SYNCED BLOCKS in Notion: How & When to Use - Replacing Global Blocks

[@caderichards6766]

There literally is no better person to be ceo of notion

[@augustbradley]

Ha! Thanks Cade 😁

[@MartinSchabbauer]

Thank you for ”Scratching the Surface” / this made my day. I have been at the dentist and was a bit “low”, - And now I am happy again :)

[@mariahriojas7016]

A planners and system lovers dream!! Thanks you :)!

[@itspatymoran]

I should’ve watched this tomorrow, now I’ll go to sleep dreaming about synced blocks, how I’ll be using it in my system 😂

[@augustbradley]

Ha! That's a pretty good dream as far as dreams go :)

[@itspatymoran]

@@augustbradley Absolutely!!

[@timbushell8640]

Lucky you, it just 'wasted' my 2nd morning coffee, just think it could have been Windows Vista! : )))))

[@kuntalgo]

Was that a 'Synced' dream?

[@itspatymoran]

@@kuntalgo 😂

[@kamrucci]

A nice way to handle global notices for clients in their separate project pages!

[@pmly]

I use it in my Meeting Notes pages! Everytime there are action items to be done after our meetings, from the meeting notes page, I copy and paste the synced block link of my To-Dos from the meeting to my Action Items (aka To-Do List) Database! It’s such an brilliant feature! Now, I don’t have to worry about not updating our previous meeting notes and the action items there because of this! ✨

[@augustbradley]

I love that Pamela! What a great idea. Perfect use case 🤩

[@podcastmarketingacademy]

Ohhhhh this is fantastic, especially for templates where global blocks no longer stayed synced!

[@spillledcarryout]

Thank you August! This is so intriguing.

[@rughooking]

This fixes one of my biggest frustrations with Notion. If I duplicate a table, the views, filters and sorts all have to be set back up. Now all views will stay in sync. Thanks, August. You have been the best thing on KZbin for me for over a year now. Looking forward to the second cohort of PPV.

[@augustbradley]

Awesome Cindi, makes me super happy to hear this 🙏. Lot's more to come!

[@TheUnabridgedMe]

It’s moments like this that I am extremely grateful for KZbin’s algorithm system. I am fairly new to Notion and looking to optimise it to my life as I think it is just what my life needs. I like to be organised and keep track of things but most of all I love learning. I am currently forging my way through an online degree as well as working full time so to have the ability to keep everything in one place and linked is exciting. To be able to take study notes but link specific quotes and ideas to a separate block that is more focused on material needed for an assignment looks like it could be a life changer for me. I do, however, have much to learn about notion before I get to that stage so I’m so pleased KZbin threw your channel my way and I can’t wait to watch and learn from your video, I have also just signed up to your newsletter so thank you.

[@mihai4foc]

Very cool tutorial, Thanks! For me, the most wanted Notion feature is to have some kind of control over the table filters, to be able to share a table but with blocked filters. For example, now I have 2 Action tables, one for personal use and another for business, but it would be cool to have only one table where I would be able to store all action and to share a filtred table which my colleague would not be able to change filters, only records.

[@jameshazelton5088]

Thanks for another great video! In terms of use cases, I could see this being very helpful for sharing pages with different people. For example, many of the people I share notion pages with haven’t used it before, so I could have a ‘notion tricks’ block which I embed in their page and update from a central point as I (and they) learn new things. That way the learnings from my client A could be passed on to client B without them having to even know of each other. Another use case could be keeping track of action items which might appear in separate client pages but could be synced to a single private page for quick review.

[@augustbradley]

I love that idea James, a hive learning mind. Cool though!

[@andrewulloa4832]

I’m gonna try this tomorrow to see if it works.

[@andrewulloa4832]

Maybe we finally can create shared filtered views that are synced across different workspaces shared and unshared

[@HomesickMac]

Bazinga! Exactly, we're building a Notion system for our non-profit and our idea can be a Synced blocks for the FAQ...

[@lifewithkappu783]

Oh... this is exciting! I can’t wait to convert all my templates into synced blocks 😁 But, am more excited thinking about building a library of synced blocks so that I can build all kinds of templates not tied to a specific page or database and use it wherever I may have the need for it.

