Notion: When to use databases vs pages

I get asked a lot from people "should I use a database or a page? and how do you decide?"
This is an basic overview of how I think about when to use databases vs pages.
Databases are incredibly powerful, so I tend to nest a lot of databases inside of other pages, like inside my Areas page.
Master Tasks = database.
Weekly agenda = database
Areas = Page, with large databases inside.
Resources = Page, with large databases inside
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[@jasmineshiree660]

BOOKMARK THIS VIDEO: No matter how much Notion evolves this video is timeless

[@martymcdonald3316]

Thank you! You explained the databases vs pages perfectly, clearing up my confusion!

[@carolshepherd1063]

Thank you so much for your videos. You explain things so well. I have just began with Notion. I like the time you take the time needed for each topic, and don’t rush through it.

[@ChibiKeruchan]

page are "Rooms" Database are "Shelves" that is all it takes to make people understand what is it. I'm an Evernote user who started notion a month ago. after testing it out and playing with it. I learn that the best way to use it is to make a General Database for everything. I called that database "anything under the sun". property are [tags][category][URL][Remarks] everything goes there. then I made pages / Rooms. for my favorites on the room I link a database view filtered [category = favorites]. with different views called Manga, movies music, series, books. all filtered by tags. that room is filled with all my favorites. and that without making a brand new database. the reason for not making databases for every page is for "EASE of USE" I do not want to go to find and go certain page to add content. (that's just tiring to do so) taking notes should be as easy as click and drop it there. So I only need to go to "anything under the sun" database to add Every content.

[@Michael.design]

It sounds very easy indeed. So you basically have 1 database? Could you maybe share your setup as a template with me?

[@RoltChen]

I wanted to start with one database initially. But now I am doing the opposite. Why? Because not all items share the same properties and because notion is getting insanely slow.

[@leorassi]

Very good how you explain and show the differences!! Thanks a lot!

[@coachbear31]

Thank you. This is what I was looking for.

[@MelissaAtwell]

Thank you for sharing this! You are a genius. Such useful information, and exactly what I needed!

[@sdaiwepm]

Vastly more insightful and helpful than Notion's own videos or the TFE channel. Thank you!

[@karineliuti]

It has helped me a lot! thank you so much Marie! :)

[@HomesickMac]

I keep getting back to this video for more inspiration and while I'm building a structure in my Notion... I'm a bit puzzled regarding your Home Projects Area. It's a page within the Areas and I see the relational db connected inside of Home Projects - a database "House Ideas + inspiration". I'd be interested to know where this database is in the hierarchy of your Notion. Thanks!

[@causecaos]

Great video, I find myself creating pages and then creating the databases inside just for that added flexibility with the data around it :)

[@rodrigo13121962]

Very well explained!!!!!!!!

[@Dsany783]

Thanks Marie!

[@syedshah8945]

Thanks for clarifying. Can you do one video explaining formulas?

[@RichardBrownNZ]

Thanks for another helpful video. Discovered Notion last year and didn't really know what to do so forgot about it. But found your getting started video a few days ago and now I get it! Transitioning from my OneNote+Todoist setup bit by bit now :)

[@MariePoulin]

Richard Brown that’s so awesome to hear! Are you coming to our office hours on Friday? Http://Crowdcast.io/e/building-a-second-brain !

[@anandnivedan8073]

Hi.. Marie, thank you for the lucid presentation. I like your videos, and specially this one. Can you please tell me how to navigate from one page to another (pages created in a database) with ease? Is there any keyboard shortcut, or some means to do so in single step.

[@motech2022]

very helpful thank you

[@richarde1142]

Thank you!

[@thanhvyho2195]

Now i understand the difference!! TYSm

[@justintzojoshua]

Great video. Do you use your own icons?

[@fosterevolution]

Thank you!😅

[@AdityaDev3]

well explained

[@sebastienbarre]

Thank you! and nice angry emoji for the "Neighbours" area :)

[@maureenmin]

lol! I noticed that too and LOVED it.

