How to make a master task database from scratch using Notion

In a previous video I explored why you need a master task database, and I showed how I use it in my own setup. But I didn't cover how to actually create one from scratch.
Here I go over how to create one, add fields, hook up a relational database, and then embed that task database in another page.
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[@tylerclark2621]

Thanks for ALL of these videos! They are so appreciated. I just started using Notion and within a few days I came to rely on it heavily. I didn't know I needed it. Awesome!

[@thatbberg]

You are amazing! I had been trying to figure out my ideal setup for tasks for *months* but until I saw how you had combined relational databases and embedded views it just wouldn't click. I'm loving it now and officially starting to move things out of my standalone project management tool, finally. 🎉

[@bereantrb]

Thank you very much for this. I just started using Notion a couple of days ago. I'm in that initial stage of trying to figure out what's where and watching videos trying to understand what came from where and what is linked to what. This definitely gave me a few light bulb moments.

[@cyclingmaven]

Hey Marie, I just wanted to say thanks. These videos are really helpful.

[@sebasvelasco353]

Thank you so much for this video Marie, I just finished my db and I’m happy to say it’s what I needed, this was sent to me via Twitter by the Notion profile but I felt the need to write my thanks here too. Once again: Thank you very much.

[@tomdchi12]

This! A video that isn't about high-level strategy but instead has nitty-gritty details so I can see these things being built and linked! It's actually making sense now! Thanks!

[@irasanchez1265]

Been trying to do this on my own for a long time. Very grateful to have found this. Thank you.

[@barilian]

I see this video is not really new but it was just what I needed. I need to say that notion is a very powerful tool and for the same reason it's very overwhelming, so having this explained in such a practical way made the "monster" seem less threatened. Now I'm more confident to manage my tasks with it. Thank you so much!

[@LauraLopesG]

Thank you so much for this video! Exactly what I was looking for. I've watched many videos and your goes straight to the point!

[@tinas334]

This video was so helpful Marie!! Thanks for making it. I ended up watching it at 0.75x and following along step by step in my own workspace.

[@wizardelite]

Thank you so much for your videos! I've had a Notion account for well over a year now but never really used it. I was completely lost for how open-ended Notion is. I recently discovered your videos on Notion and with your style of instruction the light-bulb finally went off. I'm not up and running with Notion and I'm loving every minute of it. All thanks to you! Looking forward to more Notion videos.

[@greyman1104]

Thank you for your hard work. I'm using notion now as my organisation tool thanks to your tutorials.

[@mappedoutmoney]

These videos are legit! Moving over to Notion from Trello and this Master Task Database is exactly what I've been looking for. Thanks for making this Marie!

[@philiphimmelstein9510]

Nick True - Love your YNAB videos - completely overhauling how I approach my financial goals!

[@mappedoutmoney]

Philip Himmelstein hey thanks man! I’m so glad to hear that.

[@michaeljamesmedia]

Fantastic Content. This video made my day. I feel like I am really tapping into Notion now.

[@hannarutcarlsson6342]

Excellent setup and explanation! Thank you for making it basic for us newbies!

[@leonieschulte7333]

Thank you Marie, this video just saved me an hour of researching how to do it on my own - great explanation 👏🏻🤗

[@MariePoulin]

💪Yesss!

[@mridhu21]

Definitely using a lot of these into my task setup!

[@sarabjketo]

This info is great!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻💖💖💖 please, make more videos about notion

[@xanderfernandes3665]

Thanks for the tutorial, this has been super helpful!

[@iKONLILAC]

This is so helpful! ❤️ I will definitely try this

[@brentonkelly3780]

Thanks Marie. Awesome vid. Very helpful. 😊

[@mycatz100]

this is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I've been trying to figure out how to make a single master "to-do" list or kansan board, but that breaks out into by-client boards as well. Love love love this.

[@oxford_phd]

OMG - I have been looking for something like this for years!!!