[@BaconMoreBacon]

umm if you try to use a synced block as a template it no longer is a template lol because it syncs both ways. when you try to use your "template" somewhere and change it, it will alter your original "template". your idea of a library of templates is already possible. just make a page and put your templates in there. then when you need to use one just copy the block and paste it

[@apismellifera5623]

Love it. I'm going to sync block on my 'Morning Start-up Template' because I do tweaks this template quite regularly and I don't have to change the template! :)

[@titusfx]

I thought that this feature could solve my problem, but it solves partially. Maybe you guys know and answer for it. I have a template for all my tech projects. When I finish more projects I realize more things to add to this template. Sometimes I realize that in the middle of the project. So, I go to the template and add that on the template block, but I would like that this option appears on all the projects that I create with this template. It seems like this feature but what I need is in one direction only. The Template if updated, update all the instances.

[@trabalenguas]

Thank you August! I use Notion every day and did not saw that new amazing feature! This helps to not duplicate information that we want to keep in mind over and over on daily templates!

[@augustbradley]

It just launched into everyone's workspace a couple hours ago, I posted right when the feature went live 🙂. Thanks!

[@sumasuma20082008]

My first thought is to create a synced block for quick notes, ideas , shopping list etc. Not being a GTD purist this would work better for me than breaking off what I am doing to navigate to say.. my meal planner/shopping list database. I would put the synced notes at the top of each relevant page so I can easily add them in the appropriate place later in the day. I suppose I could then just delete that note but I do love a ticked check box :)

[@enjoyette]

I found out about this feature through you! I was wondering if I missed their “what’s new” notification. How exciting!! Thanks for this!

[@suryakumar7912]

WOOOOOOW your arrangements and template designs of the "Mind Expansion" page are just fantabulous! I don't have words to explain how osm it is. Bradley, can you please share the template if possible? As a student it would be really helpful for me to arrange all my learning in the same way !

[@kuntalgo]

WOWWW! THIS IS ANOTHER GAME CHANGING FEATURE RELEASE. I was always frustrated about manually replicating database views (sort, ordering, filtering rules) but no more such hassle while replicating a dB. Thanks for a short tutorial of the feature.

[@augustbradley]

Glad it was helpful! Put it to good use 🙂

[@KahunaCoder]

Love it! I was trying to use the global block hacks to create database views when I first started with notion and your PPV system. Finally I can stop re-creating my views and modifying my templates. Being able to centralize things will encourage and unify changes and updates to my system. I look forward to implementing the official version. I love all of the new API stuff but this is my favorite update.

[@augustbradley]

Great timing Gary. Now you have a better solution. Make things happen with it!

[@Wildenfree]

Very nice August! Definitely glad to see this feature turned into an official one! I’ve got plenty of old hacks in place so I’m excited to see how this improves the overall implementation in my own setup! 💪🏾🙏🏾💯

[@augustbradley]

Totally agree! I'm told the old hacked versions will just turn into these new types now.

[@juanodiaztercero]

Yup. In my case I'm improving my quick capture notes & moodboards. Hope to see new use cases.

[@JorgeRamirez-dm4rd]

Awesome news August! Damn, there is so many use cases. My first try is gonna be my ideas inbox, as I have different views for each device and now I can take notes of mobile view and manage them in my desktop view. The header one is also a genius idea!

[@augustbradley]

Totally agree Jorge, so much to use this for. Great thoughts.

[@antonwilson6103]

Well, I had no idea about all of this. I'm still catching up with the Mind & Machine podcast. I come here and find this treasure trove of Notion content, and from this video, it looks like it will be tremendously useful and informative. Now to dive into your Notion API vids…

[@jasinAmsterdam1976]

Thank you, August!! Having the same view of a table on multiple pages opens up a lot of possibilities. Man, I never knew I could get excited about tables, pages, and blocks in my previous life 😄😄😄😄 I great use case for this is a shared kanban view to monitor project progress and share it with a client.

[@augustbradley]

Great use cases Jasin. Funny what we get excited about now, but useful and productive too 😎

[@timbushell8640]

... but making the 'copies' in some cases protected, would need to be looked at.

[@jasinAmsterdam1976]

@@timbushell8640 No sure what you mean? You can share a page with a client for just viewing and commenting only. The client will be able to see the updates, but not able to change anything (unless you want to)

[@p3arworld]

SHEEESH. This just saved me so much time and money. Yeeeehaw! TY!!!!