[@alibozorgi6833]

thank you for this informative video! I have a question I want to create a time schedule for my operating room , 2 days in a week I have operation and I want to register the list of patients and their diagnosis and the result of operation. Do you suggest me to use a template (such as personal CRM) or I should use pages/databases?

[@GustavoOcampoBecerra]

I Have watched all the KZbin videos that have Marie Poulin as a Keyword. You're Truly a Notion Expert. I Love the time you give us. When are you Launching a Notion Course?

[@MariePoulin]

Gustavo Ocampo I have a pilot program starting on Friday! If you sign up for my list and shoot me an email I can send you more detail! :)

[@HowardRoarkBR]

OMG you are awesome

[@-_M___M_-]

Your are my new idol BTW. I'm having a (late) epiphany discovering Notion. I haven't slept for 20 hours. Lol. Oh. And I love the "Angry face - Neighbours" page link. ;-)

[@MariePoulin]

haha, welcome to the club! I remember that initial buzz when it was all clicking and making and i was so inspired to put my life in order, lol!

[@quadstar3341]

how do i add a gallery below a gallery view in one page , when i do it it is all vertical with two data each horizontal column

[@jenniferfitzgerald9009]

what tab manager are you using in this video? I like the layout better than workona that I use.

[@normalman1445]

how do i link the database gallery to tabel so the property could linked? Sorry maybe i miss that or not understand. Thanks

[@anne-mareegray8762]

oh, NOW I get it.

[@ambaratzin6045]

I created a Table Database as a Habit Tracker with Date Property and so on, I duplicated the page to use the same format for the next month but when I try to edit the new one it changes the original one, how can make an independent copy without altering the original?

[@SoerenGraves]

Nice

[@txshon]

I would like to ask how to add the circular webcam to the video? Is it a special Mac webcam app or you add it in FCPX?

[@MariePoulin]

txshon Tseng I just use Loom for those video recordings

[@358studios]

Great vid. It seems like I'm missing something. No one on KZbin is describing how to set up companies and contacts for a basic address book... which I eventually want to use as a CRM. What am I missing. This seems like one of the most basic templates but I can't find anything. Help please... :)

[@MariePoulin]

Probably because notion doesn't yet integrate with other tools, so it requires a somewhat manual process. If you don't mind that, there's lots of ways to use it as a CRM. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fISwYnmOfc5-Z7s or editmate.kr/b6f32a15740749a8b5a915be201574e5

[@anjanjanj]

How did you make the "Shared" box colored? I don't see a toggle function!

[@sufoneislamicapps5696]

I think that's actually a "Callout" without an emoji

[@MariePoulin]

anjanjanj that’s a toggle block expanded with a background color; and then I simply deleted the toggle itself!

[@francito3343]

How do you create the sections on the sidebar (Workspace, shared....) ? thanks

[@MariePoulin]

You should have workspace and private by default, and (this may only be the case when you have a paid account) "shared" appears once you have shared a page/workspace with another team member in your workspace (team account).

[@IAmKenArts]

Would you do a business playbook with standard procedures as a database or as single pages for each process/procedure?

[@MariePoulin]

I would definitely do this as a database. we have a Documentation database which contains all the playbooks for different processes, etc!

[@seansevo4g]

I'm concerned about the security of the databases. I'm told they are not encrypted. I see many businesses use notion though. So maybe they have good security?

[@danyalakbar1821]

So when you store things in your Home Projects for inspiration. Does each item show up as a sub-page if you were to expand the page in the sidebar or does it live exclusively on that page? I'm asking this mostly because for work notes, I do not want an insanely long list of subpages when i need to create lots of notes across a number of different projects across numerous different clients if this makes sense :P

[@MariePoulin]

I have one "work notes" database, one "inspiration" database, one "task" database... all of which are connected to my project database, so everything is one click away.