[@LtCore]

Excellent video! I’m just getting started with Notion. Question: I have sub-categories/projects inside of a main project. Would you use tags to separate those sub-categories? Thanks for the help!

[@KayleenBabel]

these are so awesome--thank you!!!!

[@jamesbrownization]

Fantastic explanation. Thanks!

[@ArmoniaEmocional]

this was very helpful, thank you

[@torspedia]

Ta for that Marie. Gonna have to make myself one of these. Now to figure out how to merge a couple of project based databases into it!

[@MariePoulin]

download the templates and mess around with it! :D

[@centreforteachingexcellence]

This was fabulous. Thank you!

[@vincentd333]

Thank you Marie. These videos are super helpful! :-)

[@PhotoNERDsUnite]

There are not a lot of great videos on using Notion. As a working professional who has tons of notes, tasks or engagements to gather, track or complete throughout the day, I feel like Notion can be a fantastic tool to use because it is so customizable. I think this video is awesome for helping others know how to make something that could work. I would definitely make more of these if I were you. I would love to watch more content from you. Nicely done!

[@MariePoulin]

Photonerds University do you know about our weekly office hours? You can see new topics every week and so watch any of the replays :) I also try to make a new video every week, and currently pilot testing my course, Notion Mastery! Https://Crowdcast.io/notionhq

[@benjaminsaubolle-camacho9558]

Wow. Really fantastic content--thank you!

[@SteveBMe]

You have truly made me a notion believer, thank you Marie. I've had a notion account for a couple of years, but barely dabbled in it. I played with checkboxes, lists, liinking pages together.. it was such an un-inspiring effort to get myself fully digitized over from paper planners. and then I'd give up and try toodleo or evernote again.. but then went to paper planners and sometimes using gmail draft emails to store things .. .Lol.

[@MariePoulin]

WOO HOO! Love this Steve! It takes a while, but once it starts to come together, I swear there's a moment where it all clicks and makes sense and becomes much more useful!

[@HomesickMac]

I watched this on one half of my monitor, the other half was with the Notion app opened and I started by copying what you did... I can relate to this 100%. You work with many clients in Notion, different workspaces where you're an authorised user, and I understand how amazing a Master Task db can be. I'm mostly inspired by the ways you pull upp the tasks from the Master db, fix the views, filter, sort, it gives so many ideas. My clients vary, it can be consulting, playing in various bands , studio work, all that screams for a main Project db, connected to the Master Task db.. Thanks so much for your Notion videos, kudos for the Office Hours as well! Please do flag for that in the description of every KZbin video you make on Notion, I'm sure it'll attract more people to start using this app.

[@Motoch3]

Great Content! With the master database after a task is completed, do you ever go back and delete the completed tasks to clean out the database?

[@MatthewEncina]

This is super helpful. One question: Is there a reason why you would use a tag "complete" and checkbox for "done." Personally, I find it redundant, cause you can filter by status and hide "complete". I'm curious though if there's a specific use-case that you're using this for that I may not be considering?

[@MariePoulin]

So nice to see your name pop up here, love your work Matthew! The reason I do this is for team collaboration! So my assistant uses the status, while I rely on done, and that way she still sees things I mark with the checkbox, and she can put the status as "needs review", etc. Once I've reviewed, I click the checkbox, so she can see I've completed it, and she does a final status = compete. It gives a bit more flexibility when collaborating to have a status field!

[@mishaeloblefias2645]

Both you people are great! I follow your works and both of you have helped! A good chance for me to thank both of you at the same time!

[@mishaeloblefias2645]

@@MariePoulin thanks again for this. Your videos have been my default resource if I want to know something or get inspiration about Notion!

[@WineDineCaroline]

Unfinished business reminds me of Casper the friendly ghost

[@michael_gaio]

Thank you! You are awesome

[@TheNurseArtist]

Just super. Thank you

[@Jacur1980]

Damn I finally understand those DBs. Needless to say I need to rearrange my whole Notion setup now. I have a question, what for do you use workspaces, I have noticed you have personal and client items in one space?

