Notion Project Management: Add Default Tasks to a Project Template

If you have a Linked tasks database in a Project template, how can you include "default" tasks in every new project? Here's my workaround for this tricky Notion problem.
😎 CREATOR'S COMPANION (My mega-template for content creators):
thomasjfrank.com/creators-com...
🧠 ULTIMATE BRAIN (full second-brain template):
thomasjfrank.com/brain/
📚 NOTION FUNDAMENTALS (Free Notion Beginner's Series)
thomasjfrank.com/fundamentals/
🛠 MORE COURSES AND RESOURCES:
thomasjfrank.com/templates/
thomasjfrank.com/courses/
💪GET STARTED WITH NOTION:
thomasjfrank.com/usenotion/ - (this is my referral link)
🐦Connect with me:
Instagram ➔ / tomfrankly
Twitter ➔ / tomfrankly
Podcast ➔ theinforium.com
⏱ TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
00:26 - Explaining the Problem
01:07 - My Workaround Description
02:15 - Exact Workaround Demo Timestamp
02:57 - Notion's Linked Database Limitation
04:17 - Simple Database Example (Full Workaround Build)
📚 FULL DESCRIPTION:
In Notion, you can add a Linked Database to a database template and use a self-referential filter to ensure that new rows added to that Linked Database view are related to the project you're working on (generated from the template).
A great example is a Projects database. You can create a project template containing a Linked Database view of your Tasks database, allowing you to add new tasks to each project.
But many projects often have the same set of default tasks - so how can you add these default tasks to your project template?
Unfortunately, you can't do this automatically - i.e. you can't just add tasks to the Project template and have Notion create new copies of them when you create a new project from the template.
This is because Notion can't tell another database to create new rows in response to you generating a page from a template.
However, there's a workaround for this problem. Add a basic checklist inside your project template, then drag it into the Linked Database view of your tasks database once you've created your new project.

[@yaobling]

Like many others that have commented here, you definitely solved my issue and put my brain at ease. I thought I was going crazy, thank you again

[@omeirooo5195]

I kinda feel validated RN because i built a project manager linked with the task manager when you dropped the first version of the ultimate task management template for an agency. and i specifically setted up the default task list area like you did now. Really love these videos thomas! thanks!

[@judahgoddard7734]

Thank you for making your Notion content Thomas! You have no idea how much I plagiarise your templates and videos in my notion system

[@DarshanShah10]

Was waiting for the Ultimate Brain template and I thought this one was it! 🤐

[@JasmineRossetto]

Omg. You just saved me so much time! Thank you for making this video! I love the workaround!

[@HomesickMac]

Very neat, gave me lots of ideas for our non-profit Notion space… Thank you!

[@unchainedninja3958]

Super helpful video, exactly what we've been trying to achieve. Thank you THomas!

[@ozzycampos5455]

Thank you - I'm very surprised there wasn't an easier way to figure this out, this seems like a pretty fundamental need. I had to go through and rebuild a ton of projects because they were all linking the tasks together and I didn't realize it for a while.

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

You can also do it now with both Buttons (free) and database automations (paid)! But this method still works too :)

[@mahmoodzidan9553]

@@ThomasFrankExplains Do you have a tutorial do to it via automations? I need to automate design processes. Lets say I have a pre-defined process and the time each task takes is known to me. Can I simply auto create these and give them (each) the time (Start/end date) automatically?

[@brianmorroni8079]

I have been trying to find a way to do this for a long time. I should have known that you would have a great solution to the problem. Thank you!

[@alejandrochung6896]

Excellent content for productivity using Notion. Thanks Thomas!

[@shelbytessier6508]

Thank you this is exactly what I was looking for!!

[@jasonkoeppe2200]

What if you want some tasks to have sub tasks? I'd like to utilize sub tasks in my default task list for my web design projects...plus I want the tasks to have the kanban tag selected so that my kanban view works. Hard to believe Notion hasn't resolved this with as powerful as it is in every other way.

[@sirena8471]

Thanks!! Exactly what I was looking for

[@FinanciallySavvyParent]

Great workaround!

