Databases

A database is a table that lives inside a page, where every column has a type: text, numbers, dates, options, people, checkboxes and more. Use one to track tasks, clients, expenses, grades or anything else you'd otherwise keep in a spreadsheet, and look at the same rows as a table, a kanban, a calendar, a gallery, a chart or a timeline.

#What a database is

Each database has:

• A name, shown at the top of the block. Click it to rename the database.
• Columns, each with a name and a type. The type decides what a cell holds and how you edit it. See Column types.
• Rows, one per item you track.
• Views, shown as tabs under the name. Every database starts with a Table view, and you can add Kanban, Calendar, Gallery, Chart and Timeline views on top. See Views, filters and sorting.

If you only want to see the rows, without the database bar, click Hide options in the header: just the view stays, with the name above it. The ⋯ that appears next to the name on hover (Show database options) brings everything back. Galleries created as a magnet start this way.

A database belongs to the page where it was created. There's no separate list of databases in the sidebar: you reach it by opening its page.

#Create a database

There are four ways to get a database.

#From a page with /Database

1. Open a page and put the cursor on an empty line.
2. Type / and choose Database (in the Data group, described as "Table with typed columns"). Typing /db or /table finds it too. On a touch screen you can also use the floating + button (Insert element).
3. A new database appears with a text column for the name, a select column for the status and a Table view. Add rows and columns from there.

Each Database block creates a brand-new database. You can't insert an existing database into a second page; to show its data somewhere else, use Studio (see Use the data elsewhere).

#As a magnet on a page

On a page, click + Magnet and choose Database (a new table, with its views) or Page gallery (cards with a cover that open as a page). The database appears in its own magnet, which you can move and resize around the page. The gallery starts with the columns Name, Tags, Target date, Link, Created and Favorite, and without the options bar. See Dashboard pages.

#Import a CSV file

On Home, click Import (under the greeting) and drop one or more .csv files (or a Notion export). Each CSV becomes a page with a database inside. Tylode detects the column types for you: the first column is text, and the rest become checkbox, number, date, URL, select or text depending on their values. See Import from Notion, Markdown and CSV.

#Start from a template

Templates in the sidebar lists the Tylode templates (course organizer, CRM, bug tracker, invoicing and many more). Click Use and you get pages with databases already set up, sample rows and views. On the Free plan, template columns that need Pro (formulas, relations and rollups) are left out and you'll see a notice. See Templates.

#Rows and columns

In the Table view:

Deleting a row or a column is permanent: it doesn't go to the Trash.

#The title column

The first Text column acts as the row's title. It's the name you see on calendar entries, gallery cards, timeline bars and in relation cells of other databases. If a row's title is empty, it shows as "Untitled". Keep a Text column first and put a meaningful name in it.

#Open a row as a page

Every row can be opened big, as a page: with a cover, its properties at the top and, below, free text as long as you like.

• From a gallery: click the card.
• From a table: hover over the row's first cell and click Open.

In the open row:

#Edit cells

Click a cell and type or choose a value. How each type is edited (date picker, checkbox, option list, member list…) is explained in Column types.

• Text, number, URL and phone cells are saved when you leave the cell.
• Dates, checkboxes, options, people and relations are saved as soon as you pick them.
• Formula, rollup, Created by and Last edited cells are calculated and can't be edited.

#When several people edit at once

Your changes are saved automatically, but other people's edits to a database don't appear on your screen while you have the page open. Reload the page to see the latest data, especially before making many changes to a database you share with others.

#Who can see a database

A database is shared with the whole workspace:

• Owners, admins and members can view and edit it.
• Read-only members can view it but not change it.

Databases don't have an access setting of their own. Sharing the page controls who can open that page, but workspace members can still reach the database's data from Studio and the API. If some data must stay private, keep it in a separate workspace. See Workspace roles and access.

#Limits by plan

The number of databases per workspace depends on your effective plan, the lower of your own plan and the workspace's plan:

• The limit counts every database in the workspace, whoever created it. Databases created by CSV imports count too.
• Templates always create their databases, even at the limit, but those databases count afterwards.
• When you reach the limit, Tylode doesn't create the database (or leave an empty block on the page) and explains it in a window with See plans. Pages are unlimited on every plan.
• Removing a Database block from a page doesn't delete the database. It's deleted along with its page when that page is deleted forever from the Trash, which frees up the slot.

Boards and whiteboards have their own, separate limits of the same size. See Limits and what happens when you reach them.

#Use the data elsewhere

• Studio: in a presentation or design, charts and tables have a Bring from Tylode option that fills them with a database's data, and Refresh data updates them later. You can also embed a database live (read-only) from Data → Boards and databases. See Studio.
• A design for every row: click Batch in the database header, choose the format (a post, a story, a certificate…) and which rows, and the Studio opens with a design already connected that shows your data. See Batch.
• Page exports: exporting the page to PDF prints the whole table. See Export pages.
• API Pro: list a workspace's databases, read their rows and add new rows with a personal access token. See Databases API.
• Apple Shortcuts: add a row from your iPhone in one tap (for example, log an expense). See Recipes.

Global search doesn't search inside database rows. Use the view's Filters to find rows instead.

#Add notes from your iPhone (or anywhere)

With iPhone, in the database header, you create a link that adds rows without opening Tylode: from an iPhone Shortcut (and with Siri, a widget or the Action button), from Android with HTTP Shortcuts, from Zapier or from anything that can send text to a link.

1. Check the columns you want the Shortcut to ask for each time, for example description, amount and category. The others can have a fixed value: an option of a select column, a checked checkbox or today's date.
2. Click Create link. The link is only shown at that moment: copy it or scan the QR code with your iPhone.
3. On your iPhone, tap Copy and then Add Shortcut, and paste the link when asked. Say “Hey Siri, note in Tylode”: it asks one question per checked column (for select columns you pick from a list) and adds the row.

If you open iPhone on the iPhone itself (or an iPad), you don't need the QR code: after Create link, tap Add the shortcut to iPhone. The link is copied and the Shortcut opens so you can add it; when it asks for the link, paste it.

The Shortcut is the same for all your databases: if you add or remove columns, create another link with the ones you want and paste it into the Shortcut.

For Android, Zapier or other tools: a GET to the link with ?campos returns the questions as JSON, and a POST with the field respuestas (in that order, separated by ||) adds the row. You can also send just a text, which goes to the first text column.

The link can only add rows to that database and see the names of the columns it asks for: no rows. It writes as you, and only while you can edit the database. If you lose it or stop using it, revoke it in the same window: shortcuts that use it stop working. It accepts up to 30 notes per minute and 5,000 characters per answer.

#Related pages

• Column types
• Views, filters and sorting
• Formulas
• Relations and rollups