How to Create a Note-Taking Setup in Notion | Step-by-Step Tutorial

If you want to get more into Notion and are wondering where to start, a note-taking setup is one of the most useful systems you can build first. It is simple enough to create in one sitting, and you can start using it immediately for reading notes, meeting notes, project updates, and everyday thoughts.

The setup in this guide uses two databases: one for your individual notes and one for the notebooks that group those notes. Once they are connected, you can open a notebook and see only the notes that belong there, while still keeping every note searchable in one master list.

Step 1: Create your Notes page and Notes database

Start by adding a new page. If you plan to use this system on your own, add it in your Private section. If your team will collaborate on notes, add it in a Teamspace instead. If you do not see those sidebar sections, open Home, choose Customize Sections, and turn on the ones you need.

Create an empty page and name it Notes. Add an icon, then open the three-dot menu at the top right hand corner and turn on Small Text and Full Width so you have more room to work.

Next, type /database and choose Database - Full page. This is your notes database. Add a first note, such as a reading note, so you can see how the properties will look in context. Open the note and write inside the page itself. The database is for organizing notes. The page body is where the actual writing lives.

Recommended properties for the notes database:

• Created time, so you can see your newest notes first
• Last edited time, so you can find recently updated notes
• URL, for notes connected to a specific webpage
• Tags as a multi-select, for categories such as reading notes or productivity

After the properties are in place, sort the database by Created time, newest first. You can also add a filter if you only want to see one tag at a time, such as reading notes.

Step 2: Build a Notebooks database

A notebooks database lets you group notes by topic without splitting them into separate places. Type /database again, choose Database - Full page, and name it Notebooks. Add a book icon to keep it visually distinct.

Change the layout from table to gallery so each notebook feels like a collection you can open. Create a few starter notebooks, such as Reading, Projects, and Meetings. Then add a cover photo to each one. After the covers are in place, go to your database settings, open layout and set card preview to Page cover so the gallery looks more like a set of real notebooks.

Step 3: Connect notes to notebooks

Open the notebooks database and add a Relation property connected to Notes. Turn on the two-way relation so you can see the connection from both sides.

To make each notebook more useful at a glance, add a Rollup on the notebooks database. Choose the Notes relation, then calculate Count all. Rename that property to Number of notes.

Hide the relation and rollup from the gallery if they make the cards look crowded. The cleaner approach is to show the note count only where you want it, such as on the dashboard later.

Next, create a default notebook template. From the New dropdown, choose New template. Inside the template, type /linked view of data source and add the Notes database. Filter that linked view so Notebook is the current notebook. Set this template as the default for all views.

Now, when you create a new notebook, the notes list is already waiting inside. Existing notebooks will need the same linked view added once, but every new notebook after that will include it automatically.

Step 4: Build your notes dashboard

Once the two databases exist, bring them together on your main Notes page. Start by adding a callout named Databases, then move the original Notes and Notebooks database pages into that callout. This keeps the source databases available without mixing them into the everyday workspace.

On the main page, add linked views so you can work from one dashboard. Suggested dashboard components include:

• A Databases callout that stores the source databases
• A Notebooks gallery with page covers and note counts
• A Notes table for viewing every note in one place
• An Inbox view for notes that are not filed yet
• Clear headings and dividers so the page stays easy to scan

Add a heading for Notebooks, then a linked gallery view of the notebooks database. Hide the database title, hide page icons if you want a cleaner look, and turn on Number of notes in property visibility.

Then add a heading for Notes and a linked table view of the notes database. Hide that title as well. These linked views display the same information as the source databases, so any change you make here also updates the original database.

Additional tips for taking better notes

Note templates save time when you take the same kind of note often. In the notes database, create a template such as a 5W note with headings for Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. The next time you add a note, you can start from that structure instead of a blank page.

You can also use a template for recurring notes. If you have a weekly project update, create the template, assign it to the Projects notebook, and set it to duplicate every week. Notion will add the new note on that cadence, so the recurring meeting already has a place to live.

If you have Notion AI, there are a few extra ways to keep the system tidy. You can use AI Autofill on tags so Notion suggests tags based on the note content. You can highlight text inside a note to proofread, reformat, or improve the writing. You can also ask Notion AI questions across your notes, such as what interesting ideas you captured recently.

Video Guide

This setup stays useful because it is small and flexible. You have one place for every note, notebooks for grouping, an inbox for anything unfiled, and templates for the notes you take often. Once that structure is in place, you can grow it over time without rebuilding the system.

If you want the video guide of this tutorial be sure to check out the video below:

[Video coming soon...]