Are you looking for a place to easily take notes and organize them in the most efficient way possible?
Look no further than this article which will show you how to take notes in Notion.
Notion is one of the best note-taking applications for many reasons. It makes organizing and structuring your notes easy and seamless.
It offers endless options for customization and also makes your notes visually appealing.
This article will walk you through the steps on how to efficiently take notes in Notion and set up your first note-taking workspace. You’ll also learn how to structure your notes, highlight important information, add comments, lists, images, and more.
Get ready to streamline your note-taking and maximize your productivity with Notion.
How To Take Notes in Notion Efficiently
Let's first start with the basics of setting up a page.
1. Setting Up a Page
Launch the Notion application. Head to the sidebar and click on the ‘+’ sign to create a new page.
Click on the option that says “Empty page with icon.”
Give a title to your note.
Click on the icon and select any emoji or icon that you like.
If you want, you can even keep a cover image. Hover over the title area and click on the “Cover image” option.
A cover image will be added to your workspace.
If you want to change it, hover over the cover image and click on the Change cover option.
When you click it, a drop-down menu will appear on your screen.
Scroll down until you find your desired cover image. If you want something really specific, click on the “Unsplash” option which has a wide variety of images.
Type the keyword of whatever you’re looking for, in the search bar.
Suppose you searched “library”. You will see a range of options that match your search.
Click on whichever image you prefer and it will be added as a cover image to your note.
You can even reposition the image by clicking on ‘Reposition.’
Now let’s come to the note-taking part.
2. Blocks and Formatting
Notion is a note-taking app that works using a system of blocks. Each piece of content in Notion, whether it's a text, image, or file, is housed in its block.
This allows for a high degree of flexibility and customization in organizing and structuring your information.
To add a block, click on the ‘+’ sign and it’ll open a menu that contains different blocks. You can scroll through the list and select the block of your choice to be added to the page.
To get started, click the + sign, and select the option that says Text: “Just start writing with plain text”.
Then type in (or copy-paste) your notes.
By clicking the six-dotted icon, you get options to delete or duplicate a block, change the background or text colors, add lists or points, and much more.
Here are some of the main features that will help you in your note-taking:-
Background and Text Color
You can change the background color of both the block and the text. You can read our guide on how to change the background color to know more about the topic.
For changing the color of the text, simply click on the six-dotted icon and then click on the ‘Color’ option from the menu.
If you want to change the font, click the three-dot menu in the top right corner of your page.
Switch between small text and full-width as well as different font styles such as Default, Serif, and Mono.
Switch between small text and full-width as well as different font styles such as Default, Serif, and Mono.
If you toggle the “Small text” option, your notes will look like this.
If you toggle the “Full width” option, your notes will look like this.
Headings
Headings are an important part of note-taking as they help with hierarchy, structuring, and navigation.
To add a heading block, open the menu by clicking on the ‘+’ sign on a new line.
Scroll down and click on your preferred heading level; (Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3)
For the main heading, select Heading 1 and type in your heading.
You can likewise, insert sub-titles in between your notes by following the same steps.
Alt-click to add a block above.
Select Heading 2 or Heading 3.
Type in your sub-heading.
Comment
If you want to collaborate on note-taking, comments are a useful tool for editing. They can also be used to clarify or expand on the information in the main text of your notes.
To add comments to a block, click on the six-dotted icon and then click on the “Comment” option.
Type your comment in the bar that appears.
You can also add comments to a specific line of text by selecting it and then choosing the Comment option from the ribbon.
Same as above, type your comment in the bar that appears.
You can also add page-level comments by hovering your mouse over the title of the page and clicking on the “Add comment” button.
You can view the comments on a page by clicking on the speech bubble icon.
When you click the speech bubble icon, your comment will appear like this. You can add additional comments to the same block.
You can edit a comment by hovering over your comment box till you see the three-dotted icon.
When you click it, you will see a menu. Click on the “Edit comment” option.
Toggle
Toggles act as accordions and are helpful when you want to declutter your notes and want to hide content inside a heading.
There are two types of toggles in Notion: simple toggles and heading toggles. The only difference is that simple toggles appear as normal text, whereas heading toggles come in three heading levels.
To add a toggle list, click the “+” icon.
For a Basic Toggle block:-
Scroll down in the block list, and select the Toggle list under Basic blocks or Heading toggles under Advanced blocks. You can also type /toggle and select your desired toggle.
It will appear like this.
Type your main point in the block. For the hidden part, click on the triangle icon.
Type the part of your content you want to keep hidden from view.
To see the hidden part, click the triangle icon again.
For the Advanced Toggle heading, click on the + sign and scroll down the menu till you see the Advanced Blocks section. Scroll down further and click on the toggle heading you need.
3. Structuring Your Notes
Adding Points and To-Do Lists
Notion allows you to organize the content in bullet and numbered points as well as in a to-do list.
To add either of the blocks, click the “+” icon on a new line and select your desired block under the Basic Blocks.
Scroll down and click on “To-do list.”
The to-do list should look like this.
You can also convert your existing set of paragraphs into bulleted and numbered points or even a to-do list. Select all of the paragraphs you want to convert and then click the six-dotted icon.
This will bring up a menu where you can hover over “Turn into” and then choose your desired list block.
Suppose you want your notes to appear as bullet points. If you select the “Bulleted list” option, then your notes will appear like this.
Quote
If you want to highlight an important paragraph in your note, you can turn it into a quote.
