Coda.io finally has columns and workable subpages

Coda’s latest editor update adds two long-requested capabilities—true side-by-side columns and “workable” subpages—that make it far easier to build dashboards and structured, repeatable workflows. For a longtime Notion user, the columns feature is the missing piece: the block-based layout previously made it difficult to drag elements horizontally, so comparisons and dashboard-style layouts were clunky. With columns now behaving as expected, Coda becomes much closer to the visual, at-a-glance experience people associate with Notion, especially for data-heavy overviews.

The practical payoff shows up in dashboard building. Side-by-side blocks let users place charts and other components next to each other so they can compare project status quickly—widening sections and arranging multiple elements for an “overview” view. That matters because Coda is often used for engineering and operations tracking, where the goal isn’t just storing information but monitoring whether work is on track. The update also supports richer, more readable layouts for teams that need to scan information fast.

Subpages are the second major improvement, and they address a specific usability gap. Earlier Coda subpages existed, but they weren’t as explicit as Notion’s database-record-as-page model. In practice, Coda could hide “page-like” behavior behind small UI affordances inside tables, which created confusion when explaining the system to others. Users might not realize that a particular field (for example, a string that represents a long text form) is meant to function like a structured page.

The new approach makes subpages more explicit by allowing a column to be defined as a “page.” That turns the cell into a full-fledged Coda page—closer to how Notion treats records as pages—so users can add components like charts and link back to other data. This is especially useful for building dedicated templates and workflows.

A concrete example is meeting notes. Instead of manually creating documents, a user can create a button that generates a new meeting note with default fields such as dates, attending people, an agenda, and prefilled sections. The system can also pull information from inside each meeting note back into an overview table—such as who was assigned to what or the key points—so people don’t need to open every note to understand the status.

While the creator notes Coda still has a learning curve and that Notion remains simpler for personal data storage, the combination of columns and explicit page subpages shifts Coda toward stronger team workflows. The emphasis is on consistency: buttons, structured pages, and dashboards help enforce a shared way of working, which is often hard to achieve in group settings. For teams managing lots of task details—project lists, action items, and recurring meetings—these two editor upgrades are positioned as the turning point that makes Coda feel more workable for real operations.