[@wissenstresor4090]

Bradley you are boosting our productivity day by day, with your PPV System one is capable of multiplying his/her productivity and even opportunities in life in general I am truthfully thankful for your service and impact on our lives

[@augustbradley]

Congrats on your progress and success Wissens! Keep up the great work 🚀

[@JonnyMatthew]

Brilliant, as always, August - THANKS for walking us through this. Tons of possibilities! 👍🏻

[@Drutsonomg]

Was waiting for it soo long

[@Llam1nator]

Thank you for this video Sensei

[@cooldude588]

Fantastic feature! But how come it is not mentioned on the what's new notion webpage

[@leiselclayton5772]

One use case I can think of is linking info I have on weekly pages with what I have on daily pages (very much like my ultimate, customized planner). I like to do meal planning from my weekly page, but then I have to manually copy the info to the daily pages. I tried doing the mirrored blocks, but that took for-freaking-ever to set up, so I only really did that once or twice. Now the question is, will this be easier to do, and is there a way to automate it within templates… I spawn a new weekly page every week, and a new daily page for each day (although sometimes I will spawn a week’s worth at a time). If there were a way for those synced blocks to spawn correctly when the pages were created, that would be awesome. I can’t quite see how that would work, though.

[@yosapoljitrak9200]

I think it solve my issue. Thank you.

[@primermag]

I use global blocks to embed my journal in my daily, weekly, and monthly reviews. It’s the best way to have it all in one place and have it update everywhere. It’s simply a toggle with sub toggles for years, months, and days. Curious if others have good journaling solutions, I needed a way to be able to review them all in one place, versus clicking into each day, reading it, clicking back out, and clicking another one.

[@augustbradley]

Great use of them, I've done something similar. So many possibilities.

[@nicolehychu]

Super useful thank you

[@germanacosta8939]

I imagine we can use this with our knowledge vault and for example, or ideas and notes or our media vault. It’s like having 2 databases with shared fields.

[@augustbradley]

Exactly Germán! We're thinking about this similarly.

[@KellieWannabe]

I had another hack I was using to do this already! August had you ever tried it? -> I would create a page and copy the link, put it in another page where I wanted it to link - and then go back to the original and turn it into a toggle. 🤓 Therefore it would be a linked and synced toggle within any space that I linked it! I was using it in cases like you showed with your guiding principles, linking things that I wanted in every weekly review. Since that was already working for me and it doesn't put the red box around it, I wonder if I should just keep up my method or if there is an advantage to turning them into proper "synced blocks" now 🤔 Would love to know if you knew about that hack before :))

[@augustbradley]

That was the old hack and a clever approach Kellie. Nice! The new approach also gives you backlinks and is easier going forward.

[@KellieWannabe]

@@augustbradley Thanks for your reply! Yess you're right, I can see how it makes much more sense to follow the provided solution. The one thing I'm getting tripped up on is whether synced blocks can also live within synced blocks?! Have you tried this?

[@And1Filipo]

Exciting feature. thanks for this.

[@ItayVander]

As always, a great tip. Thanks! I wonder if there is/will be a way to filter or control the "relation" databases.. With more and more projects/parent task/goals etc. it is getting longer to find the right one through a very long list..

[@ChadBarnier]

YES!!!! Finally! This is so powerful!

[@TheArtisticBiker]

That means that if I have a template for the day and if have New Page referencing tables in the template, I can place the table into a sync block. Then from now on if I decide to change the view, it would change all of them instead of remembering to change it on all of the old ones each time. Awesome. AND HOW COOL WOULD IT BE if they gave us a "header" and "footer" option?!? Any word yet on text formatting so we can write papers in APA standard?

[@augustbradley]

Awesome, that's a great idea. This is in effect Header and Footer options, seems to me it does anything you would want in a header/footer menu.

[@TonyNguyenTin]

Thanks so much for your video.

[@etcheverrypablol]

Thanks for this material! :D

[@ecopsorn]

I used a top level bar ffor my pages I need constant access fast. Used the transclusion feature for it that worked well, but with synced blocks it's more flexible

[@Enacaus]

I think one thing you can do with the Synced Blocks makes it so that you have synced access to all your most-used databases in your most common pages used. For example, I use my "Islam Vault" database a lot, and I am always changing the filters and sorters and data in it, it becomes a hassle to continuously update in the mind expansion page, so, make a synced database and all the filters and sorters will apply there too. I know you have probably already thought of this, but I just wanted to leave this comment for anyone who was curious on how to do it.

[@shivaniaggarwal6730]

I am so excited about using it in templates. So that all my previous pages also get updated 😀

[@augustbradley]

Right on Shivani! Me too .

[@prestonlyman]

Has this even been officially announced? I must have missed it! Thanks for posting this. I wouldn’t have known this feature even existed if you hadn’t made this video.

[@augustbradley]

It has not been announced, but has been officially released as of an hour ago (in all accounts).

[@prestonlyman]

@@augustbradley Well thank you for shining a light on such a useful feature, even before the Notion team officially got around to it.

[@augustbradley]

@@prestonlyman They did say it was ok to share it and it is live in everyone's account, I was just excited about it so wanted to share. Thanks Preston!

