While Notion is an incredible productivity tool, it can be quite tricky to navigate. To help make your Notion journey much easier and more efficient, we’ve compiled a list of tricks you can use.

1. Use Keyboard Shortcuts and Commands

Using keyboard shortcuts and commands can make a massive difference and help you speed up your tasks significantly. From switching between different pages to creating a to-do list with checkboxes, there are over 130 Notion keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac. Here are a few useful shortcuts that we recommend starting out with:

• To open a new Notion window: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N
• To toggle between Dark and Light mode: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + L
• To bring up the Notion AI dialogue box: Ctrl/Cmd + J
• To create a new page on the Notion desktop app: Ctrl/Cmd + N
• To add a comment: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N
• To go back a page: Ctrl/Cmd + [
• To go forward a page: Ctrl/Cmd + ]

Other than keyboard shortcuts, you can use slash commands (/) to format your Notion pages quickly. Here are a few you should start with:

• To create a new text block: /text
• To create a bulleted list: /bullet
• To create a numbered list: /num
• To create a toggle list: /toggle
• To upload an image: /image
• To upload a video: /video
• To change the text color of a block: /color
• To change the background color of a block: /color background

Whether you’re a student with a ton of deadlines or have a 9 to 5, it’s human nature to forget stuff at times, even if you’ve outlined all your tasks and deadlines. One feature that you may not be aware of is the option to set up reminders in Notion.

To set a reminder, go to the page or task you’d like to be reminded of. Type @remind along with the date and time you’d like to receive a notification from Notion reminding you of the task or event. For example, if you’d like to be reminded of a task that’s due on Friday at 8 am, simply type @remind Friday at 8 am.

If you’re using a table to track your deadlines, you can also set a reminder by clicking on a date and clicking Remind. Now, you can choose to be reminded of the task on the day it’s due, the day before, two days before, and a week before it’s due.

If you spent hours writing notes on a topic you’re studying, spending a few more hours summarizing your lengthy notes to revise is definitely not time-efficient. Notion AI comes handy in such situations, and will save you hours of manual work. Notion designed Notion AI to help users enhance their productivity.

Other than summarizing pages, Notion AI can translate pages, fix spelling errors, improve your writing, expand or shorten your written text, change your writing tone, brainstorm ideas for you, create a to-do list for you, and much more.

To use Notion AI, open a page or create a new one. Now, you can either trigger Notion AI by typing the command /Notion AI or pressing the Ctrl/Cmd + J keys simultaneously to bring up the Notion AI dialogue box. A drop-down menu with multiple options will now appear on your screen. All you need to do now is pick a task you’d like Notion AI to do and see it work its magic.

For example, if you’d like Notion AI to write something from scratch, choose Ask AI to write and give it some instructions in the dialogue box.

Unfortunately, Notion AI isn’t free. If you have a free Notion personal plan, you can try 20 responses per month. However, if you’d like to enjoy unlimited Notion AI responses, you’ll need to subscribe to a paid response.

If you have a Free Plan or a Plus, Business, or Enterprise subscription and are billed monthly, Notion AI will cost you $10 per month. On the other hand, if you have a Plus, Business, or Enterprise subscription and renew your subscription yearly, you can purchase Notion AI for $8 per month instead.

4. Use the Notion Chrome Extensions

One of the most underrated ways of pushing Notion’s limits and making the platform easier to navigate is using Notion extensions. There are tons of Notion extensions for Google Chrome available that can make your life easier, like the Notion Web Clipper extension that allows you to save a website that you’re currently browsing to a Notion database or ChatGPT to Notion, which allows you to preserve your ChatGPT conversations.

5. Create Buttons for Repeating Actions

One of the simplest ways of making your Notion workspace cleaner and easier to navigate is by using Notion buttons. This handy feature allows you to perform repetitive tasks that you perform on a day-to-day basis, like adding a new task to your to-do list, by simply clicking a button. To create a button, type the command /button.

Now, type a name for the button and add an icon. Click + Add action under Do this and choose from: Insert blocks, Add page to, Edit pages in, Show confirmation, and Open Page.

For example, if you’d like to create a to-do task every time you click the button, choose Insert blocks from the five options and type /to-do list in the dialogue box. Finally, click Done.

6. Use the Toggle Feature in Notion

Toggle blocks are another great way to keep your Notion workspace tidy and organize chunks of text. To create a toggle block, type the command /toggle and type a name for the toggle header. You can also create a toggle list by typing > followed by a space on a new line.

Click the triangle button next to the toggle, or click the text labeled Empty toggle to add blocks of content underneath the toggle header.

7. Customize Your Notion Workspace

Adding a bit of flair to your Notion workspace can make organizing your life fun. Fortunately, Notion offers multiple ways to customize your Notion workspace, and making your Notion setup aesthetic will only take a couple of minutes. You can begin by adding a cover photo to your Notion pages by hovering over the top of a page and clicking Add cover.

Once you click Change Cover, you’ll be able to choose from a gallery of cover photos curated by Notion. If you’d like to upload your own image, click Upload.

Styling the content of your Notion page is equally important. One way to do so is by changing the font style. Notion offers three different fonts: Default, Serif, and Mono. You can change the font style of the text on your Notion page by clicking the three horizontal dots at the top right of your screen and choosing from one of the three fonts under the Style header.

You can also change the color of the text, or its background, by highlighting the text and choosing the three horizontal dots from the menu bar that appears.

Finally, select Color from the drop-down menu and choose from the list of colors.

You can also use the /embed tool to add images, videos, Google Documents, Spotify playlists, and more to your Notion workspace. To do so, type the /embed command, paste a link, and click the Embed link.

8. Create a Table of Contents

Whether you’re taking notes on Notion or writing an essay with multiple headings, you can add a table of contents to your Notion page. Simply type the command /table of contents on a new line, and a table of contents blocks will automatically be created. You can move this box around your Notion page.

9. Create a Major To-Do Database

If you’re someone who has a ton to keep up with, managing individual to-do lists for different parts of your life can get overwhelming. To counter that, you can consolidate several categorized task lists into a major to-do database and navigate your tasks by using filters.

Type the command /database and select “Database – Inline” from the drop-down menu. Now, tweak the database according to your requirements and enter the tasks you need to do. Make sure to create tags for different parts of your life, like work, university, groceries, etc.

Once you’re done filling your database with your tasks, you can filter through them by clicking Filter and filtering them by Tags. For instance, if you’d like to see only the university-related tasks you need to do, simply select the checkbox next to University.

From customizing your Notion workspace to using Notion AI to perform tasks for you, mastering these tips will help you save tons of time in the long run.