[@MariePoulin]

Jacur1980 yes sort of... i pull in my clients master task databases into my space so I can manage them all within one area. for me, Notion is primarily business management - and I managed all my client and biz related tasks. But now many of those clients have their own Notion spaces now, so I will often embed their task databases within my space!

[@youthcc9]

Thank You, Marie~~

[@barefacedquestions]

Thanks Marie. Your video has answered a question I had for Notion, but didn't even know where to start. Is the workspace in the video your real workspace? They're so neat 😍

[@MariePoulin]

Yes that is my real workspace :) It evolves a lot over time so it probably looks quite different than what you see here!

[@free_right]

Wow marie, Thanks for a great one. :)

[@JayTailor45]

Thanks a lot for sharing :D

[@rhemmadi]

Hi, How to plan projects ( with multiple sub tasks) in master database as well as weekly or daily agenda? Since daily or weekly we would plan for sub tasks. ..

[@wenavm]

I'm just watching the video, and I really realize that I'm super new with this, does it all start at the master task data base or can I add tasks to it from another page?

[@reginaldmarselus4742]

Do you schedule time that is dedicated to checking all of your tasks and all you have entered into your content, or do you just check randomly throughout your day?

[@marianovillarreal1743]

Hello Marie I have a question How can I relate a meeting notes to-do actions to the mastertask.

[@yescreative6030]

A question regarding sharing projects/tasks I have a master task database that covers multiple clients. I want to restrict clients access so that they can see only tasks with their client property. Ideally they would have a page with a filtered linked DB restricted to their tasks. However, When I do this, they are still able to access all tasks via breadcrumbs etc. Is there a way to achieve this or an alternate way of thinking about this? I like to look at my tasks across multiple projects in a calendar view and I can work out how to achieve both. Also, thank you. Your videos are amazing.

[@shivamkumar001]

what if we already made pages inside pages structure, can we use those pages inside the database rather than making page by clicking on "open as page" in the database?

[@RalfPosselt1968]

Once I open my (filtered) entries of my central database as a page, the current page location will be the location of the central database and not the specific page location, where I embed the filtered database. In windows I can navigate backwards, however not in my iPhone-App. I will alway find myself in the central database. Do you have a solution for that?

[@LiveWellBetter]

As a Notion newbie, this was super helpful-Thank you, Marie! Also, what software do you use to create your circle Picture in Picture screencast?

[@MariePoulin]

I think this one was done with Loom, but I have also used Ecamm Live and Screenflow!

[@OliverWallaceStories]

Hi Marie - looks good - do you have a link to the previous video you mentioned about why? I cant find it - thanks

[@MariePoulin]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3LFh318hZx3h7M

[@pjpw2320]

Great video Marie. Thanks for this down to earth explanation. A question. When I create a linked database in a Page from a master database is it duplicating actual data from the original database or just referencing data from the original? Size of the database is what I am concerned about in this context.

[@MariePoulin]

It’s a reference not a copy

[@pjpw2320]

@@MariePoulin Thank you.

[@codinginflow]

Holy shit I didn't know you could create multiple table views for the same table. Your videos are amazing

[@MariePoulin]

Coding in Flow it changes EVERYTHING!!!

[@codinginflow]

@@MariePoulin Yes, it's a game-changer. And I almost didn't notice it. Do you have any Notion related courses where you teach stuff like that? Normally I'm into self-experimentation, but at the moment I'm a bit anxious about missing something. Your content and what you've built inside Notion is impressive.

[@MariePoulin]

Coding in Flow message me about my course :)

[@BrkyYlmaz]

Hey Marie, thank you for the video. Can you tell me why do we need done checkbox if there is a status column? Cant I filter to see done tasks by status?