[@HomesickMac]

Praise Aug… God, this is just amazing and makes my Notion life so much easier.

[@robinross768]

Glad to see this feature. It looks like the the filter and view follow. Is there a way to change the filter in different instances of the sync'd block?

[@augustbradley]

It's an exact mirror, so it all changes everywhere. Nothing varies. If you want different filters, then duplicate the original database and move it to the new location. Then change the filter.

[@dfxdfx5368]

Hi, August. ( This is a little Off topic)Is it possible to have two blocks on the same column but with different widths? Or are the dimensions of the blocks connected so that one always varies when we change the other (on the same column)?

[@robmulally]

Mate thank your for this update, i saved and watched on the Plane. I'm not always in front of my computer or in phone reception, so keeping tasks updated and doing daily reviews can be quite challanging. Cant wait to play with the synced blocks to see creative ways to use them. DO you know if you can change the default behavior of the "enter"and "Shfit enter" I end up not being able to copy paste blocks of text because i have written them as new line per block by mistake. Am i crazy or does it seem like enter shold just be a newline and shift enter shold be new block?

[@alexchang666]

Nice feature, I really love it

[@pp-ve1en]

What an awesome feature , and it reminds me of another powerful tool（Figma）. It is a bit like Frame and component in Figma.

[@zorronlueng9803]

First of all, thank you for going into so much detail about this very cool sync feature. But when I share the page, others can't see all the blocks that are set to sync afterwards, is there another way to get around this bug?

[@augustbradley]

Synced Blocks have the same sharability settings as linked/relational database properties. You have to share the source block access as well for others to see it.

[@angaj]

I literally had a page called global blocks which had a database with all the pages that used global blocks within them, to preserve the original and keep track of where all they're spread out.(I used them across templates) With synced blocks I don't feel such a setup would be necessary, although it won't hurt to have all synced blocks at one place. What's your take August?

[@a13ph0]

It would still be useful, since they are the same thing, but with better UX. Most importantly, they still have original block, which is better kept safe -- if you delete it (from trash), you'll lose all synced ones.

[@angaj]

@@a13ph0 that's a fair point. Although I hardly delete my pages, it so very much could happen that I cause some accidental edit or share a one without realising it has a global block. Keeping separate pages will also allow me to track changes to the global block in specific by using page/version history if needed!

[@augustbradley]

I think the backlink info for each synced block covers that for you. Cool that they added that tracking to all the linked pages from each. Smart system for the Global Blocks Angaj!

[@vlasnovokhatnii4019]

I don't even know what's better - this channel, or the feature itself. I feel overwhelmed 😅 Btw, it's kind of strange that there's still no mention of the feature in the "What's New?" Notion's page. Maybe they'll add it a bit later.

[@HippieP629]

I thought the same. +shrugs+

[@camilleblanchod]

It's intentional. They will announce it later on :) It happened as well when backlinks came out, there was no official announcement prior to the push to users.

[@vlasnovokhatnii4019]

@@camilleblanchod Oh, okay :) Makes sense.

[@RobertBloom]

Is there a way to reference/create a new instance of a sync block without having to navigate to an existence instance of it and copy it?

[@augustbradley]

I don't think so, but good thought/question.

[@Zek201]

If it can be implemented like a linked table, it would be more convenient.

[@annabelstopit]

And just like that, all of my dreams came true.

[@kuntalgo]

I was initially excited about SYNCED BLOCKS as for a long time I was trying to find a way to replicate Database views (filtering/sorting) while creating linked databases. Manually replicating all the VIews is cumbersome. So I thought that SYNCED BLOCKS would allow me to do the same. But it seems copying SYNCED BLOCKS with a database in it would create a Duplicate of the database instead of a Linked version. Will SYNC BLOCKS in future allow us to copy the views of a dB while creating a LINKED version of it and not a duplicate?

[@ChadBarnier]

Hopefully this works when edited inside of templates. And hopefully previous global blocks get updated to synced blocks

[@augustbradley]

Yes on the first, no on the second. But easier to update the old global blocks to the new.

[@sim9955]

Awesome!! Thanks!!

[@augustbradley]

First comment tie! 🏆

[@AbdelRahmanMussa]

I can't seem to add synced blocks to templates... is there a way to do this ?

[@brainscott]

Has this been released yet?, haven't been able to find it & I don't see it posted on What's New Page

[@drewxp2101]

how would one go about Duplicating the action and information but change the lay out?

[@ChibiKeruchan]

Is there an option to have a one way edit sync block? In which you can edit it. And the others can't edit your sync block. But they can edit other part of the page.

