- Yes, you did indeed read that title correctly.
Notion has, at long last, released a simple table feature.
In the past, you probably know just as well as I do,
that if you've ever wanted to embed
a simple table of data into Notion,
you had to use a database block.
And while that works well enough,
in many cases the database block is completely overkill
for really simple data and the new simple table feature
completely fixes that problem.
Now you can embed a completely no frills, basic,
non-database table inside of Notion.
So how and where in your workspace
should you use this feature?
Well, that is exactly what we're going through
in this short video.
I'm gonna show you exactly how to use
the new simple table feature,
show you how it differs from databases,
go through a couple of the different limitations
there currently are with this feature,
and finally show you a couple of tips and tricks
that I've discovered that I think you should know about.
If you're new here, my name is Thomas Frank,
and I am a full-time YouTuber and writer.
And on the side, I like to create Notion templates
for things like task management, for note taking,
and even a template that fully replicates
my team's exact system for managing
my 2.4 million subscriber main channel,
this channel, and all my different social media platforms.
So if you're interested,
you can check out those resources
in the description down below after you watch this video
and make sure you're subscribed to this channel
for new detailed tutorials and build guides
for taking Notion to the next level
and improving the way you work.
With all that being said,
let's get into this new simple table feature.
(upbeat music)
Okay, so let's kick this off
with showing you how to create a simple table
here in Notion.
I've got a blank page and to create my simple table,
I just need to type that slash command
like I would do it with anything else and type table.
You will notice that databases
now have a kind of a new name for the table view.
It's now a table database, inline, or full page,
and you will find table, which is the simple table,
and you get something that looks a little bit like this.
And I have several different options for what I can do here.
I can add columns by clicking this plus icon here,
I can add rows by clicking this icon here,
or I can actually come down here to the bottom right corner
and I can click and drag to easily add
as many of these columns and rows as I want.
So I'm gonna go ahead and go with four columns
and several rows here,
and then I can start adding in some data.
So let's create a list of my favorite games.
And as you can see,
I can enter my text data like I just did
and I can also use tab to go between the columns
and enter to go between the rows.
What I can also do is drag my rows and columns around
so I can take a column like this and I can drag it like so.
Or if I want to reorder my rows, I can do it just like that.
I can also create table headers if I want.
Most usefully, I can come to this little six dot icon
and I can create a header row like that.
And if I wanted to,
I could do the exact same thing with a column
and I can have a table looking like this.
I don't want a header column,
so I'm gonna go ahead and get rid of that.
What I can also do
is use this little fit table to page width button
to make this table fit the page width.
And what I'm actually gonna do is go ahead and delete this
and add in a fully filled out table that I made beforehand
to show you the last main feature
of this simple table block,
which is that it accepts rich text formatting.
So over here in this notes column, if I wanted to,
I could say bold this text right here,
or maybe make this text actually have a background
by giving it a green background right now.
I'm gonna go ahead and actually put a comment on this one.
And you can also add links,
so right here, I might add a link to a YouTube video
just by pasting it right there,
just like you would with a text block
and you can also add links to other Notion pages.
So I've got another Notion page on my other screen here,
and I'm gonna go here and actually just paste it in
and make it a mention to another page.
Perhaps the most interesting thing you can do
with a simple table feature
is actually turn it into a database.
So if you go to the block menu here and click it,
we can click this turn into database button
and we're gonna get a nice little database.
So if you need more features, you can go ahead and do that.
And you're gonna notice that the first column
becomes your typical name column,
which is essentially the page for each row,
and then all the other columns turn into text properties.
You can also turn your database
back into a simple table if you want.
And I do want to show you one cool trick here.
If I go ahead and move this notes column to be first,
and then I go and turn this into a database,
you'll notice that all of my text formatting
with the exception of the link right here
has basically been deleted.
But if I go ahead and turn this back into a simple table,
it actually retains that rich text formatting,
which is really cool.
Now, there are some limitations
to the simple table feature right now.
I'm guessing some of these will change in the future.
