Understanding spaces formats

In Sutra, spaces are fundamental units where you can organize your course content, discussions, and community interactions. A top level space serves as the primary container for your course or community, encompassing all related materials and activities. Within this top-level space, you can create sub spaces to further organize content, facilitate specific discussions, or manage group activities. In this guide, we’ll explore each space format, highlighting how they can be used to organize your course, foster interaction, and create a vibrant, engaging community.

How to create a top level space

To create your first space, from your Dashboard click on + New Space button, enter your space name, choose the privacy (don't worry, you can edit this later) and click on Create space button:

This will be a top level space, and by default, this space is created in the Content format, which is a general format where you can work with all building blocks available in Sutra (text, media, grid, buttons, etc.). The pages you will add to your main, top level space, will be a sub space.

When creating a sub space, you will have 6 space formats to choose from. To create your first sub space, switch to the edit mode by clicking on the Edit page button and then use one of the shortcuts below (Sutra logo icon):

Or click on the Add block icon and scroll down to the space section:

Once you add your first sub space, the side bar will be displayed and you can also create your new spaces from this navigation bar:

Space formats

Spaces in Sutra are the containers of your course and community, designed to support diverse learning and engagement experiences. Whether you're sharing resources, facilitating discussions, hosting events, or showcasing participant work, Sutra provides six distinct space formats to meet your needs: Content, Forum, Chat, Event, Calendar, and Showcase.

Content

The content space format is the most flexible space format in Sutra. It should be used to create a space for learning modules, general content, or community resources.

Create a content space

Forum

The forum format is a new option to start a conversation on Sutra — a perfect choice for organizing a community with people posting on different subjects.

Create a forum space

Chat

The chat format is perfect for chats and announcements. One single thread of conversation, with a format similar to WhatsApp and Slack.

Create a chat space

Event

You can create an event space for your participants so that they can add it to their calendar and have all the necessary information prior to the event.

Create an event space

Calendar

You can create an event list for your participants so that they can see all the upcoming and past events on the same page.

Create a calendar space

Showcase

The Showcase format is a new option to display your spaces on Sutra in a gallery view — a perfect choice for organizing different programs, offerings, and communities or allowing members to create their spaces within a program.

Create a showcase space