What Is Notion?
Notion is a popular productivity application that aims to unify your company’s work processes. It’s a common workspace for your team to collaborate, share notes and manage projects together. With a clean Kanban board interface, it simplifies the process of creating, storing and collaborating over detailed project documents.
The Revolutionary all-in-one app
- As anybody who is into productivity, I have tried a plethora of different productivity apps to get my shit together and stay organized. It wasn’t until I’ve come across Notion and read The Straight-A Student by Cal Newport — https://amzn.to/2YBKnDl — that I’ve converged to a singular system for my notes and college life.
- I, personally, have used a lot of apps such as Google docs, evernote, one note, MS Word, Pages (Apple), Apple Notes, Quip, workflowly, Google Keep and what not. But the journey ends here. It's simply amazing. I've written thankful emails to the team of Notion regarding 'how much I've been productive and lucky to get my hands on'.
- Some things, like a Google Calendar integration, are still missing. Nevertheless, Notion helped me immensely by clearing my head of mental fog of constant worrying about forgetting an assignment.
- If that sounds like something you struggle with, let me show you what I’ve done.
- It doesn't target any one particular community in its making rather it is simply 'one-size-fits all' but with 'all-in-one workspace'.
- Totally free.
- Well, it is more or less like designing your own set of webpages. Don’t get me wrong and please stop Spinning your head (if it’s!).
- It’s is actually quite simple. Each and every thing can be easily converted into a page or simply anything you want.
- Best for student feature — The Toggle system and the note-making default templates.
- Extremely customizable.
Key Features Of Notion
While the first Notion app released just a year ago, it’s already started to get noticed in the productivity field. Here’s a detailed look at a few features that help it stand out:
1. Powerful Note Taking
One of the most important Notion features is a powerful note-taking. You can add a list, plain text, videos, sound, code snippets – it’s up to you. This makes creating a standalone page or database a breeze.
With rich text formatting, your team will be able to add comments and craft detailed notes that accurately reflect a project’s requirements.
2. Tasks and Projects
While Notion is primarily a wiki tool, you can use it to assign tasks and create projects for your team. As each task is stored on a Kanban board, you can easily move these tasks around and link processes together.
You can even create folders to further categorize your notes. Users can also enable task notifications to stay informed of any new project developments.
3. Templates
To cut setup time, the Notion program allows you to create templates for your notes. This makes it easy to replicate pages in your database and create new pages in seconds.
For example, you can easily create a standardized template for writing all your blog posts. The next time your content team needs to create a new article, they can use that template to get started.
4. Multiple Views
Notion’s main view is a drag and drop Kanban board interface. While it’s simple and does the job well, tracking tasks in this view can be difficult for some users.
However, Notion also offers you a to-do list view that organizes all your tasks in a handy to-do list. This allows you to instantly take stock of what’s on your plate if you prefer a GTD approach to productivity.
5. Integration
Your Notion workspace can integrate with tons of current tools to streamline your workflow. It supports integration with tons of email and website tools like Typeform, the Google Calendar app, and Google Drive.
Here are few screenshots of my Dashboard on Notion
Made the life easy
Drawbacks Of Notion
While Notion is a good knowledge base program, it isn’t perfect. Here are a few issues that hold it back from being the perfect solution for your needs.
- Can’t Compete With Dedicated Project Management Tools
- It’s a bit complicated To Work With (in starting)
About Evernote
Evernote is an extremely popular note-taking app that has been around for ages. It’s simplicity and cross-platform syncing capabilities have made it the go-to productivity app for tons of people.
Features
- Intuitive user Interface.
- Cross-platform syncing capabilities on their mobile and desktop app.
- Can share notes to social media.
- Rich text editing options.
- Speech to text and keyboard support for notes.
Pros
- The Evernote notes app is incredibly easy to use.
- Available On Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS.
- Offline note-making support.
- Supports integration with project management tools like Asana.
Cons
- Features on the free version of the product are very limited. To make the most of this tool, you’ll have to go for the premium subscription.
- Limited use for project or task management.
- No unlimited storage – unlike most other wiki tools.
Pricing
Evernote has three pricing plans:
- Free – With 60Mb worth of uploads a month + sync across two devices.
- Premium ($7.99/month) – With 10GB worth of uploads a month + syncs on unlimited devices.
- Business ($14.99/month per user – min 2 users) – With 20GB worth of uploads a month + unlimited collaboration spaces.
Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft OneNote is Microsoft’s version of a docs collaboration and to-do list app. It allows users to easily create, share and collaborate on databases.
Features
- Streamlined user experience with an intuitive interface.
- Multiple themes for added customizability.
- Powerful text editor that can add music and screen clippings.
- Flexible note encryption.
- Good note organization with folders.
Pros
- Your team can easily add comments to docs.
- Integrates seamlessly with any other Microsoft product.
- The OneNote notes app has tons of font options.
- Simple note sharing via email or URL.
Cons
- The mobile app interface can be crammed.
- The OneNote note-taking software cannot automatically sort notes.
- Lacks project or task management capabilities.
Pricing —
Microsoft OneNote is completely free. You no longer have to purchase a subscription to Microsoft Office 365 to use it.
About Google Keep
Google Keep is a simple, yet powerful note-taking and to-do list app. With a powerful mobile app, it’s no surprise that it’s one of the most downloaded apps today.
Features
- Simple UI for optimal user experience.
- Unlimited and seamless sync across all Google devices.
- The Google Keep note-taking software can group notes via labels.
- The software supports handwriting notes.
Pros
- Can include and read plain text and code snippets.
- This note and list app supports automatic saving.
- The software can set location and time-based reminders for notes.
- Supports drag and drop organizational functions.
Cons
- No themes for added customizability.
- Difficult to collaborate with team members on this notes app.
- Poor project management capabilities.
- No dedicated Windows, Linux or Mac desktop app.
Pricing → Google Keep is completely free.
Workflowy
Workflowy is another tool dedicated to simplifying the note-making process. With powerful wiki and to-do list app features, Workflowy is sure to streamline your knowledge-building activities and help your team work better.
Features
- Rich text editing options.
- Deep nesting capabilities for detailed documents.
- Structured interface that’s functional and accessible.
Pros
- Supports task and project creation.
- User experience is quick and efficient.
- Quick cross-platform syncing.
Cons
- Software cannot add images to a note entry.
- Poor functions on a mobile web browser.
- Infrequent product updates.
- No open-source functionality.
Pricing →
Workflowy uses a freemium model of pricing.
The tool is free to use for up to 100 items per month.
For additional items, you’ll have to purchase the pro version that’s priced at $50/month that offers you unlimited lists and items.
Conclusion
While Notion is a good wiki tool, it’s not a comprehensive project management software. It’s got all the features you need to seamlessly manage your project activities and collaborate with your team. With powerful apps for Windows Android, Mac and iOS, it has everything you need to boost productivity immediately.
Last but not the least → It has enough for any student wants or needs.