Quick tips for working with Notion and work-around some obstacles that are part of the Notion app environment
As Notion is taking a growing part of your work and time, the little things start to come up and matter.
Some are issues the Notion team should put high on their MBF (Must be fixed) list, like the integration with grammar checking tools, others are things you just have to take in consideration while working with Notion.
If you are a newbie, first read Notion Settings: Best Practice for a New Account and Workspace.
Avoid the Notion Setup Addiction
Since Notion workspace is so flexible, and the things you want to do with it are rapidly growing, you might find yourself putting a lot of time and effort in the enjoyable habit of changing and adjusting your workspace.
At the beginning of your experience with Notion, that is a lucrative habit as it drives you to discover the features and powers of the app. But, there is a point where too many changes become a non-productive distraction. It can even cause some damages.
Tip: Stick to things that work for you, and then develop them slowly.
Search in a workspace, or a database
The search feature in Notion is far from satisfying (they are working on it), but you will need it because as your Notion workspace will grow, it would be impossible to remember everything, even if you structured your space well.
You can search in a workspace, with the ‘Quick Find’ tool at the top of the sidebar. As said, it is not a powerful search engine.
You can also search in a database. All sorts of databases in Notion – pages, inline, views – have a dedicated search function. It will search only the filtered records.
Tip: Learn to refine your search skills.
Keep parent pages clean
Each page in your Notion workspace can have subpages. All subpages are represented by a link in the parent page. When you create the subpage, the link is automatically appearing at the bottom of the parent page.
If the parent page is burdened with stuff – sections, lists, items – you might miss the new link at the bottom and even forget about it later on.
Notion is hinting us to structure the workspace hierarchically and keep the parent pages pure and minimalistic. This approach is, of course, also much worthy when working with Notion and browsing the workspace on the phone.
Tip: When the parent page is a dashboard, manage the subpages links with extra care.
Don’t panic from the changing icons
When working with Notion, the browser tab shows the current page icon. For a page without an icon, the browser tab will show the general “N” icon of Notion. Thus, the tab icon is changing as you navigate between Notion pages. These changes could be a little confusing and even stressful.
Tip: Consider using emojis in the page title instead of icons.
Control properties order in different views
A database page in Notion can have different views- table, list, gallery, calendar, and board. The basic is the table view, and it is recommended to always create a database from a table.
In each view, you can select what properties to show\hide and arrange the order of the properties for that view. You can also set the properties order inside the item\page.
When creating a linked database in a page, or a new view, the order and settings of the properties, is in the default mode, so you will have to reorder and reset them to your custom arrangement.
Tip: Create master blocks and templates of your favorite setups
