Page tables
A page table is a table where every column has a type. A Status column shows a coloured pill, a Date column shows the date, a Person column shows faces. Use one to track tasks, a launch checklist, a reading list, or anything else you would otherwise keep in a spreadsheet.
A page table is its own file in your workspace, saved in OneDrive or SharePoint like your pages. Because it is a file of its own, the same page table can sit on several pages at once, and an edit on one page shows up everywhere it appears.
Create a page table
Section titled “Create a page table”From the sidebar. Click the New (+) button next to the Pages header and choose New page table, then name it. To create one inside a folder, right-click the folder and choose New page table here. The page table opens as its own page.
From a page. Type /database and pick Page table. Orbit creates a page table under the page and shows it right where you typed. Its file is called “Untitled”, with a number added when that name is taken. In the sidebar it is listed under the page.
A new page table has no title yet: click Untitled page table and type one. It starts with two properties: Name for each row’s title and Status with the stages Not started, In progress and Done.
Add and edit rows
Section titled “Add and edit rows”- Click New at the top right of the page table to add a row at the top and open it, or click New page under the last row to add one there and type its name.
- Hover over a row and click + on its left to add a row below it. Drag the grip next to it to move the row, or click the grip for Open in side panel and Delete.
- Click a cell to edit it. Text, numbers and links are typed in place. Select, Status, Date and Person cells open a picker.
Everyone with the page table open sees each other’s edits as they happen. Two people can edit different cells of the same row at the same time without overwriting each other.
Properties and types
Section titled “Properties and types”Each column is a property. Click Add property at the end of the header row to add one, then pick its type:
| Type | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Text | Short descriptions and remarks |
| Number | Estimates, amounts, scores |
| Select | One choice from a list, such as Priority |
| Multi-select | Several labels, such as Tags |
| Status | Progress, shown as a coloured pill such as Not started, In progress or Done |
| Date | Due dates. An open row’s date turns red once it is overdue |
| Person | People from your organisation, shown with their Microsoft 365 photos |
| Checkbox | Yes or no |
| URL | A link |
Click a property’s name for its menu:
- Rename the property by typing a new name at the top of the menu.
- Type changes the property’s type. Orbit converts the existing values where it can, so text splits into options and numbers are read from text. Values it cannot convert are cleared.
- Edit options sets the choices and colours of a Select, Multi-select or Status property. Status options each belong to a group: To do, In progress or Complete.
- Sort ascending and Sort descending order the rows by that property.
- Duplicate property and Delete property.
Drag the edge of a column header to change its width. Sort order and column widths are saved with the page table, so everyone sees the same layout.
Open a row as a page
Section titled “Open a row as a page”Every row is also a page. Hover over a row and click Open at the end of its name, or click a card on a board. The row opens in a panel on the right, with its properties at the top and a page below them for notes, checklists, images and anything else a page can hold.
- Use the up and down arrows at the top of the panel to step through the rows in the order the view shows them (“3 of 7”).
- Edit any property in the panel the same way as in the table.
- Start typing below the properties to write the row’s page. Orbit creates the page the first time you type in it, in a folder named after the page table, next to the page table file. Row pages are not listed in the sidebar. Open them from the page table.
- Open as full page opens the row’s page on its own, once it has one. The row’s properties and a link back to the page table sit under its title, and edit the page table directly.
- The bin icon deletes the row. Its page, if it has one, moves to Recently deleted.
- Press Escape or click the close icon to close the panel.
Renaming a row does not rename its page file.
A page table shows its rows one way, as a table or a board. To switch, click View settings (the sliders at the top right), then Layout.
- Table shows rows and columns.
- Board groups rows into columns by a Status or Select property, like a Planner board. Drag a card to another column to change its value, or click the dot at the start of a card to pick one from the keyboard. New page at the bottom of a column adds a row with that column’s value.
View settings also chooses what a board groups by and which properties show. Hidden properties stay in the page table and still show in a row’s panel. Switching to a board groups it by the first Status or Select property.
Filter, sort and search
Section titled “Filter, sort and search”- Filter shows only the rows that match. Pick a property, then tick the options, people or checkbox state to keep, or type text that the value should contain. Each filter shows as a chip under the page table’s name. Click a chip to change it, or choose Remove filter.
- Sort orders the rows by one property. The sort shows as a chip. Click its × to remove it.
- Search (the magnifying glass) finds rows by title.
Filters and sort are saved with the page table, so everyone sees the same rows, in the table and on the board. Search is only for you and is not saved.
Show a page table on a page
Section titled “Show a page table on a page”/database creates a new page table and shows it on the page. To show a page table that already exists, drag it from the sidebar onto the page, type /live page and pick it, or type ![[ and pick it. The page table appears on its own line, live and editable.
You can put the same page table on as many pages as you like. A launch tracker can sit on the project page, the team’s weekly page and a status report, and every copy shows the same rows.
A page table on a page has no frame of its own. Its toolbar has two extra buttons. The arrow opens the page table as its own page, and ••• has more:
- Show as link turns it into a plain link to the page table.
- Copy link copies a link to the page table.
- Remove takes it off this page.
A page table you made on this page with /database belongs to the page, like an inline page table in Notion. Removing its block, with Remove or by deleting it, moves the page table and its rows to Recently deleted. Undo, or pasting the block back, brings them back. A page table that lives somewhere else and is only shown here stays where it is.
Editing a page table on a page follows the same permissions as the page table file, not the page. You can edit its rows while the page is open to read. Show as link and Remove change the page, so they need the page in editing. If you can read the page but not the page table, the page shows “You can’t open” instead of the rows.
Read mode and exports
Section titled “Read mode and exports”Read mode and PDF or Word exports show a small card with the page table’s name instead of the rows. In read mode, Open page table on the card opens it.
Where is the data stored?
In a .orbitdb file in the same OneDrive or SharePoint folder as your pages. Orbit keeps no copy of your rows. See Where your pages live.
Can an AI client edit my page table? Not yet. Claude and other AI clients connected to Orbit can see where a page table appears on a page, but they cannot read or change its rows.
Can I show a page table from another workspace? No. A page shows page tables from its own workspace.
Up next: Drawings. Sketch and diagram together on an Excalidraw canvas.