Your Guide to Navigating Notion's Interface (Without Getting Lost)

One of the biggest struggles I see with new Notion users? They feel lost in the interface.

There are buttons everywhere. Menus hiding inside other menus. Buttons that you didn’t even know were there.

It's like walking into a massive toolbox where everything looks important, but you have no idea what half of it does.

Here's the thing: Notion's interface is actually really logical once you understand the system. I'm breaking down every major interface element you'll encounter - especially when working with databases, since that's where most of the confusion happens.

Let’s go through it.

Understanding Notion's Database Interface

Databases are the powerhouse of Notion, but they also have the most complex and often confusing interface.
Here's what every button and menu actually does:

Filter

Upside-down triangle with three lines.

What it does: Shows or hides pages based on properties or conditions you set.

When to use it: When you want to see only specific items - like tasks that are "In Progress" or projects assigned to a specific person.

Pro tip: Filters don't delete anything. They just temporarily hide pages that don't match your criteria. Your data is always safe.

Sort

What it does: Arranges your pages in a specific order based on a property.

When to use it: When you need to see items by priority, deadline, alphabetically, or any other logical order.

Pro tip: You can add multiple sorts together. This is especially helpful when you have many items that share the same sorted property and Notion applies them in order from top to bottom.

For example: If you have a sort on “Status” but many projects are “In-Progress” then you can add an additional sort to show which of the in-progress projects were last edited.

Search

What it does: Searches within the current database view for specific text.

When to use it: When you know what you're looking for but don't want to scroll through everything.

Pro Tip: This searches only the current database - use Cmd/Ctrl + P for workspace-wide search.

Automations

What it does: Creates automatic actions when certain conditions are met.

When to use it: When you want Notion to do repetitive tasks for you - like sending a Slack message when a task is marked complete, or changing a status when a deadline passes.

Pro tip: Start simple. One trigger, one action. You can always build more complex automations later.

Open in Full Screen

What it does: Expands the database to fill your entire browser window.

When to use it: When you need to focus on the database without distractions, or when you're working with lots of columns.

Pro tip: This button only appears when the database is embedded on a page (not when it's a full-page database).

Settings (Sliders, Previously Three Dots Menu)

This is where the real power lives. Click those three dots and you'll find:

Layout

What it does: Changes how your database displays - table, board, calendar, timeline, gallery, or list.

When to use it: When you want to visualize your data differently. Same data, different view.

Property Visibility

What it does: Shows or hides existing properties or columns in your current view.

When to use it: When you want to focus on certain information and hide the rest. Super useful for creating focused views for different purposes.

Filter (in Settings)

What it does: Same as the Filter button up top, just accessed from a different location.

Some people prefer setting filters from the settings menu because you can see all your view configurations in one place. I tend to tell my clients to navigate to this one, if we already have the settings menu open.

Sort (in Settings)

What it does: Same as the Sort button up top.

Group

What it does: Organizes your database into sections based on a property - like grouping tasks by status or projects by team member. This also makes the grouped tasks together in a toggle.

When to use it: When you want to see your information in categories rather than one long list, if you want to calculate properties of a group (i.e. sum of amounts)

Pro tip: Board views are automatically grouped by the property you choose (usually Status).

Conditional Color

What it does: Automatically colors rows based on rules you set.

When to use it: When you want visual signals - like highlighting overdue tasks in red or high-priority items in yellow. Use sparingly to maximize the effect.

Pro tip: This is different from manually coloring individual pages. These colors update automatically based on your conditions and will change if the conditions change.

Sub-items

What it does: Allows you to nest pages within other pages in the same database, creating parent-child relationships within database items. This will also create two new relation properties, Parent & Child.

When to use it: When you have tasks under projects, or sub-categories under main categories.

Pro tip: You can expand and collapse parent items to show or hide their sub-items - perfect for keeping large databases manageable.

Copy Link to View

What it does: Gives you a URL that opens this specific view with all its filters, sorts, and settings intact.

When to use it: When you want to share a specific view with your team externally, such as in a Slack message or email, or bookmark a particular page and configuration for yourself.

Source

What it does: Shows you which data source this view is pulling from, as you can pull from a database on another page.

When to use it: When you're working with linked databases and need to know where the original data lives.

Pro tip: Multiple views can show the same data source with different filters and layouts. The source is the single source of truth.

Edit Properties

What it does: Opens the property editor where you can add, delete, rename, or change property types.

When to use it: When you need to modify the structure of your database - adding a new column, changing a text property to a select, etc.

Pro tip: Changes to properties affect the entire database, not just your current view.

New (The Blue Button)

What it does: Creates a new page in your database.

When to use it: Every time you want to add a new item!

Pro tip: You can also create new pages by typing a new row in table view or clicking the + in board and list views.

Quick Win: Your Interface Cheat Sheet

Here's your new mental model for Notion's database interface:

• Top toolbar buttons (Filter, Sort, Search) = Quick actions for viewing data differently
• Settings menu (sliders) = Deep configuration and permanent changes
• New button = Add stuff
• Property icons = Click to edit the property itself, not just the content

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Notion is constantly evolving and changing, so be sure to bookmark this page and come back to it for updates or whenever you see a button you're not sure about. Pretty soon, navigating Notion will feel like second nature.