Notion is a feature-rich note-taking application that can be used in a variety of ways. This article lives and was typed up using the program.

Features

A little backstory.

I started using Notion in 2018 and instantly fell in love with the interface and ease of use.  It was a flexible workspace that I could use to collaborate with other people (SQUEEE!).

The Basics

Clickable checkboxes, Date-based reminders, @mention any person to get their attention, Rich preview when you paste a link to the page (see below), Quick linking to other docs in the space (@filename), and Quick Simple Tables

Why I used Notion.so as Courseware | RJ Lewis Digital

This is a link preview.

The Not-so-standard Features:

1. The Sidebar Control Center
   • Navigate any page, or section in the workspace with ease
2. Private pages in a shared space – these show up in your sidebar. No need to navigate elsewhere.
3. Databases. Yup. Just that one word.
   • Don’t know SQL? Good! You can view your data in a table, kanban board grouped however you like, or calendar view and manipulate it to your heart’s content. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination!
   • Database info can even be added inline INTO a page to mingle with other content building blocks, such as images, or embedded documents.
4. Windows and Mac apps are available in addition to very nicely done web and mobile applications.
5. Dark Mode! This is really not a deal-breaker, but it is a nice plus in terms of eye strain.

When I originally wrote this, Notion was very insular outside of embeddable content. In this day and age, no program can be an island. Lack of true integration with popular existing applications could be a deal-breaker for sea-change with teams that have existing processes and applications.  Example scenarios that I personally would like to see we can now achieve:

• A database should be able to sync with traditional calendars.
• Two-way syncing with traditional checklist tools like Trello, Asana, Redbooth, or Todoist gives early adopters an inroad towards moving out of those workflows.

The heart of the matter.

One of the most helpful things about Notion is that, everything that you have access to, is a page where you can add blocks of content.