[@MariePoulin]

It gives you the option to view in a board view or table view. I like the checkbox, but some people prefer the board view, its up to you!

[@MrXsnareX]

Great video and information! Any advice on tagging columns that you’d only need for a specific project and nothing else? I could see the columns getting out of hand quickly if you are adding columns for every specific project.

[@MariePoulin]

Davied Sanchez I would use filters for your different projects, not columns. that way you can only show project specific tasks, and they can have their own columns (In progress, review, etc)

[@MrXsnareX]

@@MariePoulin Ah, that makes a lot of sense now that I think about! So much to consider! If you don't mind answering another question, what do you think about a master tags list?

[@philippaps44]

i would like to have project data base and each project would have each own task database. Then surface all tasks on a master task database. i haven't found a way to do that yet. I know it has something to do with relation property but i am not sure. I d like to be able of course to edit my tasks from any level, from within the project or from the master tasks database. Can you recommend an easy way of doing that or a tutorial i can watch?

[@12345abdo6789]

Thank you

[@SA-kg5nb]

Hi Marie. Thanks for this. I just wanted to ask do I create the tasks on the master list first or can I grab them from existing projects and collate them all in the master?

[@MariePoulin]

S A you have to create them in the master task database. If you have them in another database you can always move them into the master after. Typically I will embed the task database inside of a project and filter to only that project. Then you can add any tasks right there and they will automatically be assigned to the project.

[@dougbarry8708]

@@MariePoulin When you add a task in the embedded database, will that also update the master task database?

[@cckidstv2995]

Hi Marie, thank you for your videos! I have a question and cannot seem to find the answer... If I want to create a number of separate boards/tables (databases) and keep them all separate but to have all of them link to ONE primary calendar that is updated automatically every time a board is updated, how do I do this? I have a few youtube channels and I want to keep databases separate but have them all reflect on one calendar. For example I have song progress boards for 3 separate channels, a video progress board, a marketing schedule, an upload schedule, a personal board etc etc. I don't want any of the boards to mix ever but I would like to have them all update on one calendar so i can see everything I have to do in a day all in one place without it all being added to the same board/database. Thank you for your time!

[@MariePoulin]

You can't do this in an automated fashion. If you want it to populate on the same calendar, they have to be in the same database. Why not keep them in the same database and simply filter the views so you can see only what you want when you want?

[@cckidstv2995]

@@MariePoulin thank you. I have done what you suggest, thank you. My brain likes to see everything on one calendar whether it be personal or work related, I find it easier to plan my day that way. The method you suggested works, i'm just finding that to put everything on one database is messy and confusing with so many different columns/tabs etc for so many different areas of my life & work unless you filter or look at the calendar view. I will keep working on it to see how I can simplify while still keeping everything on one calendar. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my message, I really appreciate it.

[@thiagotvsg]

thanks sweetie you're an angel

[@TheDanielHandojo]

Hi can anyone please help me: How do i get rid of the things from the ‘last week tasks’ template without deleting it, so it’ll only show ‘this week’ task from the created link database? Thanks!

[@rambazamba895]

Dear Marie, would love to know more about your usage of your calender versus your weekly versus the master tasks database with due dates. I feel a bit confused...do you collect e.g the events in your calender, your personal such as yoga etc in your weekly? but then you also add dates to all your tasks and view it as a calender. hmmm

[@MariePoulin]

Ramba Zamba my calendar is purely an editorial content calendar - I don’t use it for anything else other than storing my content and production schedule. My task database contains all my tasks and due dates, and my weekly agenda is my weekly schedule/agenda which has an embedded master task database, as well as goals for the week, and space to do weekly reflection, etc.

[@TheDailySerenity]

Hi Marie, I’m starting to build this out but don’t know how to include sub tasks related to a project! Like all the things I need to do to complete a project. What is the best way to do that?