[@danyalakbar1821]

@@MariePoulin okay interesting. So the work notes for example. How are you organizing/splitting up your different clients and their notes? Also does adding your notes in the database row avoid it from being created as a sub-page? I would love a quick hour zoom call with your to give my mind some clarity lol I've been bingeing your videos this evening to help myself to structure my system

[@danyalakbar1821]

Is a page the same concept as a 'notebook' ? I am new and thinking about my design. I will have a separate workspaces for work, my business, and personal. From what I have been hearing from people I will need a database and tags combo and probably a 4th workspace that would serve as a hub with relational database to pull everything from all workspaces to the surface in one location. I want to really carefully think my design through so it is scalable as I learn and get more advanced but also serve my use case. Notion can def be confusing when you are new, like me lol

[@DavidEsp1]

Re Evernote: a Notion Database is like an EN Notebook - it can contain many pages (e.g. acting as notes) and it can also associate tags to those notes.

[@TennyTomas]

Hi @marie , how did that placeholder text appear at 02:05? Was that magic!

[@MariePoulin]

Tenny Tomas TextExpander! I have another video about it, it’s the best!

[@TennyTomas]

@@MariePoulin will look it up. 🙇

[@luxhubfinder]

What is Swipe in your resourcers page?

[@MariePoulin]

TrendyCuba I’ll do a video on that - it’s basically everything I save for visual reference, like great sales pages, examples of products, ethical brands... it’s pet reference part inspiration!

[@sachivmehta8681]

So i had a page within a page in a Kan ban board. Somehow that page got moved out, and now i can’t move it back to that page! Notions is far too cumbersome in this regard - any tips?

[@MariePoulin]

you can select ANY block on the left hand side and select "move to" and choose where you want it go, or drag it into the page you want it to live.

[@MariePoulin]

Also, if you choose to create a "database", you can only have 1 database on the page. If you have a PAGE, you can have as many databases on that page as you want. I suspect if you can't move it in, its because you are trying to move a database into a database, and not into a page.

[@sachivmehta8681]

Thanks for the tips, however it’s really cumbersome and difficult on the ipad app. Even on the mac app, it could Be made so much simpler. I don’t see myself moving from todoist or Evernote before a lot more is updated on Notion. However your videos are very helpful!

[@Philip11v22]

It's quite confusing and even you are confused about pages or database at 1:45 ... coming from Evernote, it took me 30 minutes to understand it and I'm still not convinced. Folders are more powerful than lists in many cases.

[@MariePoulin]

Sounds like Notion is not the best tool for you. If Evernote works for you, you should stick to it!

[@zachariahprajeeyachat3436]

How did you add a lorem ipsum so quickly?

[@JohnChaplin]

+1

[@phamny2392]

So if i have a page and i want it in database. Can i do that ?

[@MariePoulin]

Yes, you can nest anything as many levels deep as you want. You can have a database inside a page, which is inside another page, inside a database... your options are endless.

[@phamny2392]

@@MariePoulin how to do that can u show me please.

[@phamny2392]

I mean i have many gallery of notes and i want relate it with one table

[@clumein2]

Well... if I've learned anything here... it's that this is NOT the place to go if you're just learning Notion... This is waaaaayyyy to fast for my level. I wish there was somewhere/someone who simple shows you how to set up a database and how to use / link them properly...

[@DrJohnPollard]

This was good. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGSTk3R4rpd1fqM

[@cleber7081]

A beginner cannot learn from his videos, there is a lot of information and you do it fast. The information integrations are amazing but I can't learn from watching your videos.This company needs to set up an online course

[@MariePoulin]

Cleber hey Cleber, my videos are part of a series called Notion Mastery - the videos are not really aimed at beginners. Have you watched the video on Notions channel called Building from scratch? You might want to start there first!

[@aruserios7632]

The page vs database question was answered in. the first couple of minutes. The rest is impromptu, stream-of-conscious rushing (the mouse) around at high speed with no focus. I watch tutorials to learn, not to be impressed by what you know. You wasted a lot of my time. I suggest you put some thought and planning into your tutorials...decide in advance what points you want to cover and how you will do it.

[@DrJohnPollard]

So trud! This is a very good assessment of Notion presenters in general. It would be nice if people actually listened to this kind of feedback. As knowledgeable as this presenter was, this wasn't the first time this feedback.