#notion tutorial

Dive into the delightful universe of Miffy, where organization meets adorable charm in perfect harmony. This template isn't just a tool—it's a playful journey that turns your Notion workspace into a haven of cuteness and productivity.

Miffy-themed elements aren't just for show—they're designed to enhance your productivity with a touch of playfulness. From vision board to workspace, experience the perfect blend of functionality and cuteness, making your work and organization an absolute delight.

✿ What's Inside? ✿

🌷 Vision Board: Yearly Goals, Wishlist, Daily Affirmations, Habits Builder, Gratitude Journal, Countdown

🌷 Academics: Class Timetable, Course Notes, Deadline List, Quick Notes, Important Links, Journals & Essays, Assignments, Upcoming Exam List

hey emily! ✧

omg hi again!! (the love poem chaos was iconic btw, never apologize for that) you truly are my biggest fan (and i'm yours <3)

✧・゜: my notion setup: organized chaos but make it cute :・゜✧:・゜✧

so you asked about my notion setup and i'm soo excited to share because i've gone through approximately 500 iterations before finding what actually works for me! and by "works" i mean i've stuck with it for more than 3 weeks which is honestly a personal record.

the thing with notion is that it's so customizable it can be overwhelming?? like, i spent more time watching "perfect aesthetic notion tour" videos than actually using the app for the first month. classic me behavior.

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ getting started (without spiraling) ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

first things first - don't try to set up your entire life system at once! i made this mistake and abandoned notion for 2 months because it felt too overwhelming.

start with ONE area that's currently chaotic in your life. for me it was school assignments because i kept forgetting deadlines until 11pm the night before (and then panicking while eating peanut butter straight from the jar… not recommended).

my biggest tip is to not get caught up in making it pretty right away. i know that's like, counterintuitive coming from me, but functionality first, then we make it cute!

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ my actual setup ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

homepage: i have a super simple homepage with links to my main dashboards (school, blog, personal) and a little daily quote that changes. also a tiny photo of my cat judging me for motivation.

school dashboard: this is my most used section! i have a calendar view of assignments, a database of all my classes with linked notes, and reading tracker. the best part is the assignment database where i can filter by due date and subject.

blog dashboard: where i keep all my post ideas (like this one!), content calendar, and stats tracking. i also have a section for brands i want to work with someday (manifesting!).

personal dashboard: this has my habit tracker, journal prompts, and goals. i also keep recipes here because i was tired of screenshots getting lost in my camera roll.

reading nook: where i track books i've read/want to read with little ratings and notes. sometimes i write embarrassingly emotional reactions to plot twists that no one else will ever see.

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ the actually helpful stuff ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

okay so beyond the basic setup, here are things that have made notion actually useful for me:

templates!! i have templates for everything - blog posts, class notes, weekly planning. it saves so much time not starting from scratch.

linked databases are literally magic. i can have the same information show up in different places filtered different ways. like my assignments appear on my homepage as "due this week" but in my school dashboard i can see everything.

embeds are underrated. i embed my spotify playlists, google calendar, and pinterest boards so everything's in one place.

toggle lists for anything lengthy. they keep things looking clean but you can expand when needed.

color coding that actually means something. i used to just pick pretty colors but now each color has a purpose (red = urgent, blue = school, pink = blog, etc).

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ making it pretty (because we still care) ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

once the functionality is working, THEN we make it cute:

i use a consistent color palette across all pages (mostly soft pinks, lavender, and sage green)

custom icons for each page (there are free packs online or you can use emojis)

cover images that are cohesive (i use pinterest)

font consistency! i stick with the same headings and text styles

little decorative dividers between sections (just search "aesthetic dividers" and you'll find tons)

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ my honest thoughts ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

the truth is my notion isn't instagram-perfect all the time. some sections get messy when life gets busy, and that's fine! the beauty of it is you can always clean it up later.

the pages i actually use daily are pretty simple. it's the ones i rarely visit that look the most aesthetic (because they're not battle-tested with real life, lol).

start simple, find what actually helps you, and then make it pretty enough that you want to use it. that's the real secret!

let me know if you want more specific details about any part of my setup! i could literally talk about this forever (as you can probably tell from this novel of a response).

sending you the most organized vibes! hope this helps!!

xoxo, mindy 🤍

p.s. sleep tight to you too! currently writing this at 1am because i have no concept of proper sleep schedules

i dont know how to make templates, so instead im going to make an in depth tutorial for how i made my school notion bcuz i didn't use a template.

STEP ONE ; go to ur sidebar and where it says "private" click on the + button (it should say add a page)

STEP TWO ; click the three dots on the upper right hand corner and set the text to serif and make the page full width. title it however u want, add an icon and a cute banner. i found mine off of pinterest.

1. Choose a format

I prefer to make a separate database as a home for all my project pages, but you can also start with a new blank page

2. Make a section for basic information

Title, genre, themes, loglines, summary, word count goal etc. I prefer to add them to the top of the page, so they're always visible

Inspo:

As an avid Notion user whose first love was Evernote, I was also very upset at the sudden high charge and limit of Evernote to 50 free notes... I already had 565 notes in there, and was a fan of the simplistic yet useful mechanism for taking notes with a click, organizing them in notebooks, and being able to use tags, archived files, etc.

So I have taken it upon myself to recreate the mechanism as closely as possible.

This is my final result: easy to make into your own!

Template link, though I suggest looking over this tutorial most of all:)

I also have to say, I love how it is relatively great for the mobile option as well! Especially with my gallery views and button for new notes.

