Learn about the basics of folder management, including how to create and share folders.
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, edit, or manage - that collaborators have to the docs inside each folder.
Check out the sections below to learn about creating folders, folder sharing and permissions, and moving docs between folders.
Within this article, you’ll find...
Create folders
To add a new folder to your workspace, just follow these steps:
ℹ️ 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, (optionally) a description, and (optionally) an icon color, then press Create
Once you’ve created a new folder, you 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 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).
Share folders
Folder sharing basics
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 here.
Interested in upgrading to a Team or Enterprise plan to get access to folder permissions? Check out our pricing page for more info.
Let’s say 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. You can share the folder with this group, and they’ll automatically have access to every doc within the folder - without you having to manually invite them doc by doc. And just as with sharing docs, you can choose what level of access to grant each of these folks.
Folder permissions
There are four different access levels when it comes to sharing folders:
Can view: Grants the user the ability to view all docs in the folder by default. Only available on Team and Enterprise plans.
Can comment: The user can view and leave comments on all docs in the folder by default. Only available on Team and Enterprise plans.
Can edit: Allows the user to edit all docs in the folder, as well as add new docs to the folder. Only available on Team and Enterprise plans.
Can manage: The user can edit all docs in the folder, add new docs to the folder, remove docs from the folder, and share the folder.
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.
💡 A note about hierarchy of folder and doc permissions: 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 still have “can edit” access on the doc, as it is the most permissive.
You can also grant folder access to groups, to external users (depending on your organization’s policies), or even to the entire workspace. When you share a folder with the entire workspace, everyone in the workspace can access the folder.
Share a folder
To share a folder, you must already have “can manage” 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 manage, can edit, can comment, or can view).
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If you instead wish to share with specific individuals or groups, use the text bar at the top to search for and add these users or groups. Then use the drop-down to the right to choose which level of access they should have (can manage, can edit, can comment, or can view). Finally, click Send to notify these users.
If you are sharing with an external user, you cannot grant them “can manage” access. Additionally, the ability to share with external users may be prohibited or limited by your org’s policies.
Manage folder contents
Add docs to the folder
Anyone with “can manage” or “can edit” access can add docs to a folder. This includes both adding brand new docs and moving existing docs into the folder.
To add a brand new doc, simply open the folder, then click + Create doc in the upper right corner.
To learn about moving existing docs into a folder, check out this comprehensive article.
Remove docs from the folder
Anyone with “can manage” folder access can also move docs out of the folder. This includes moving docs to a different folder or simply removing docs from the folder.
To move a doc to a different folder, open the current folder and find the doc you want to move. Then hover over the doc and click on the three-dots ( ... ) to the right of the doc title, and choose Move from the dropdown. Select a destination folder, and hit Move to complete.
You can also remove docs that are stale or no longer relevant from a folder by clicking on the Remove from folder option from the dropdown. Removing a doc from a folder will relocate the doc to the doc owner’s My Docs folder.
📣 Running into issues when trying to move docs between folders? This could be due to your permission levels in the destination folder. Check out this article for a deeper dive on moving docs between folders.
Delete folders
To delete a folder from your workspace, you will need to have “can manage” access to that folder. Be aware that deleting a folder will delete it for everyone in your workspace.
Additionally, before you can delete a folder, you will first need to move, remove, or delete all of the folder’s contents. You can learn how to remove docs by checking out the previous section, or check out this article for more info on moving docs to new folders.
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.
If you just wish to remove the folder from the left-hand panel of your workspace, check out this article for adding and removing folder shortcuts. Or if you wish to remove folder access, check out the folder’s Share dialog.
FAQs
How do I remove someone from a folder?
If you wish to remove someone from a folder, and therefore revoke their access to the folder, just follow these steps:
Open the folder
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Click Share in the upper-right corner
Note: If this Share button is disabled, this is likely because you do not have the necessary access (”can manage”) to the folder. Only those with “can manage” access can change who the folder is shared with.
In the Share dialog, you should see everyone with access to the folder. Find the person you wish to remove, click into the drop-down to the right of their name, and select Remove from the options.
Can I share a folder with people outside my workspace?
Yes, if you are on a Team or Enterprise plan, you can invite external users to your folders. But be aware that you must have “can manage” access in order to invite anyone to the folder, including external users.
When you invite an external user to a folder, you can grant them edit, comment, or view access. You cannot grant them manage access. Depending on the access level chosen, the external user will then be able to edit, comment on, or view all of the docs in that folder. The external user cannot create new docs in the folder, move docs into or out of the folder, delete docs in the folder, or invite others to the folder.
If you later revoke folder access from this external user, they will immediately lose access to the folder and to all docs within that folder. The docs within the folder will also disappear from the user’s Recent and Favorites lists.
Enterprise org admins can view and manage externally shared folders via the Folder management section of the admin settings. Check out the next FAQ to learn more.
Is there a way to view and manage which folders have been shared externally?
For customers on our Enterprise plan only, it is possible to view and manage externally shared folders. Enterprise org admins and content admins can do so via the Folder management page of the admin settings. Learn more in this article.
If I invite someone to a folder, will they then be able to invite others to the folder?
If you grant this person manage access (”can manage”) to the folder, then they will be able to invite others to the folder. If you only grant them comment, view, or edit access, then they won’t have access to the folder settings and cannot invite others to the folder.
How can workspace members find folders?
Workspace members will be able to see all folders to which they have access by following these steps:
Navigate to workspace home (coda.io/docs)
In the left-hand panel, locate and click on the correct workspace
Beneath the workspace, find the Folders list, and click View all
Members can then browse all folders they have access to, and even save any to favorites. Learn more about browsing and saving folders here.
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, with “can manage” being the only access type. 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 left-hand 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 here). 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 with whom the folder is specifically shared. You can also choose what level of access individual users or groups have to the folder.