Notion is the poster child for productivity enthusiasts who love going all in on their nerdy routine setups. Not too long ago, it was that cool kid on the block everyone wanted to be friends with. In a rush of FOMO, I too gave in and tried it out, creating a couple of databases for my personal needs -- only to spare it for occasional use. Years later, with the hype around Notion largely settled, it turns out that it's the perfect app for my evolved writing needs of today. It is the first app I now install when I get a new laptop.
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And it wasn't like I just woke up one random morning and decreed that Notion shall be my notes app from then on. Like a true tech reviewer, I dove deep into the competition, ran some trials, and only then decided on the app I wanted to settle with. I'll tell you exactly why Notion came out on top for my use case.
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5 Databases, but for personal use
Who says databases must mean boring business?
A couple of years ago, I was deep into my Spanish lessons. While trying to figure out why my hermano was so hellbent on buying me muñecas, I had the bright idea to create a Notion database of all the Spanish words I was learning. It was like a personal dictionary, with each word tagged by its plural form, gender, and part of speech. It didn't take me long to realize how laborious maintaining your own dictionary can be -- even with software that makes it possible.
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Instead, I've settled on a more practical database for my personal needs: my reading list. I actively keep it up to date with all the book titles I've read over the years, along with details like the author's name, the date I finished reading, my star rating, and where to find the book, whether on my bookshelf or in my Kindle library.
Databases can quickly get out of hand, as they did in my case. While I didn't choose Notion for its database capabilities, I do appreciate having the option for my occasional needs.
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4 Perfect for long-form content
It's my one-stop shop for all things writing
Alongside my work as a tech reporter, I juggle a few personal projects and have an interest in creative writing. So, my needs vary depending on the format, but at the end of the day, it's all just different kinds of writing. And Notion is purpose-built for that.
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Before switching to Notion, I relied on a combination of Google Keep and Microsoft Word -- the latter being where all my long-form content went. Apps like Word make it cumbersome to navigate files using an archaic system (more on that later), and Notion is simply better at doing the job. That's why my personal blogs and short stories now call Notion home during the ideation and writing process. Not just for my creative pieces, Notion is also where I ideate and flesh out my tech story pitches, exploring different angles before emailing them to my editors.
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Notion's app doesn't overwhelm me with too many options -- it lets me create as many or as few complications as I want, which is exactly what I need when I'm fully immersed in my writing.
3 Nested pages for the win
Because the folder system is just too old-school
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As you can already tell, a lot of my needs revolve around data organization, and Notion offers even more ways to simplify my life. My previous system, with MS Word at the center, involved a lot of clumsy and unnecessary folder and sub-folder arranging in OneDrive. While it worked fine for years, it started to feel outdated and, in many ways, inefficient, with so many folders and no simple way to see my files at a glance or jump between them.
Nested pages on Notion solve exactly that for me. I have about half a dozen main project categories in the sidebar, with my active projects listed under them. Not only can I see them all in one place, but I can also move between them with fewer clicks than I needed with OneDrive and Word. They even help separate chapters in short stories and novels, making the content more parsable and easier to scan.
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Navigating my projects is much easier and faster on Notion, and that alone makes it worth switching. I've also set up a straightforward archiving workflow, so after publishing a story, I can remove it from my active view while keeping it safely stored for future reference.
I know apps like Obsidian take it a step further by creating a mind-map of interconnected pages and sub-pages. While it may work for some users, I found it to be too visually stimulating during my trial, so I decided against it.
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2 In-page organization
I think I can't do without it anymore
Close
I've been a heavy Google Keep user for years, with a massive collection of hundreds of notes that kept me locked in, despite Keep's limited features. It only recently added basic text formatting tools, but even that isn't enough, especially when compared to how much its direct rival Apple Notes has improved in recent times.
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Notion, on the other hand, offers a plethora of formatting tools that keep pages clean, even when there's a lot of text hidden behind toggle headings. This heading type is also my favorite tool in any writing app. With them, you can have a lot of content on a single page, but it only appears when you want it to.
Like nested pages organize files more intuitively, the block-based in-page structure adds flexibility, letting you move things around since each paragraph or element is its own block. This dynamism is especially helpful for someone like me, who puts out thoughts as they come and arranges them later in a cohesive manner.
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1 There is a serif font!
And a mono font, too
It might sound silly to get excited about a font, but those who know me personally can attest that I've gotten excited over much smaller things. The serif font option is the main reason I decided not to go with AnyType, which still has a few rough edges to smooth out, including the lack of additional font styles.
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You've probably heard that many writers are particular about their work environment to get into the writing zone. For me, a serif font is a must when I'm doing creative work, like writing short stories or essays for my Medium blog. On the other hand, a monospace font comes in handy when I need to quickly share a write-up as a PDF file with someone who has specific font requirements -- typically for scripts or screenplays.
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Google Keep for keeps
I'm still in the process of moving my entire archive of notes and existing work from Keep and Word to Notion, which might take a few weeks to wrap up. But I often find myself opening Keep to jot down quick thoughts until I move them over to Notion when I start actively working on an idea. That's why Keep still sits on my phone's home screen next to Notion.
Notion is where the real work happens, like a grown-up version of other apps. It has turned out to be a solid cross-platform solution, so I decided to stick with it for both my current needs and future writing plans. However, it could easily become the perfect tool for me if it added more formatting options, like right and center text alignment, which I need for certain types of writing. I'd also appreciate other features, like drop caps and autocorrect.
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But if Notion really wants to take things to the next level, it should prioritize adding a real offline mode and improving its database export tool so that it doesn't break page relations when imported into other services. That would be a real win, even if it means letting go of some user lock-in.
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