A beginner’s guide to Notion: What do you need to know before using Notion?
I’ve switched from paper journal to Notion. Here are my Notion pros and cons
When I looked at the so-called “all-in-one workspace” for notetaking and organizing files, I wondered how Notion differs from regular paper and digital journals, such as Evernote or Onenote. A while ago, I was browsing through some of my friends’ websites, and I saw they used Notion as a template. Then, my YouTube feed started suggesting YouTubers using Notion to improve their productivity; that’s when I thought I could start using Notion for my website and a digital notebook for myself.
Notion uses databases, which allows you to build a structure that meets your needs. The real magic with Notion is in the unlimited uses for the application giving many users a playground for creative expression with their own productivity needs.
Pros
Free for individual use
It may sound too obvious, but it’s a good strategy for Notion to make it accessible for personal use because it allows users to test, use and explore different templates. Similar to Figma or Grammarly, by making the site accessible initially for individual use, the growth was so significant that it reached the traction they were looking for.
Easy to style & data visualization
Notion allows editors to make flexible hierarchical structures in their pages, which improves organizing your data visually. There are multiple ways in displaying your data in different views, including table, board, gallery, etc.
Don’t have to create from scratch
If you’re worried about making beautiful Notion pages, Notion templates help you get started and fulfil your purpose without creating a structure from scratch. It’s beneficial for non-visual designers when looking for ways to make their website or planner beautiful. These templates are highly customizable so that you can change them according to your preferences seamlessly.
Aside from note-taking, users have been using Notion for their daily planner, budget tracker with these templates. It will save you time creating your Notion page. You can access default Notion templates here.
Third-party embeds
You can embed virtually any online content within Notion pages — from video and audio players to Figma and Invision mockups, to entire Google documents and spreadsheets. As a designer working on her website, being able to embed Figma and allow interaction from the recruiters was something I want for my website.
Cons
No OCR
Missing optical character recognition can turn note-takers away from Notion. Evernote allows PDFs and images to be scanned and photographed, which is quick and accurate to convert handwriting notes to digital documents. I don’t know whether Notion has a plan to include OCR in the future. However, you can look for adding Notion OCR here.
Search
Although Notion has a search function to search inside a page or through the overall workspace, it’s still missing the ability for search options or filters. I find it’s difficult to search for PDS or video content in Notion
Final thoughts for beginners who start using Notion
- Instead of building any massive projects in Notion, starting with something small first will help you get familiar with the tool.
- You can start using templates if you think you’re spending too much time setting up. With those templates, you can customize it the way you want, saving you a lot of time.
If you have any comments about using Notion, please share them in the comment section!
