Notion is a comprehensive digital platform that enables you to collate and manage a variety of projects, business essentials, and personal documents in one place. It caters to the needs of individuals, professionals, and teams, making it a versatile tool for all. Whether you require it for organizing professional resources like design assets or for personal needs such as fitness tracking or recipe management, Notion offers a centralized solution to help you visualize and streamline all your information.
Do you face difficulties in managing and organizing your diverse collection of notes, projects, documents, and other information? Is your information scattered across multiple apps and platforms? Are you using a WordPress plugin for project management, but seeking a more comprehensive solution?
With Notion, you can efficiently manage your information and tailor your space to meet your specific requirements. Notion offers a range of features, including note-taking, project management, task management, and structure, catering to both your personal and professional needs.
A guide on utilizing Notion to streamline your personal and professional content management :
The Notion platform consists of two fundamental elements – Pages and Blocks. Blocks are individual units of data and information, while Pages serve as containers for these Blocks. Notably, Pages can contain an unlimited number of other Pages nested within them.
Notion currently offers a range of Blocks that can be used for various purposes. The General Blocks include Text for simple notes, Tables for databases (with multiple views such as Kanban, Table, Gallery, List, Calendar, and Board), To Do for checkboxes, Toggle for drop-down arrows, Bullets and Numbering for list organization, Quotes for highlighted quotes, Dividers for section separation, Callouts for displaying important information, Mentions for collaborative work, and Dates for tagging with @.
Upload and Embed Blocks include Embeds for adding external website content to Notion, Images for uploading images, Bookmarks for saving URLs, Video for uploading or embedding video content, Audio for audio tracks and podcasts, Files for any file type, and PDFs for displaying PDFs in full view.
Advanced Blocks include Math Equations for displaying math formulas with TeX, Breadcrumbs for showing page location, Table of Contents for creating an outline of the entire page, and Template Buttons for creating preconfigured Blocks for speeding up your workflow.
Notion also offers integration with several external software tools, including Google Drive, Tweets, GitHub Gists, Google Maps, Figma, Framer, Whimsical, InVision, Loom, and CodePen.
Creating your workspace on Notion.
To begin using Notion, it is recommended to start with a pre-existing template and modify it according to your preferences. While starting with a blank canvas is an option, Notion offers a range of templates for various industries like Design, Education, Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, and Personal. Once you sign up for a Notion account (the Free version is available), importing a template is a straightforward process. For instance, I will guide you through setting up a Sales Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) using a pre-made Notion template.
To add a client, click on the box below the client name. If you have worked with spreadsheets before, this should be familiar to you. As an example, I added the name “Sunny Thompson”. By clicking on “Sunny Thompson”, a new page will open with all the customizable table fields. This page also allows you to add any Blocks, like any other page in Notion.
Notion’s Table Fields consist of:
- Date
- Text
- Time
- Number
- Single Select
- Multi-Select
- Image
- URL
- Person
- Created Time
- Created By
- Last Edited Time
- Last Edited By
Advanced users can also utilize:
- Relation
- Formulas
- Rollup
Additional Applications of Notion
Other potential uses for Notion include:
- Personal finance management: utilizing a categorized Kanban board to track expenses, debts, and extra costs, along with a Cash Flow Calendar to keep track of income and expenses.
- Recipe organization: creating an online recipe database using the web clipper to add recipes and sorting them by category. You can also copy and paste the Shopping List into a separate Groceries page to simplify grocery shopping.
- Company Help Center: creating a centralized overview of your company with essential information such as the employee handbook and important announcements. This resource can be accessed by employees anytime and will always be up-to-date.
The Hiring Pipeline template is useful for tracking potential hires by capturing their name, interview status, skills, and links to their online profiles. There are many other ideas to help you get started with Notion, such as creating a knowledgebase, using it as a bullet journal, setting up code guidelines, managing a product roadmap, organizing a podcast, planning home projects, writing a book, searching for jobs, keeping track of travel plans, and managing a game collection.
Additional Features
Notion is a collaborative tool that enables easy teamwork. You can tag team members by using @ followed by their name. Sharing pages with others is as simple as sending them a link. In Notion, workspaces have both Members and Guests. Members can create, edit, comment, and share pages, while Guests are external individuals who are invited to view a specific page or workspace. You can set different permissions for Guests such as editing, commenting, or read-only access. Guest access is handy when you need to share information quickly with your clients or contractors. You can also create Groups of users to manage permissions for all. Notion allows you to access your data from anywhere. They have apps on various platforms including iPhone, Android, Windows, and Mac, or you can use your browser.
Pros
Notion is a versatile tool that can help you organize various aspects of your life. Its benefits include:
- Availability across multiple platforms
- High level of customization
- Ability to upload unlimited files
- Powerful databases
- Option to share any page externally
- Friendly and helpful customer support
- Version history to track changes made over time.
Cons
Notion may have some drawbacks that could dissuade you from using it. Some of its current limitations are:
- It does not have an API that allows integration with other software services, but the company is currently working on developing this feature.
- Sharing pages requires more advanced permission settings.
- It needs more powerful calculation and formula capabilities.
- It does not support handwriting recognition.
- It does not sync with calendar services.
- It could benefit from better offline support.
- It lacks advanced text formatting options, such as font customization and improved copy/paste functions.
Pricing
Notion offers a range of plans that cater to different individuals or organizations. To begin with, they provide a free plan that allows up to 1,000 blocks and a 5MB upload limit. Their personal plans are available at $5 per month or $4 per month if paid annually. This plan is quite generous as it offers unlimited blocks, unlimited file uploads, and a version history of 30 days. Notion also offers a demo version that can be accessed directly from their homepage without creating an account. For teams, each user is charged $10 per month or $8 per month if paid annually. Team accounts come with Admin tools and advanced permissions. Notion’s Enterprise plan includes unlimited version history, SSO and SAML sign-on, a dedicated manager, and other features. Moreover, Notion provides free access for educators and students and offers credits to startups.
