# "Free form" formulas using Canvas columns **URL:** \ **Category:** Tips and Hacks\ **Created:** [July 4, 2025, 9:30am UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423 "2025-07-04T09:30:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bertrand\_Bouteiller](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/bertrand_bouteiller/32/43138_2.png) [@Bertrand\_Bouteiller](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Bertrand_Bouteiller)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 9:30am UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/1 "2025-07-04T09:30:24Z")
Hi there, this one’s actually halfway between a “tips and hacks” and an “ask the community”, since I’m eager to know what the black magic wizards and performance nerds out there think about it. You know who you are 😇 Anyway, we all know and love the structure of a database model, but SOMETIMES, all we really need is the equivalent of a “quick and dirty” formula we would type in an Excel cell (outside of the auto-calculated formulas of tables that we also all know and love). There might be better solutions for that scenario, but what I’ve come up with is the “free form” formula: if you use a Canvas column, you can basically type whatever formula you want for whatever row. And _then_ you can retrieve the result in a “proper” result column in order to use totals and whatever else you’d expect from a classic formula column. With that approach, you can still use other columns on the same row as long as you use `thisRow` in your “free form” formula. Even better: you can actually comment your formula in the same canvas column (how quick and dirty is that? 🤣) and still retrieve the number as long as you use the `.toNumber` formula: ![Free form formulas](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/original/3X/e/9/e9b386843794bd0da44c95fcc4bc4c3f2d777ecb.gif) However, I haven’t tested that approach on big tables yet and I kinda expect it to become sluggish at some point: I recall reading somewhere that any given canvas formula is kind of treated like a table of its own in terms of performance so my guess is that it wouldn’t help… So, what do you all think about the “free form” formulas using Canvas columns? Let me know in the comments below! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_OBrien](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/max_obrien/32/49285_2.png) [@Max\_OBrien](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Max_OBrien)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 12:56pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/2 "2025-07-04T12:56:25Z")
we have been using this technique for some time with our clients. some of the tables are quite big (1000+ rows) and no degradation in performance resulted. the same approach also works for setting up different buttons on each row as well as canvas formulas. we even use canvas-column cells to provide a different ‘menu’ of buttons for each row in a table. it is an excellent way to overcome the restriction coda imposes of making a formula-column and a button-column always use the same formula for every row. so well done for figuring this out AND for sharing it with this community. Max ---
**Author:** ![Bertrand\_Bouteiller](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/bertrand_bouteiller/32/43138_2.png) [@Bertrand\_Bouteiller](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Bertrand_Bouteiller)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 1:01pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/3 "2025-07-04T13:01:48Z")
Wow, thanks for the feedback Max, that’s really good to know! 🙏 May I ask what scenario required “free form buttons” and how you implemented them? I quite liked what I saw here and there with the hidden button function but so far I’ve always been a bit reluctant in using it in a “production” context, so that got me curious! ---
**Author:** ![Max\_OBrien](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/max_obrien/32/49285_2.png) [@Max\_OBrien](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Max_OBrien)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 1:08pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/4 "2025-07-04T13:08:38Z")
You do not neccessarily need the hidden Button() function to use this technique. We use it in situations the user selects a particular ‘Type’ from a drop-down list. For example a CustomerType selection. There is a CustomerType table with details for each of the types they can pick. One of those details can be a canvas-column that contains a ‘menu’ of buttons that are unique to that CustomerType (eg for invoicing etc). We do not need in that case to use the hidden Button() functions, the buttons are standard buttons on a canvas. Max ---
**Author:** ![Bertrand\_Bouteiller](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/bertrand_bouteiller/32/43138_2.png) [@Bertrand\_Bouteiller](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Bertrand_Bouteiller)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 1:22pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/5 "2025-07-04T13:22:29Z")
Thanks again. I had thought of using a similar trick to have “conditional buttons” before thinking about the canvas approach and could only achieve that with the hidden fuction - until now 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Pablo\_DV](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/pablo_dv/32/49028_2.png) [@Pablo\_DV](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Pablo_DV)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 2:52pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/6 "2025-07-04T14:52:44Z")
How do you achieve that? For me the buttons appear grayed out, and if they weren’t they wouldn’t have the current customer context, would they? ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/original/3X/c/8/c83abfa875678061363d0772b552089d0c7f279b.png) My docs tend to be very reliant on `button()` so would be great to have a more robust alternative. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_OBrien](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/max_obrien/32/49285_2.png) [@Max\_OBrien](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Max_OBrien)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/7 "2025-07-04T15:45:34Z")
if button() works in your use-case, then go for it. i see so many projects using it without any problems. ---
**Author:** ![Pablo\_DV](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/pablo_dv/32/49028_2.png) [@Pablo\_DV](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Pablo_DV)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/8 "2025-07-04T18:34:13Z")
I was trying to replicate the approach you mentioned, or did I misunderstand you? ---