[@PereTufet]

I am also looking for this. Did you find the way to do it?

[@alec1115]

This should be great to have top goals

[@mattjamesssmith]

Just realised you can nest Synched Blocks inside Synched Blocks! Some crazy potential there ...

[@augustbradley]

Synced block Inception! Agreed, super cool.

[@janeo14]

I thought this was the function that I was looking for. BUT Sync block is exactly synced. I was looking for Sync But multiple table / view in different filter Example Table 1 - ALL task Table 2 - filter 1 Table 3 - filter 2 And so on I don’t know if I’m making sense. Lol

[@hosseindianati7798]

Actually I want to have all the table content synced except one column. is that possible?

[@DanielTubul]

Very cool!

[@DarrellMcTague]

Synced Blocks seem to treat some internally hotlinked content strangely. Specifically, Table of Contents. I have my Mindset & Identity Sculpting as a page within my Knowledge Hub, and I took the entire contents of the page and put it within one synced block. I dropped that synced block inside the appropriate toggle in my Alignment Zone. On the original page, the ToC behaves as you'd expect. Within the copy in the Alignment Zone toggle, the ToC reflects the headers in the Alignment Zone. I suppose technically it IS still synced, because its still the ToC... but the actual CONTENTS of the ToC purely depend on the page its on. How bout that, huh? So I pulled the ToC out of the synced block on original page 😂

[@jusjaisinghani8179]

Notion is becoming bmore powerful every day

[@AislinEvans]

these use cases! clever!!

[@augustbradley]

And so many more! 😎

[@matheusgoncalves1694]

But what if i want the information to sync but with different views?

[@viniciusfeliciano9318]

Amazing.

[@Lenastar23]

The only time it matters which synced block is the original is when you are also using the 'Lock' page function (or changing text colours)

[@augustbradley]

Yes, the permissions are tied to the block's source page. Good point Krista.

[@FILOSS100]

I would love to be able to have several views of the same synced table, now when you jump to another page it always keep the last view used sadly :/

[@alextrotman9317]

Can you do a financial page thats simple and integrated together in all areas of money?

[@augustbradley]

Using a synced Block? Not sure how that would relate.

[@alextrotman9317]

@@augustbradley I didn't mean with a synced block, I just got my first public job and am in need of a financial page in notion. I would like to have my income, expenses, etc all in one page. Didn't know if you already have made one or not 🤷‍♂️

[@Ancient_Strength]

@@alextrotman9317 Just make new table page, call it "Finance", and put your income, expenses in it and for non-monthly payments, activate the calender reminder in notion

[@willhelliwell]

I've tried implementing this but it doesn't seem to work on public pages. Has anyone else run into this issue?

[@augustbradley]

Yes, that has been reported back to Notion, We're waiting to hear if that's coming or if this is intentional.

[@augustbradley]

More info on this: Synced Blocks have the same sharability settings as linked/relational database properties. You have to share the source block access as well for others to see it.

[@willhelliwell]

@@augustbradley turns out it was a bug and they’ve fixed it now! Synced blocks show on public pages which is amazing.

[@augustbradley]

@@willhelliwell Excellent! Thanks for the update Will, good news.

[@djepodjepo]

What are good applications?

[@augustbradley]

There are several listed in the video, then more discussed in the comments here.

[@rughooking]

00:00 What is a block? 02:07 Create a synced block 03:44 Working with a table 05:11 Using a synced block for header navigation

[@augustbradley]

Thank you Cindi! Added.

[@feguth]

I feel that this feature will significantly slow down the adoption of backlinks

[@Fr4zn2pirit]

Would be great if they'd just improve their search function

[@robmulally]

Dammit ! Just after I setup my hacked global blocks haha

[@augustbradley]

Ha! But these are better with backlink info -- and easier to expand further. You still win!

[@PedroFernandezRuiz]

first! Nice feature!

[@augustbradley]

Nice Pedro! Your trophy 🏆

[@DS18022009]

🤩

[@deez9805]

Not going to lie I’d rather have recurring tasks than this but this is nice too

[@ChadBarnier]

I want to learn how to lucid dream, just so I could spend 8 hrs a night dreaming up Notion dashboards and systems

[@huggingpuppy2613]

I CAN DO THAT?! I had no idea lucid dreaming can be a block of creative time

[@augustbradley]

Notion Inception 😎

[@wilfredobeng6199]

"a block" ** 100000000 😂

[@roter13]

I really hate notion. I find it extremely hard to use.

[@francescogmail3225]

No idea on how to use this new feature, but I'm sure it has great potentiality. Let's just be creative!