[@shelleydenison]

This is so helpful! Thanks so much. :)

[@JStaRFilms]

Thank you very much I've been cracking my brain trying to solve this

[@vanessajacques7293]

THIS JUST SAVED MY LIFE!

[@RobotechII]

Great stuff! You only have a couple of days left in March for the Second Brain template 😜

[@user-xh4bl4kd9c]

This is SO HELPFUL!!! thank you so much. This exactly solves a problem that I needed to solve and makes life easier and more beautiful! I wish I could buy you a cup of coffee.

[@johnsharkey]

Thanks for this workaround! I am trying to do this with your UB product with a very long and detailed web design process that includes tasks with detailed descriptions for each task. is this possible inside a synced block?

[@salemmalibary4194]

I want to add something for you , i have seen it in other youtuber and i wish you do a video about it ... its drag and drop feature with buttons function .... so many notion users now make habits or recurring tasks as tenplete button because templete buttons save properties ... so they do something similar to your tasks in this video but with properties already been added... just try and it and you will be amazed... this is the only function that made me to not go to Coda3

[@vishwapatel4099]

Thank you 😊

[@taboogrowagency]

If this ever gets updated please reply to my comment. This is a great workout. Also taught me about Synced Blocks. I'm sold, and a new subscriber.

[@aubreyjonesco]

Do you have a video where you have existing predefined tasks that contain subitems. Are you able to transfer tasks with parent /subitems?

[@KJAnderson]

OMG, I'm still so confused - though this video provides awesome information. I merely want to create videos and have the same checklist/tasks populated for each new video. You would think software so sophisticated would make such a simple need easy. I believe your workaround will work, but I'm new to Notion, so it's still a bit of a learning curve for me. Thank you.

[@alektysklind]

great!!

[@ecopsorn]

Oh man, with your video you just solved an issue in my finance template! Your the best Thomas! If you wonder what issue: Notion currently brakes relations within pages generated by the template button block. So if you have a relation to any DB, that one is still generated by the template button but non-functioning. The way you do it works flawlessly. I reported the bug and Notions is looking into it, but still no answer.

[@AdamTowvim]

did you ever get a reply from Notion, @ecopsorn?

[@ecopsorn]

⁠@@AdamTowvimI did 😂. They confirmed the bug and said they have forwarded it to the team to look into it. Nothing happened since

[@ecopsorn]

UPDATE: I tested it again today and Notion really fixed it. Unfortunately they never informed me, but I'm very glad they fixed it.

[@Jimmy_jpeg]

I'm sure I'm missing a step somewhere-but when I try to set up the self referential filter on my project template, the template name does not show up as an option in the value field. any ideas?

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

NOTE (11/9/2022): It seems an update has broken the ⌥/Alt + Drag functionality. I've filed this as a bug report to Notion; in the mean time, the best workaround is to copy/paste your list items, then drag the copies into your target database. --- Hey all! This is a question I get quite often, so I wanted to make a video to answer it. Basically, the question is: "If I have a linked database (e.g. for my Tasks database) inside a database template (e.g. a project template in a Projects database), how can I have a list of "default" tasks automatically be created when I make a new project from that template?" The quick answer is that Notion doesn't quite let us do this - but I have an easy workaround for it. The concepts in this video are a bit advanced. If you want to understand them further, check out this video (and this specific timestamp): kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2rXlYqfZdV2hJY

[@radualunita]

It currently works with Shift + Alt and drag & drop with the mouse. 😇

[@lrhoyer1989]

Thanks for another great video! Another question: How do you do the same with sub-task?

[@aqualizzimarie]

Or how about with sub-tasks, dependencies, and formulas....?

[@unknown-10k]

Have you ever read blueprint by robert plomin ??

[@kdrcvk4018]

Thx

[@The-Filmguy]

Hey Tom, I would really love to know how to use Notion on my iPhone linked to my desktop version. Recently filming away when I could have used info on my desktop version but could not access it. Any ideas please? Many thanks in advance.

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

I'm a bit confused by this - are you logged into the same account on both devices? I can't think of any other reason you wouldn't be able to access all the same info on your phone, unless you were offline.

