I play mandolin, mandola, octave mandolin and mandocello. When going from G-D-A-E mandolin to C-G-D-A mandola, there are a few ways to look at it.
One is mechanical transposition, like a capo. A G shape on mandolin becomes a C chord on a mandola. A D shape on the mandolin is a G on a mandola. And so on. Simply count up 4 intervals. So put your fingers in position on your mandola for what would be an A on your mandolin - its actually a D now.
Another way is to understand that the G, D and A strings on your mandola are tuned exactly the same as the G, D and A strings on your mandolin. So an F chord using those strings on your mandolin is exactly the same on the mandola, just shifted over one string.
If you read music its a little work to adjust from treble to alto clef. If you use tabs (I dont) you may have difficulty finding any mandola tabs.
There are people who only play alone and do their mandolin tunes on the mandola using exactly the same fingering they use on mandolin and thus just change the key for every song. I can't do that because most of my life I've played music in a group setting.
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