But as of right now,
the most significant limitation is that you cannot create
other blocks inside of these table cells.
If I go ahead and type slash like this,
nothing is gonna happen.
The slash menu doesn't come up
and I also can't drag and drop existing blocks
into these cells either.
They really only accept text right now.
Another couple of limitations are, number one,
you cannot copy across multiple cells
and you can also not paste multiple cells worth of data
into a table from say a Google sheet
or another table or a database,
and you can't sort with a simple table feature
in any other way except for dragging and dropping
these cells manually.
However, for sorting and for pasting
and copying across multiple cells,
there is indeed a workaround, a cool little trick,
and that is going to bring us into
the tips and tricks section of this video.
Say you want to copy all the data across this table
and paste it somewhere else,
or you have data in another table
and you want to paste it into this table,
or you want to sort the data
not by having to drag and drop manually.
Well, to accomplish literally all of these things,
all we need to do is first turn this into a database.
Once we've done that,
we can accomplish all three of those things.
I can come and I can create a sort like so.
So I'm gonna go ahead and sort by,
let's go and sort by type for this one.
I can also copy and paste across multiple cells
if I use a database.
So I can come here and I can select all of these cells
and then I can come down here
and make myself yet another table database.
It has to be a database at first.
And we also need to replicate the properties
that are in our original tables,
so I'm gonna make that game,
I'm going to turn this one into text
and I'm going to call it type.
And once I have those in place,
I can click here and then make sure
I'm not inside this cell.
I want to just have it selected in blue
and I can paste all of my data across
and then finally come up here
and turn this into a simple table.
One last cool trick here is that you can add
your simple tables into synced blocks,
into template blocks, and into even database templates.
So just like any other block,
you can come and create a synced block if you want,
and then you could drag your table into it.
And by doing so you could go ahead and copy and sync this
to other pages in your workspace.
I've got a whole video on synced blocks,
so check that out if you don't know
what this feature is all about.
And you can also add your tables into database templates.
So I want to give you a quick example
of how and why you might want to use that.
And I'm gonna show you a little template
I've made for recurring tasks.
So I've got this task database right here,
and let's just say I want to make a recurring task,
but I want to have a log of what I've done each time
I've done that task in there.
Well, I could go ahead and create a template
called Task with Log,
and it's just gonna have a simple table inside there.
So what that gets us is something like this,
where I could mark off my task as done
each time I want it to recur,
and I've got a whole video on recurring tasks in Notion
if you're curious about how to do that.
But I could write exactly what I did each time
I did the task in a simple table.
Now, in addition to this video,
I've also created a full written guide
for the simple tables feature,
so you can find that in the description down below
if you are curious,
and if you are completely new to Notion
or you want to learn the basics,
I've got a free course called Notion Fundamentals.
You can find that over at ThomasJFrank.com/fundamentals.
It is completely open, completely free,
and it will take you from a completely blank page
inside of Notion to learning and mastering
all of Notion's most basic features.
So go through that if you want to learn
how to use this tool.
You can also check out my free templates
over at ThomasJFrank.com/templates,
including my task manager template,
which I use every single day, it is very robust,
along with my note taking template,
habit tracker, and lots more.
Finally, if you're a YouTuber or creator like myself,
you may also want to check out the Creator's Companion.
Is the most robust template that I have ever created
and it is literally the exact system that my team and I use
to manage all of my channels, my main channel,
this channel, my blogs, literally everything that we publish
anywhere on the internet starts in the idea generation area
of Creator's Companion and goes through the process
inside one single Notion template.
No more juggling Todoist and Evernote and Google Sheets
and all these different tools.
It is literally in one system.
We absolutely love using it.
It makes us more productive,
and I think you will love it as well.
Check that out over at ThomasJFrank.com/CC
if you're curious.
And last but not least,
you can follow me on Twitter @TomFrankly
especially if you have Notion questions.
The comment section down below is a good place to put them,
but I answer faster on Twitter,
so follow me over there
and let me know what is on your mind.
Thanks as always for watching
and I'll see you in the next one.
(upbeat music)