[@The-Filmguy]

@@ThomasFrankExplains Thanks for responding Tom, It seems the 'continue with email' option is verrry small. All I saw was continue with Facebook ..I'm there now but you nudged me in the right direction. Cheers.

[@krynnadin]

I've always wondered, why do we need separate task and project DBs. Can I not created a DB inside my project item for the tasks in that project? Or does it no longer aggregate assignments at that point?

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

That's precisely the issue. You can put a standalone database inside your Project template, but the tasks will be silo'd there. You wont' be able to see them in the same list as other tasks from other projects. A Task - Project database combo is how most other to-do apps work under the hood. If you saw the code, you'd see a single Task database, and some of the task records in it would be related to project records in a Projects database. When you look at your Project list, you're just seeing a filtered view of that main Tasks database - set only to show you tasks related to that project. But go over to your "Today" view, and you'll see a different filtered view. This time, you'll see tasks from all projects (or those with no project at all), but only if they have a Due Date set to Today. Ultimately, what Notion is actually doing is giving us easy tools to do the same "programming" ourselves. And because we get to do the building, we can create tools that are tailored to our specific workflows and challenges.

[@krynnadin]

@@ThomasFrankExplains Thanks for that explanation! I appreciate it. Now to integrate it into my second brain. LOL

[@homebusinesstoday1045]

NEW DATABASE UPDATE ... I’m new to Notion & I may have worded that opening part incorrectly. I have several of your templates. Does the new update make the previous databases not work now or does the update only effect new databases we create? Thank you for all you train on! -Starla

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

The update affects all databases, including existing ones - however, it doesn't break anything! It primarily just changes and improves the UI, while also adding a few bits of functionality. The biggest change is that linked databases can now have a separate source database on each tabbed view. But TLDR, the update doesn't change anything about my templates that you're using except for how they look!

[@wolficeir]

So when you had a blank Notion page, there was a “shortcut” to making a automatic custom template. How can we make that?

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

You just need to make some database templates - this video will show you how! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYDcZ6iMp7idq6M

[@ANSHULJINDALASKINJ]

can We Sync Database using FOrmula because i want to create 7 Layer database 1.Idea 2.Sub-Task 3.Task 4.Project 5.Sub-Project 6.Goals 7.Sub-Goals Basic Issue i Am facing is I am not able to create cross link between all the database like sub goal is related to all other six data base and similar goal is connected to other 6 database but issue here is I had to fill all manually but I want to fill this automatically if I say my sub goal -1 is related to goal 1 and my goal 1 is related to sub project 1 then want to auto fill sub project column in sub goal database ( I know we can do this by rollup function but rollup function are one way I want two way automation )

[@AngelaLuvPink]

Hi all. anyone knows how do create notion that allows me to see the countdown dates for weekends dates only? example from 2022 April to 2022 June, there are 26 days. i want to see as detail and dates. have been exploring but cant find. thanks

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

I don't fully understand this yet, but it may help: www.reddit.com/r/Notion/comments/iponuw/businessworking_days_formula/

[@AngelaLuvPink]

@@ThomasFrankExplains thank you. Your videos are great.

[@sigittriutomo]

Right Now I can add Default Task to My Project Database or Project Template, with filter. Maybe update from notion, Thomas, you give the example that if you add default task in the project template, it does not appear, but right now I can do That

[@krays23]

is this not working anymore ? i treied it on new version of CC and UB that i brought and in your new template i noticed the default tasks have gone? when i try hold alt and drag in the tasks dont show up. due to the filter criterea but i can see them in the master db alll tasks. why is this ?

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

Hey Daniel! Have you made a post about this in our support community? If not, could you do that so my staff can see it? They may need to reach out to Notion directly if this turns out to be a bug. Thanks!

[@GWolff7]

I was just trying to add tasks to a template and found out you can do it with the predefined button for generating tasks in the template. Maybe that's the new option. I'm not sure. I just started using Notion a few weeks ago, and I'm building my project template around your ultimate tasks.