**Author:** ![Bertrand\_Bouteiller](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/bertrand_bouteiller/32/43138_2.png) [@Bertrand\_Bouteiller](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Bertrand_Bouteiller)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 9:45pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/9 "2025-07-04T21:45:20Z")
Thing is, what you showed is _not_ a “free form” formula since it’s the same for the whole column. But if in a blank canvas column, _on a given row_ you use the formula `=thisRow.Type.CanvasButtons`, it should work. The drawback is that you would need to type the very same “free form” formula for each and every row… **Except** I just found a trick 😉: you can use a canvas template! Just add a subpage and copy-paste the `=thisRow.Type.CanvasButtons` formula. You’ll obviously get an error on that subpage but… If you use it as the “Value for new rows” in your canvas column, it’ll work! Let me know how that works out for you! ---
**Author:** ![Pablo\_DV](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/pablo_dv/32/49028_2.png) [@Pablo\_DV](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Pablo_DV)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/10 "2025-07-04T21:52:36Z")
I’m aware of using the ‘Value for new rows’, but that’s not very flexible, for example it doesn’t help much when you decide to change the logic of the buttons. And typing them row by row of course is out of the question. Just thought Max implied it was possible to achieve something as flexible as with `button()` using this approach. > [@Max\_OBrien](#): > > There is a CustomerType table with details for each of the types they can pick. > > One of those details can be a canvas-column that contains a ‘menu’ of buttons that are unique to that CustomerType (eg for invoicing etc). I understood from this that the canvas buttons are in the CustomerType table and that they are pulled from the Customer table. ---
**Author:** ![Bertrand\_Bouteiller](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/bertrand_bouteiller/32/43138_2.png) [@Bertrand\_Bouteiller](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Bertrand_Bouteiller)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 10:06pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/11 "2025-07-04T22:06:22Z")
Actually it _is_ flexible, since every new row will get a standalone formula that just happens to be the same as the previous row. If you change the buttons in your **Types** database, it _will_ change the buttons in your **Customers** database. The tricky part is indeed to get the “context” as you mentioned, i.e. use the right customer in your button. In that case, I’d use something that I adapted from a trick by @Paul_Danyliuk (if I remember correctly). You can use a personal control with a relation on your Customers database. Then you only display your canvas button in a layout that you get to by pushing an “expand” button which, before opening that layout, assigns the customer you want to work on to the Control. OK reading this out loud would probably not make much sense to anyone who doesn’t already use that trick, sorry… That would require some .gifs to explain properly but it’s already past midnight in here so maybe next time! 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![Pablo\_DV](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/pablo_dv/32/49028_2.png) [@Pablo\_DV](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Pablo_DV)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 10:18pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/12 "2025-07-04T22:18:12Z")
Ok, I got you now. That means you can not directly show the buttons on the table / card like with `button()`, but you have to always click a button to get them displayed in the detail view with the correct context. And it’s a bit more tedious to set up. Anyway, it’s all about trade-offs and it’s good to have more options. Thanks for clarifying! ---
**Author:** ![Max\_OBrien](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/max_obrien/32/49285_2.png) [@Max\_OBrien](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Max_OBrien)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2025, 1:31pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/13 "2025-07-05T13:31:32Z")
sorry, i should have indicated that my approach is based on using a canvas-template that is placed in the new row. most of our workflows are controlled by actions; users clicking buttons at each step of the task. those buttons then set control-values and/or modifyRows() to ensure the dialogs show the correct details. max ---
**Author:** ![Xavier](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/xavier/32/43060_2.png) [@Xavier](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/14 "2025-07-08T17:18:17Z")
Hey geek bro, Too funny that you’re posting this now. I actually ended up with the same solution, through a few intermediate steps: - **“Excel is OK”** : Never throw away Excel — it’s an amazing tool for both modeling _and_ quick-and-dirty work. You mess around in Excel first, _then_ you structure. Trying to do both at once is often just a waste of time. - To get around the limits of **TABLES** , **GRID is MAGIC**. I often rebuild custom summary tables using grids. It’s quick — and the dirty part comes from the fact that no, my formulas aren’t all named properly with a clean CALC\_xxx naming convention. - As for the **TABLE + CANVAS** hack, I came to the conclusion that it’s actually a bit of a pain, because it forces you to centralize everything… Whereas Coda already _did the job_ with **Doc Map**. So I moved on from that one pretty quickly. - Finally, to me a major evolution in Coda would be to let us reference named formulas directly with **@** instead of through a **/formula** where you have to retype your formula… The current system leads to an inflation of unnamed formulas, which isn’t great and ends up being quite annoying in practice. ---
**Author:** ![Melanie\_Teh](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/melanie_teh/32/45501_2.png) [@Melanie\_Teh](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Melanie_Teh)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/15 "2025-07-08T20:31:07Z")
👋 @Xavier Welcome to the community 🤗 not sure if you’re aware and what you had in mind for named formulas but Coda does have named formula functionality > **[Name your formulas for easy reference | Coda Help Center](https://help.coda.io/en/articles/1499893-name-your-formulas-for-easy-reference)** > > Named formulas allow you to save formulas and easily reuse them throughout your doc. Learn more here. Hope this helps! Cheers! Mel ---
**Author:** ![Xavier](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/xavier/32/43060_2.png) [@Xavier](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 9:56pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/free-form-formulas-using-canvas-columns/56423/16 "2025-07-08T21:56:21Z")
Yes, thank you, I’m aware. I’m simply saying that a named formula can only be called within another formula, and not in a doc using @, which is really unfortunate.