Click the six-dotted icon and choose the Quote block or type /quote and press the Enter key.
Select the “Turn into” option, then click on the “Quote” block from the menu.
The text should look like this.
To change the background color of the Quote, see our guide on how to change the background color.
If you only want a specific part highlighted, copy-paste it into a new block and repeat the above steps to make it a Quote.
Divider
Similarly, if you want to differentiate some content from others, you can make use of the Divider block. To add it to the page, select it from the blocks menu or type “/divider”.
It will appear like this.
Drag and Drop Tool
Notion makes use of different blocks to add content to a page. This makes it easy to rearrange content.
To change the order of your paragraphs, move your cursor over the six-dotted icon of the block you want to move and click and drag it upwards or downwards.
Click and drag it upwards or downwards.
That is how you can change the sequence of the paragraphs.
You can also make your paragraphs appear side by side. Click on the six-dotted icon and drag the block to the side.
It will arrange the content in columns.
If you want to know how to center-align the text in your notes, read our guide on how to center-align the text in Notion.
4. Embedding Media
One of the cool features of Notion is that it allows you to embed videos, images, files, and more into your workspace.
Did you know you could save a link as a visual bookmark?
Click on the ‘+’ sign and scroll down the menu. Click on “Web bookmark.”
Or, type /web and press the Enter key.
After you click on “Web bookmark”, you will see a box appear on the screen.
Paste the link in the box. Then click on “Create bookmark.”
It should appear like this.
Notion also allows you to embed a video in your notes.
Click on the ‘+’ sign, scroll down the menu, and then click on “Video.”
(Or type/video and press Enter).
Paste the link of the video in the box and click on “Embed video.”
You can now view the video from your Notion workspace itself.
To add images, click on the ‘+’ sign, scroll down the menu, then click on “Image.”
(Or type /image and press Enter).
You can either upload an image from your desktop to your workspace.
Or, you can upload an image from Unsplash.
Type the keyword of whatever you’re looking for, in the search bar. Suppose you searched “pen”. You will see a range of options that match your search.
Click on whichever image you prefer and it will be added as an image to your note.
Under the free version of Notion, you can upload media files up to 5 MB.
Click on the ‘+’ sign, scroll down the menu, then click on “File.”
(Or type /file and press Enter).
There are two ways to add a file to your workspace; you can either upload it from your desktop or paste the link from other sources.
Click on the “Choose a file” option and upload the file from your desktop to your workspace.
After you choose your file, it should appear like this in your workspace.
The Plus and Business plans remove the 5MB limit and allow you to upload an unlimited size of files.
5. Linking Other Pages From the Workspace
You can also add links to other pages within your Notion workspace.
For this, either select the “Link to page” option in the menu that pops up when you click on the ‘+’ sign. Or type “/link to page” and press the Enter key.
A menu of all the pages in your Notion workspace will appear on the screen. Click on the page you need.
A link to that page will be created in your workspace.
If there’s a database you want to link in your notes, you can read our article on how to link databases in Notion.
6. Add Sub Pages
You can add sub-pages within a note.
To do this, head to the sidebar on the left side of your Notion workspace. Hover your cursor over the bar of your existing note and click on the + sign.
You will see this on your screen.
As shown in the screenshot, you can either press the Enter key to continue with an empty page or select one of the available templates.
Same as before, you can add an icon, and a cover image and format this page as you did the first one. This way, you can add as many pages as you need.
You can view the additional pages by clicking on the little arrow icon to the left of the note title in the sidebar.
When you click it, a menu of all the pages inside your note will appear on the sidebar.
That’s it about how to take notes in Notion and utilize it as a note-taking app.
Let’s now look at some of the best note-taking templates available for how to take notes in Notion.
7. Best Notion Note-Taking Templates
By this point, you probably want to get started with your note-taking.
To get you started on your note-taking journey, here are three of the most user-friendly Notion note-taking templates.
These will make it easy for you to understand how to take notes in Notion efficiently.
1. Thomas Frank's Note-Taking Template
This template is one of the most popular ones out there. It incorporates features found in other note-taking apps into the Notion experience.
Key Features
- Status Dashboard
- Inline box table within the main dashboard that makes it easy for you to take notes even when you’re on the move.
- Notebook List
- Sub-notebooks are accessible from the sidebar
Get Thomas Frank's Note-Taking Template
2. Ultimate Notebook System Template
This is the ideal template for students, as it includes numerous options to keep track of your learning.
Key Features
- Subjects database
- Each notebook can be tagged for further organizing.
- Databases for Terms, Concepts, Fun Words, Quotes, Flash Cards, and more.
- Quick Navigation Bar
Get the Ultimate Notebook System Template
3. Class Notes Template
If you are a student, a reader, or a working professional who needs to jot down your meeting notes in one spot, then this is the template for you.
This template allows you to capture and view all your notes in one place.
Key Features
- Keep a record of what you've read.
- Notes get automatically dated when you create them.
- To add unlimited notes, bookmarks, images, videos, and even a table of contents, click on any item.
- Label your notes with the course name and number.
We hope this article will help you take your notes to the next level!
Wrapping Up:
In a nutshell, we have given you the basics on how to take notes in Notion and set up a note-taking workspace.
Let us know in the comments below, which template you will use.
Don't forget to have a look at some of the best Notion templates available.
Also, if you have any questions about how to take notes in Notion (or anything else), please leave a comment below. We’d love to answer your queries.