**I recommend using a computer/laptop for this!

Step 1: Importing all your notes

- Instructions directly quoted from the Notion website:

You can import all of your Evernote data into Notion in one go, and retain its organization.

From the import window, choose Evernote

Sign into your Evernote account.

Authorize Evernote to connect to Notion.

Once your Evernote account is linked, check the boxes next to the notebooks you'd like to move and click Import

Your Evernote notebooks will appear as pages in Notion's sidebar. Inside, you'll find your notes as items in a list database.

Each note can be dragged and dropped anywhere else within Notion

Step 2: Move notebooks into ONE database

Let all your notebooks load correctly -- I personally checked the amount of notes each notebook had to match the ones in Evernote. The notebooks will go into the Notion pages on the sidebar like the picture, and each page will automatically add the notes into a NEW DATABASE table, which tells the amount of notes at the bottom.

Create a new blank page: this will be your EVERNOTE HOME layout

Inside this page, create a New Database (preferably in Table form)

This will be the MAIN DATABASE

In this database, click ...

Then click + Add a new property and click Select.

I named the property "notebook". Then include in the options all the different notebooks you had in Evernote! Here is my specific example:

4. Add ALL the notes to the new database

Each "notebook" is automatically a separate database, we don't want that!

With tedious work, copy all the notes from the first notebook into the new database

Go into the first "notebook" (on the sidebar, just imported from Evernote) and press CTRL-A or Command-A to select all the notes. Then copy them with CTRL-V or Command-V.

Then go into your EVERNOTE HOME LAYOUT

Paste the notes into your MAIN DATABASE

Make sure the notes are inside the database, they will be part of the MAIN DATABASE table!

WARNING!!! BEFORE PASTING THE OTHER NOTEBOOKS' NOTES:

After pasting the First Notebook notes on the MAIN DATABASE, put the correct notebook property in each one!

I could not find a better way to do this than selecting a Single Note > Click on the "Notebook" property > Select the preferred notebook ("plot/story ideas") > click away > click back on the square until it is selected (the whole square turns blue) > then copy it (CTRL-C or Command-C) > then select the rest of the notes in that property column (like in picture 3) - and pasting the property to all of them at once.

(select property + CTRL-C or Command-C)

(select the rest of the notes - for ease, click on one, then press SHIFT and arrow down!)

(Paste the property to the rest of the notes all at once)

-- Thank you @ myself for complicating a very simple procedure --

Continuing:

5. Next - copy and paste the notes of each note book into the MAIN DATABASE, each time making sure you add the "notebook" property as said in Step 4.

For ease: I found it helpful to sort the notes (... > Sort > Updated > Descending)

When this is done, you should have all your notes into a single database (MAIN DATABASE), organized by notebooks.

Make the Evernote Home Layout - 2 options

*If you're new to Notion, you will slowly get the hang of databases, don't worry. I am making this as detailed as possible:)

Option 1: Use my free template!

Please let me know if you have any problems accessing it.

Option 2: Follow my instructions and make your layout your own

You can follow my steps as I create my preferred layout, and change things around (magic of notion) to make this into your own.

I prefer to make my page Full Width, Small text, and change the font (upper right corner: ...)

With the space bar I give some space to the whole ordeal.

Now, what exactly am I saving from a normal Evernote Home Page?

Recent notes

Scratch pad

(Would be so very easy to get a pinned note, and recently captured as well, though I don't do this in this tutorial)

Notebooks Gallery Tutorial

Press anywhere on the page > Click + > Scroll and Click on Gallery View > Click New Database

It should look like this

This here is a new database that we will call "Notebooks Database"

Each page shown there can be each notebook, and if you don't wish to show it in Gallery view, and instead have a simple list, you can!

For that Press ... > Layout > List

I will continue showing how to make the Gallery View like my own layout however:)

You can customize each page by clicking on it, changing the name (to each notebook you have), adding a cover and icon, however you wish.

Notion Tip: Instead of having to download images, you can Copy Image Link to almost any GIF of image on Google, Pinterest, etc, and then pasting the link!

Make sure you select "Page Cover" to be shown for your Notebooks Database Gallery View!

... > Layout > Gallery > Card Preview > Page Cover

My final result:

Notion Tip: To hide the name of "Notebooks Database", click the three dots ... next to it and click Hide Database Title

2. Recent Notes Gallery Tutorial:

To explain how to add the RECENT notes view I will make a video:

This is exactly what I do:

Make space after the title > Move a Block next to another Block to create 2 columns > Drag the Notebooks Database Gallery to Column 1

In column 2: Add a New Gallery View > Choose Main Database > Add whatever Properties you would like shown > Sort > By Created Time/ Updated Time (depending on preference)

For this one, make sure you put "Page Content" to be shown

... > Layout > Gallery > Card Preview > Page Content

3. New Note Shortcut Button Tutorial

To add a button so you can quickly add a new note like in Evernote, do the following (shown in the video below)

Click anywhere > + > Button > Add page > (Add page to) "MAIN DATABASE" > (Delete the name property) > + Add another step > Open Page > Select Page > New Page Added

Explore all the other features of this new button!

4. Finally, customize each Notebook Page:

Click on each Notebook page > Add a Gallery/List/Table view > Filter > Choose selected notebook tag > Sort > Updated time > Descendant

(video/gif tutorial shows how i personalized mine, I still have more stuff I want to add but those are the basics!)

BONUS: Add a Scratch Pad

Click anywhere > + > Add a Toggle List > ::: > Customize color

OR

Click anywhere > + > Add Callout > Customize color and Icon

Some of you haven’t figured out how to use Notion databases and it shows 🔥🔥🔥