I've been using Notion heavily for a while now, and it is blowing my mind. So far, I'm finding it to be a potential total replacement for my usage of Evernote, Google Docs, Wunderlist, and Trello, while providing me with entirely new functionality.

• Issues

  • Web bookmarks

    • It seems more painful than it needs to be to add web bookmarks to databases. You can't just paste a URL in as a new card. Instead, you create the bookmark as a Block, and then drag it into the database, where it seems they are converted into Pages.
    • Upon conversion, it would seem natural to treat the web bookmark's screenshot as the cover picture, but this doesn't happen in practice.

  • Databases

    • It would be nice to be able quickly add comments to pages in a Database through the right-click menu
    • In general, the ability to manipulate Pages in databases through right-click menus would be nice. You can change Properties, but it's not as intuitive as a lot of other interactions. Maybe Properties stuff should simply be on the top-level menu?
      • On an even more meta level, the ability to configure menus of Databases as a property of the Database itself could be really powerful.
    • It doesn't seem like it's possible to cut-and-paste directly into a Database (at least in Board View)
    • In Board View, it would be nice if there were quick ways to jump a card to the top and bottom of a column
    • I don't find myself wanting to invest effort in the limited spreadsheet functionality compared to Excel/Sheets.

  • Organization

    • There are multiple ways to represent hierarchy of content in Notion, but conversion between them is not always as straightforward as it could be.
      • Database as a collection of pages
      • Page as a collection of pages
      • Nested lists within a Page as an outline of blocks
      • Headings as parallel outline structure. Like a loosely-defined outline of blocks
    • There are parallel structures for organizing the hierarchy of a Page: heading levels and the tree of lists of blocks. It would be nice to be able to convert between the the two. For example, the ability to pull the top-level items of a nested list (like this one) out as headers, removing one level of indentation.
    • Likewise, it would be difficult to turn this Page into a Database with my groupings represented as tags. As this list has become longer and more structured, I find myself considering whether that would be a more effective structure. The organizational needs evolve as content accumulates.
    • I almost always regret making a top-level page when I want to categorize a new set of stuff, but it's not easy to convert a page that is a list of subpages into a database.
    • It seems like there should be a function to highlight blocks and directly turn them into a subpage.

  • Accounts

    • Early thought: "I'm still not sure how exactly I'll use it as a family plan. One Team workspace? Will this provide enough separation for our own personal stuff? Is this well documented anywhere?"

  • Android app

    • There's a really short delay before drag-and-drop kicks in, if you're not actively editing text, and so it often happens unintentionally. Could this be made configurable?
    • I get an error when trying to share a podcast from PodcastAddict. The ability to share podcasts in order to aggregate them would be absolutely crucial.
      • In general, the ability to share content from apps directly into databases is a gamechanger.
    • An equivalent of Cmd+P for quick note switching would be fantastic.
    • It feels like the app is missing a home page, which could be where functionality like quick note switching and recent notes could live.
    • "Quick Note" homepage shortcut
    • I keep being asked to log back in, which is irritating. Happens multiple times per day, usually when internet connectivity is intermittent.
    • Sharing! No support yet. (This may not be applicable)

  • Pages

    • A discussion template could be a really powerful idea. Sometimes, collaboration is the entire purpose of a Page. Pages already have a top-level discussion section, but it would be interesting to lean into that. Capitalizing on this would also probably require other improvements to comments.

  • Navigation and views

    • Why do Notes without subnotes or Databases with a single view have an expansion arrow in the sidebar?
    • A gallery view with a document pane would be pretty slick, like Evernote. (Should every view have the option of a document pane?)
    • It would be great for Pages to be able to explicitly have a blank icon.
      • The default icon creates visual noise (distracts from explicitly set icons) and doesn't add anything for me
      • Would be cool to be able to set the "null icon" either globally or for all the descendants of a Page
    • "Recent notes" would be nice
      • (Cmd+P may make this unnecessary, but it doesn't go back far enough)
    • In the desktop client, it's not obvious how to open a page in a separate window
    • Fn+Up/Down don't jump by a page when in Block cursor mode.
    • Tabs!
    • More icons

  • Blocks and Editing

    • It's irritatingly easy to make blank blocks accidentally in databases
    • Pressing Enter at the beginning of a bulleted list inserts a block above the current one, but that block isn't bulleted, by default. This clashes with standard practice in most rich text editors.
    • Spell-check
      • Apparently doesn't have an "Add to dictionary" option
        • (Example)
      • Highlights within inline code text. (e.g. mizspelld wrds)
      • Spelling highlights often don't show up until I click into a block, after I have reloaded a page
    • I've found it counterintuitive at times that the lists blocks have to contain text, rather than being able to contain other blocks, like images or pages.
      • This makes it awkward to make collapsable images, like the one on the previous bullet point.
      • This also makes it difficult to make subpages with bullet points
      • This potentially connects with the lack of something similar to HTML's "inline elements" — inline images and page references.
    • Is there a good way to add todo's to web bookmarks?
      • Not really, other than adding them to a Database, and making a Property
    • Is it possible to make inline links to pages in text blocks, without explicitly using the destination page URL?
    • If I paste a link from the right-click menu, I don't get the popup to choose different options, like Web Bookmark or Embed
    • Should be possible to insert emoji inline using e.g. :thumbsup:, like Slack.
    • It should be possible to easily make hyperlinks to other Pages from the Link button in the inline editor. It's not at all obvious that a Link should be fundamentally different from a Page Mention.
    • More annotations for blocks beyond comments would be interesting:
      • Voting
      • Reactions

  • Templates

    • I found it really counterintuitive to figure out how to make a page into a Template. I kept trying to right-click on a Page to do so, but only after watching a tutorial video did I realize that there's a Template Button block that I have to configure and drop the Page into the configurator. To do this:

      1. I made a blank page with the Template block
      2. I duplicated the page I wanted to be a template
      3. I dragged the duplicate to the blank page
      4. I hit the configure button on the template
      5. I dragged the duplicate into the right spot in the configurator
      6. I still felt the need at this point to test, because I wasn't sure I had it right

      I think a better solution would be to be able to make a template from a right-click menu, which would then ask what new or existing Page to drop the template into.

  • Comments

  • Functionality

  • Other

• Observations

Cultured stone