[@MariePoulin]

Tasks are just tasks (subtask or not) - you relate them all to the specific Project in the Project database, and also embed the task database INSIDE the project, and filter it by the parent project. Any new tasks you add will already be filtered by the project. Any smaller more granular tasks can live inside the body of the tasks, but i basically put all tasks inside the tasks database.

[@TheDailySerenity]

@@MariePoulin thanks for taking the time to reply! I think I understand

[@HippieP629]

All kinds of thanks Marie. I've ported everything from trello, etc over to Notion. As non-stop support for my architectural firm, having a to-do and done combined table that's filtered into two has been incredibly useful. But after watching your other mstr d'base video, I realized EVERYTHING in my current and future life should be in one big database and then filtered from there. I may be doing it correctly but will keep referring to your strategy here to do it as efficiently and intelligently as possible w/ embedding, etc. Thank you so much. Curious... do you guys (oki doki) offer Notion coaching as a service?

[@MariePoulin]

Mark P i do over at mariepoulin.com :)

[@HippieP629]

@@MariePoulin Sounds good. I'll be in touch.

[@MariePoulin]

Mark P I wonder if you might be A good fit for my pilot program that starts Nov 1? Email me if you’re interested! Hello at my full name dot com :)

[@matthewmansell8622]

Hi Marie, If I am editing the tasks in the embedded database, does it update my changes in the master database?

[@maransanthalingam9656]

It does.

[@adminpwr8064]

So my company has assigned me the task of building out notion to use as our main task manager/project management/company wiki/ company calendar application. I've tried searching the webs and watching videos but can't seem to find an answer for one specific problem: We want to use notion as our employee calendar where people can input sick days, add important events such as upcoming big meetings or birthdays and to request time off. Each department has it's own page with it's own calendar where employees within that department can input their respective data. Does Notion have a way of pooling all this data/events from separate calendars and displaying it in one Master calendar?

[@MariePoulin]

Admin PWR Logistics no, you have to have one central calendar that you can then embed into different team spaces wherever needed, with different filters for different departments, etc.

[@danyalakbar1821]

Do you use tags for your tasks and do the tags span across personal and all of your projects too? I ask because I feel then there would be a long list of tags

[@MariePoulin]

I have a very big master tags/topics database that connects to every single other database in my space and its full of amazing information and makes things easy to find, AND yes, I have individual tags like "Type" so i identify content tasks differently than admin tasks, or client tasks, etc.

[@danyalakbar1821]

@@MariePoulin I would love a quick 1 hour zoom call to help clarify some of these concepts and structure so I can start building with clarity lol

[@Nicholasskram]

This video was super helpful, thank you! You might wanna add a short code snippet to automatically change the status of a task/project when marked as done by the checkbox.

[@fullwisewords]

Could you have a master database like this where each entry comes from multiple other databases instead of just one? New to Notion, trying to find the resources that teach the basics in terms of relational databases

[@MariePoulin]

fullwisewords I have a whole course on this because it’s so complex... mariepoulin.com/Notion-mastery

[@MsHussainMD]

I subscribe to the GTD philosophy and write down a lot of tasks, one week could involve hundreds. Can Notion's task database handle this if I keep adding stuff over weeks/years? If the whole idea is to house them in one spot and then clone the database to different areas, are there limits to how much it can handle?

[@MariePoulin]

I've been using Notion for over 3 years, for every task across business and personal, and with 5 team members. So yes :)

[@kestorr]

Hi Marie. I have different 'Projects' created across multiple Notion pages. These projects has a list of actionable items in a database within my 'Project' page. I am linking up all these actionable items across all my projects into a central master task database. What I realise that, in my master task database, instead of just seeing one column of linked projects, I realise Notion creates one column for each linked project. Which is an organisation nightmare in my master task database. 20 projects = 20 columns. Any idea how this could be solved? Or it is as designed?

[@MariePoulin]

Christopher Low yes, you need a projects database, so your master task database relates to your “projects” once!