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

Yeah, it's pretty new! I made a video on it, including that use case: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jomQhHucecaahq8

[@kukumuku2896]

How to compress a large PDF file for free or cheaply?

[@PhilippeLarcher]

does Coda have the feature? I Think clickup has it

[@enoughahnaf1]

Even after 2+ years, is this workaround still needed?

[@MondSemmel]

You might want to add a pinned comment to this video, mentioning that parts of the video have been made superfluous via Notion buttons.

[@paulandremorandarte2285]

When a video saved your life... 😇

[@shyam2305]

Having sync block is a good idea but selecting the tasks from a new project with the template removes the tasks from the primary page itself. ALT + drag probably works only on mac. Does not work on linux.

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

Hmm - it also works on Windows and in the browser; I wonder why it wouldn't work on Linux? Does your distro bind alt functions to a different key?

[@DrD4n]

@@ThomasFrankExplains This doesn't work for me. I tried it with the Project Template inside Ultimate Brain but if i hold down alt and click the pop up window with the options remove and cancel comes up, but I'm not able to click on any option. My mouse stays in the background still in the positioning process...any help? This happens in the browser, as well as on windows

[@pvpatrick]

@@DrD4n Same, the select / hold alt / drag doesn't work. It removes the synced block data from the original page (windows browser)

[@ksejrs]

Speaking of defaults.... Is there a way to have a default value in a drop down?

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

Do you mean inside a Toggle block or a Select property in a database? If the latter, you'll want to use a forcing function. Check out this video to learn about those: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2rXlYqfZdV2hJY If the former, you can use a Template Block that contains a Toggle with default content. More on that here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYDcZ6iMp7idq6M

[@ksejrs]

The force function is exactly what I needed. Thank you!

[@-mir85-36]

@@ThomasFrankExplains The forcing function works great if you want all new tasks to have the same properties populated with the same value. But what if you want certain tasks to automatically be assigned to certain people? One can achieve this by first creating the task in the database, assign the task (or fill out other properties), then drag the task out of the database. Repeat with the other tasks and put them in the template. Now each of the tasks are pages, and when you drag them into a newly created view of the database, the properties will show up again. Make sure to create the tasks in a "clean" view of the database, to avoid unwanted properties to be filled out.

[@keegan.s]

Has anyone figured out how to drag/drop sub-tasks into database? In other words: how to keep all property data when drag/dropping tasks.

[@whatsgood22022]

Some of the limitations with Notion are so bizarre.

[@Luizof]

I really need a better solution, now that notion supports task dependencies, imagine setting up all dependencies off 100+ tasks on every new project

[@MovieMagicReacts]

They couldn't have made it more complex.

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

The new Buttons feature makes this way easier: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jomQhHucecaahq8

[@MovieMagicReacts]

@@ThomasFrankExplains thanks!

[@solilos]

Great tip, but man why do i always have the impression that you’re under extreme time pressure?

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

I feel that I live a pretty balanced life - time for workouts, time for family, time for games with friends - but this does mean I need to hustle when I'm at work.

[@solilos]

@@ThomasFrankExplains i just wish you’d go slower on your videos. Some, like me find it difficult to keep pace. I’m 62 and i love your Notion videos but i feel I’m in a marathon trying to follow! :)

[@chrisjavier3754]

Shocked Notion doesn't just duplicate tasks in a project template instead of link it. Seems like such a basic thing that it should be able to do. This manual workaround won't work for me or my team when the buy-in is already moderate. This will definitely keep the team from wanting to use Notion now. Which is such a damn shame. It can almost do anything.

[@lowkeyproducktvt2101]

Why don't we just copy a page ?

[@ThomasFrankExplains]

Copying a page won't solve this problem - it won't duplicate the tasks inside the page's internal linked database. Besides that, you could definitely copy a page - a template is basically just an easier way to do that, which doesn't require you to keep a "template" page visible in your database for copying.

[@lowkeyproducktvt2101]

@@ThomasFrankExplains ohh copying doesn't copy the tasks either i see actually i am new to notions and just figuring things out

[@hereinspiration227]

이렇게하면뭐가좋은지 모르겠네..