Ginny Frost 
To begin, create an account
with Notion. It’s easy
to connect with the app using a Google, email, or Apple account. I suggest
starting with the free trial to see if Notion is for you. Once in, tell the app
your name and add a password. Be careful if it asks you to join an already
created team. Mine threw me in with nine other people with the same email tag.
Yeah, I don’t know them.
Eek.
Start by creating your own board unless your workplace has an
invitation for you.
The first screen is busy but
easy to navigate. Like Facebook and other apps, menus are on the left, and the workspace
is in the middle and right. Notion is an empty planner.
Let’s fill it up.
For now, we’ll skip the templates. There are
a ton, and next week, I’ll sort out the best of them. For now, let’s start with
a blank page.
On the main screen, on the
left, below the list of templates, click Add a Page. This will create a blank
canvas for your workspace.
Adding Content
Click on the Title to change it
to something useful, like Goals for 2022, Gift List, or Character Names. Before
you hit enter, you can add a template right away. Scroll down to choose to add
an icon or from the templates menu. There are also database options to pick
from right away. For now, I choosing Empty.
Once the page is created, you
can type away, creating content, blog posts, etc. But if you type /, the
program will give you a list of content to add. It includes tons of lists—toggled,
to-do, numbered, bulleted. There are also headings, sub-pages, and tables. But
wait, there’s more. Add
various types of databases, media, and links to outside content.
Phew.
Let’s make a list for now.
Click on the To-Do list. Like
Keep and Evernote, a small box appears. Type and hit enter and receive another
checkbox. Hover the mouse over the box, and a hand icon will appear, allowing
you to check off the task. Click on the six dots next to the box to drag the
list item to another spot on the list. The plus sign to the left of the six
dots allows you to add another block under the To-Do item. Perhaps you need to
add a comment or a sub-checklist for a complicated task.
Making it Pretty
Now let’s add icons and cover art to your page. Hover the mouse
over your title at the top. Three options should appear—Add Icon, Add Cover,
Add Comment. Click the Icon option to choose from a variety of emojis. (It
might pick one for you, as it did for me the first time. Click on the icon
again, and the menu of emojis will appear.) This icon will appear before the
page name on the left, allowing a visual to remind you what’s on the page
(besides the title, LOL).
Click Add Cover. Notion will
again pick a picture for you. Just click Change cover to choose your own
picture. There is a small image gallery, an option to upload, a link to an outside
image, or use Unsplash—another images gallery. Covers must be wider than 1500
pixels and must be under 5MB. Facebook and Twitter banners are too large. If
you are creating your own, keep it thin. You can reposition the cover if your
image does not fit.
Now we need some style. The
three dots on the top right let
you add text style and other page management options, such as copy or open the
page in Windows. To change the text within the page (bits, sections, or the
entire piece), highlight the text to change. A mini menu, like you might see in
Word, pops up with styles, colors, spreadsheet equations, code, and links. You
can also change the type of text with the drop-down menu at the start of the pop-up.
Mine says To-do (because I made a to-do list). If I click on the down arrow
beside To-Do, a list of other types of text appear—other lists, databases,
plain text, etc. You can always edit the type of text. The three dots at the
end bring you to the management options of delete, copy, etc., but also color.
Here you can choose text and text background colors.
Adding to the Page
Adding content to the page is
easy by clicking either the plus sign in front of any content block or clicking
at the end of the list/block and activating the initial call for the / command.
To add sub-pages to your content, mouse over to the left menu. Hover over the
title of your page. Three dots and a plus sign appear. The three dots allow you
to manage the page. Delete, copy, move using this menu.
The plus sign gives options to
quickly add a page inside the first one. It appears as a pop-up. You can create
content as before with more options. At the top of the pop-up, you can view the
new content as a page or add it as a sub-page. Type as needed and choose your
option. If you chose Add to…,
it will ask you which main page to add the content to. (Great for non-linear
thinkers.)
Basic Management Actions
On the left menu, click and
drag any page to move the order of the list. You can add the pre-created
content to any of your lists. Be careful though. Moving things can get tricky.
If you “lose a page”
(as I did), click the search button at the top and type the page’s name. I put
my reading list inside a timeline! To move it, I opened the “lost” page, clicked
the three dots on the top right, chose Move To, and replaced it in my PopSugar
folder. Phew!
This is the tip
of the iceberg for Notion. Next week, I will talk about the templates available
and more options for page content.
As with any app I
share, you are the person using it. Try for yourself and see if it works for
you.