Notion Tips Part One - Tables & Databases

If you’re well versed in the productiverse (productivity universe… get it?? 🤣) and have kept up to date with our blogs you will have heard about Notion. If you already know what Notion is, skip to paragraph two. Notion is a (free) productivity and note-taking (web) app. It allows coding, integrations with other apps and software, customisation and data entry just to name a few points.

A feature I’ve not really made the most of until recently is the databases for tables, kanban boards, galleries and calendars. But I’ve recently re-done the entire dashboard for Inkiest (on Notion of course) and made my workflow a whole lot more streamlined by using the same database for almost all of the tables etc that I have. One thing that really made me do this was realising that not everything such as properties or even items (via filters) has to be shown.

Inkiest Dashboard

First Block

At the top of the page, I always, always use a content section, because it make navigation that much easier. Especially when I’m on my phone as everything becomes condensed I don’t want to be scrolling for hours trying to find the section I need.

This part in particular is broken up by 3-columns, to get this all you need to do is click the ‘+’ button at the top or start typing ‘/3 columns’, then the option will appear. In the far right, I add links to all other aspects of Inkiest, or at the very least, to the main pages that then diverge to all the other pages. Again, this is to make navigation easier, but also because I have a Notion widget on my phone home screen that will send me right to this page. Unfortunately, I don’t have an iPhone so I’m not sure how to do it on that, but I have added a video below of how to do it on a Samsung phone.

Second Block

In this block I utilise an ‘inbox’ this is where I go to jot down any first idea’s I have for literally anything to do with Inkiest, and you can apply this to anything, I also use this for my personal life too. In this block I organise everything by priority, tags and whether they’re done or not. In this, I also have a filter so that it only shows items/ projects that I haven’t yet done (refer to the little blue section of the above figure). This means that the table isn’t overcrowded with things I’ve already done.

Third Block

Here I use another table that pulls data from the same database as the first (Brain 2.1), however now I’m using a filter that only shows me urgent and incomplete tasks (see blue section in above figure). This way I know what needs to be prioritised and don’t need to worry about losing track of what is urgent.

Fourth Block

Fourth Block

This is basically a continuation/ progression of my previous block, here I just slightly adjust the filter to incomplete, coming up tasks. I have this block here for moments when I have a little more time and I’m able to work on non-urgent tasks.

Fifth Block

Fifth Block

Again, this is a continuation of the previous block, but for my incomplete, later tasks. This is best for when I’m bored (which rarely happens) or when I have a lot of time on my hands and again, have time to plan ahead more.

Each of these tables are then reflected in various degrees on calendars and galleries I have throughout my entire workspace on Notion. For example, below in the blog idea’s section, I have this blog in the calendar which is automatically added whenever anything is added to the database at any of these points that is tagged as blog or blog idea. These can be adjusted, they can be changed to contain, does not contain, checked (for checkboxes), unchecked, so on and so forth.

Calendar

If you’d like to get a free Notion template of this page, you can join our community (for free) and get a whole bunch of freebies, discounts and more on that page.

Have a great weekend,

Te Ana

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