Coda Project Part 2: Using Buttons in Coda

When we left off with our Coda project (Part 1 here), we needed to add functionality to buttons inside our doc. To set the stage here, this specific part of our process is to determine an outcome from a consultation. Ideally, if a consultation goes well and the prospective client can use our help, we'd like to offer some next steps. Perhaps this is in the form of a proposal, or maybe we just have a follow up email - in any case, we want to trigger these next steps from our Coda doc.

For this example, I'm including a dual button solution. In one case, I'm assuming a prospective client is a good fit for our training and coaching services. In this case, there's a particular automation we want to trigger. Alternatively, they may be a good fit for our development services. Of course, the corresponding actions would be different (and therefore controlled by a separate trigger event).

Coda buttons have a lot of advanced functionality. Initially, one concern I had was being able to disable a button. There are a couple of reasons I'd want this functionality, the biggest being that I don't want to accidentally double-tap the button and thereby send repeating emails to the client. We cover this and more, showing how to disable a button using some logic inside the button settings.

Another concern I had was in building a Coda automation with Zapier. You may notice that Zapier's trigger actions are somewhat limited when it comes to Coda - that is, you can only trigger an automation from a new record in a table. This seemed like a hurdle to me, since I'm accustomed to building an automation from a specific view (therefore, a record that meets specific conditions). We tackle how to overcome this as well - it's just a slightly different approach to the automation.

Overall, buttons are one of my favorite functions of Coda so far - it's really useful to be able to add a button inside a doc and map it to take specific actions. Check it out and let me know what you think!