[@kestorr]

Marie Poulin Meaning to say multiple project database would create multiple columns in my master task DB. Do you have any tutorials of creating a master Projects database? Or would you have any suggestions on how to manage a hierarchical structure of Projects -> Outcomes -> Actions?

[@MariePoulin]

Christopher Low I have a whole course that goes over this - but happy to make a video for this week to help elaborate!

[@kestorr]

Marie Poulin that will be awesome! Sincerely looking forward!

[@wendycervera1637]

Your videos are super helpful. I started in Notion last week and have made some great progress. However, I just cannot wrap my head around the Master Task database. I feel like that thing is going to grow to the point of no return within 2 weeks...between my personal tasks and my work tasks I may have hundreds within 2 months. Am I supposed to be using "tags" to name something "work" vs "personal"? I know you have stated (and others I have watched like August Bradley) that you should only have one Master Task database. But I just cannot wrap my head around why. In my head it feels like I should have all tasks on one database related to my graphic design business. And the other should be all my personal tasks. But I am listening to the pros and doing just one database.

[@MariePoulin]

You have to "filter" your databases contextually by project or area or type. Most views of my database are filtered to show: assigned to me, not complete, and type = x. You can re-embed your database over and over again on different pages with different filters - the filtered views is where the magic happens!

[@wendycervera1637]

@@MariePoulin that makes sense but I am still not doing it right! I will just keep rewatching your videos until it clicks. Often so far with Notion I have found that the answers are almost so simple I cannot see them!

[@skaterdude14b]

How do you deal w/ Completed tasks? Surely it must slow the app down to have 1,000,000 Completed pages, especially if they’re small like “buy groceries”

[@MariePoulin]

I don't put things like "buy groceries" into my task list, because that's a recurring habit/routine. All "done" items are filtered out of all views, and archived at the end of the year.

[@barefacedquestions]

I've been using this setup for a while, but there's still one thing I don't understand: How to link task to a project efficiently? Because AFAIK Notion doesn't allow creating relation that points to a view, so a project database can include many finished projects from years ago. This means when you link a task to a project, you would have to wade through many irrelevant project record. Or maybe I'm doing something wrong here. 😓

[@MariePoulin]

Not totally sure I follow, but i suspect this is a workflow issue. I only ever show "active" projects, and when I am adding new tasks to a project, i do it inside the BODY of the Project, which has a filtered view of tasks to only show incomplete tasks from the current project. Any new tasks added here will automatically inherit the project relation.

[@barefacedquestions]

@@MariePoulin I see. Task is INSIDE body of project, not a property of Projects db. That's where my issue is. Thanks Marie.

[@mikecurtis3551]

But the linked DB chagnes the original!? I can't make this work. Man, so frustrated.

[@MariePoulin]

A linked database IS the original, its not a duplicate, it's simply a "view" of the source data.

[@balexandra848]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 📋 Creating a Master Tasks Database - Setting up a master tasks database from scratch. - Choosing a unique name and icon for the database. - Adding essential fields like tags, status, and due date. 05:10 📁 Relational Databases and Project Assignment - Linking tasks to projects using relational databases. - Assigning tasks to specific individuals. - Exploring additional properties like person and project assignment. 09:15 📝 Embedding the Master Tasks Database - Embedding the master tasks database into pages. - Customizing the view for embedded databases. - Organizing tasks and projects for easy access and management. 14:00 📈 Refining Views and Usage - Refining views and filtering for specific information. - Grouping tasks by status and other properties. - Tailoring your master tasks database to your specific needs. Made with HARPA AI

[@snapefan07]

The problem with videos like this is... there's no workflow. No conceptual underpinning. You're just blabbing and lip-smacking and it makes no sense. NO ONE should ever need to add tasks directly to a Task List. The list needs too be populated by tasks set for various projects. Otherwise...you can just use pen and paper.

[@Mert-pd2ht]

didnt like this at all.

[@TheNurseArtist]

Just super. Thank you