in a folder

You can create docs within a folder by going to the folder and clicking on the +Blank doc button on the top right corner. Users that have access to the folder will now automatically have access to the doc, and you can see and manage the permissions users have on the doc from the doc’s sharing dialog.

Any member of the workspace that has edit access on the folder can also move docs across folders. To move a doc to a different folder, go to the folder and find the doc you want to move. Then hover over the doc and simply click on the three horizontal dots ( ... ) to the right of the the doc title and choose Move from the dropdown. Just select a destination folder and hit Move to complete. Note that you will only see folders that you have already added to your shortcuts, so be sure to add the destination folder to your shortcuts before moving docs.

📣 To learn more about moving docs between folders (and between workspaces), check out this article.

You can also remove docs that are stale or no longer relevant from a folder by clicking on the Remove option from the dropdown. Removing a doc from a folder will relocate the doc to the doc owner’s My Docs folder.

FAQs

When I create a new doc, what folder is it added to?

By default, when you create a doc, it’s added to your My Docs folder. However, if you create a doc from within a given folder (via the + Blank doc button there), then the doc will be added to that specific folder.

What are the default sharing settings for any new doc created?

This depends on where (in which folder) the doc is created.

If you create the doc within your My Docs folder, then the doc will automatically be private and only accessible by you.

If you create the doc in any other folder, the sharing settings for the doc will be determined by the sharing settings of the folder. In other, the doc will be accessibly by anyone who also has access to the folder in which the doc lives. You can read more about folder and doc permissions in the section above.

Can I change folder permissions if I’m in a Free or Pro workspace?

On Free and Pro plans, you may notice that you can only create shared folders. You will not have the option to adjust the permissions of folders. This means that any folder you create is automatically shared with everyone in the workspace. Any workspace member (Doc Maker or Editor) can browse all of these shared folders and star the ones they need quick access to from their workspace’s lefthand menu.

Docs that live within a shared folder will automatically be editable by all Editors and Doc Makers of the workspace. As long as the doc remains in a shared folder, you cannot change this access setting.

The only private folder you will have access to on a Free or Pro plan is the My Docs folder (read more about this above). So any docs you want to keep private will need to live in your My Docs folder. You can then share selectively with specific workspace members via normal doc sharing.

If you want to change the permissions on folders - to restrict folder access to only certain people in your workspace - you’ll need to upgrade your workspace. Once you’re on a Team or Enterprise plan, you can create private folders that are only accessible by users that the folder is specifically shared with. You can also choose what level of access individual users or groups have on the folder.

How do I remove someone from a folder?

If you wish to remove someone’s access to a given folder, you can do so by clicking into the folder, then clicking the Share button at the top of the folder’s page. This will open the share dialog for the folder. You should see everyone with access to the folder listed here. Find the person you wish to remove, click into the drop-down to the right of their name, and select Remove from the options.

Note that only those with edit access to a folder can change who has access to a folder.

If I invite someone to a folder, will they then be able to invite others to the folder?

If you grant this person them edit access (”can edit) to the folder, then they will be able to invite others to the folder. If you only grant them comment or view access, then they won’t have access to the folder settings and cannot invite others to the folder.

If I get removed from a workspace, what happens to the docs in the My Docs folder?

If you are removed from a workspace, the private docs in your My Docs folder will become read-only. If you previously shared any of those docs with other workspace members, they will still be able to access them in the read-only format. If you did not share docs in your My Docs folder with anyone else, nobody in the workspace will be able to access them.

If you are re-invited to the workspace, then your docs in My Docs will look the same as they did before you left.

If you are officially offboarded from a workspace, the private docs in your My Docs folder will be deleted permanently, even if you are re-invited to the workspace in the future.