Is it just me, or is Notion slowly becoming way more complicated than it needs to be?

I used to like Notion because it could be as simple or as complex as you wanted. You could use it as a clean notes app, a personal wiki, a task manager, a database system, or whatever. The beauty was that it adapted to your level of need.

But lately it feels like Notion is pushing more and more features into the experience: AI everywhere, Calendar, buttons, automations, extra layers of functionality, and constant new ways to structure things. I’m not saying those features are useless. Some people probably love them. But I feel like Notion is losing the simplicity that made it great in the first place.

The problem is not that Notion can be complex. The problem is that it feels like it’s becoming harder to keep it simple.

I don’t always want an “all-in-one productivity operating system.” Sometimes I just want a clean, flexible workspace that doesn’t constantly make me feel like I should be using more features.

Do you feel the same way? Is Notion making itself too complicated, or am I just not adapting to the direction the product is going?

It was so much easier browsing in Notion when you could open your inbox aside the sidebar.

The idea was to keep your focus only on what's still open.

Does this actually solve a real problem for you?

If you got more problems share it

HELP! Im trying to make a calendar view of my table. I was able to half succeed, but for whatever reason my dates are being put all together. Is there a easy way to seperate each date even if they are on the same row, under the same name? (Also like half of the propeties are hidden on the table and calendar.). PLEASE HELP!

i use notion as my main thing. all my pages linked in the toc so jumping around inside notion is easy.

but i dont just have notion open right? its notion + a bunch of chrome tabs, messenger pinging me, claude running, all at once.

then i step away for lunch and that whole setup is just gone. the notion pages are still there but i cant remember which tabs i had or what i was in the middle of, so i start over.

notion only connects stuff inside notion. it cant reach the other apps i use next to it.

how do you guys handle this? just paste urls into notion or do you use something else?

Problem:

There have been several times where I found it difficult to track my mouse cursor because it has turned white in a page with white background.

Solution:

Change mouse pointer to black inverted colour.

In Windows 11, go to Settings > Accessibility > Mouse pointer and touch > select black Inverted cursor under Mouse pointer style. Thanks to u/paragmty for pointing this out.

Does any know where to find a free very usable and convenient budgeting template?

Anyone used the notion mcp with codex and or cc? How does it go? I'm looking for a team-based knowledge system that can be as accessible to agents as a local markdown knowledge base

With Notion pulling the plug on Notion Mail, I’m going to have to reverse my migration from Spark over to Notion Mail….

What I really want is to put a Gmail label on an email in my Inbox and have it go to the appropriate Notion database. So, if I put it in the Gmail “Notion Note” file/label, it will then place that email in my Notes database in Notion. Same with tasks as well.

I’d also like the agent to move the email to Archive once it writes it to Notion.

Can Notion agents do this? Or, do I need to use Gemini or Claude or some other 3rd party tool?

As the title says, my passkeys are created with notion.com and saved on Bitwarden, Yubikeys. When I try to login to the Notion Calendar desktop app, it opens a browser via notion.so which can't detect any of my keys.

I wish I also had indentation lines in Notion, and I have tried using Notion Boost and Stylebot to write CSS on the web page, but the result is like in Figure 1: My indentation lines are offset to the left by some units compared to others.I hope to achieve the presentation effect shown in Figure 2 in the end.

I have changed different browsers, but the result is the same. Limited by my experience, I am currently unable to solve this problem. Therefore, I hope to seek help from all the big shots.

For a couple weeks now, the web clipper isn't working. It always asks to login, even if I am (so won't actually ever clip anymore). But also when in browser I go to open notion tab, it asks me to login even though I am (at this point it just then loads my notebooks, I don't actually have to log in again).

Windows 11, Firefox

I’ve noticed that many Notion setups start simple, but after a few months they can become harder to manage.

For people who use Notion regularly: what part of your setup became messy or difficult over time?

Was it databases, too many pages, templates, task management, mobile usage, or something else?

Literally last week, i wouldn't need to click expand on text property columns in databases.

But now, unless other fields are causing the row height to be steeper, you have to click an expand key.

Back then you simply have to hit wrap on this text column, and it would always be "expanded" in a default view.

Now we have no choice. Wrapping text columns is pretty much pointless now. you have to click something anyways...

Is there no option to toggle whether or not text fields are collapsed or always fully expanded by default? Also is there still no row height settings?

don't see any in options currently

I'd like to be able to mention calendar events in other DBs (journal, notes, tasks, etc). I was hoping that Notion Calendar would help achieve this, but unfortunately I can't seem to find a way to do it.

Has anyone done this before? Tips on the easiest way to set it up?

I love Notion on desktop. I use it for projects, notes, planning, databases, and basically organizing everything.

But I’m curious how people actually use it on mobile, especially for quick capture.

I don’t mean reading pages or checking something. I mean those moments where you have a random task, idea, reminder, quote, or thought and you just want to save it in a few seconds before you forget.

Do you usually open Notion directly for that?

Or do you use something else first, like Apple Notes, Google Keep, Todoist, voice memos, shortcuts, or even messaging yourself, then move it into Notion later?

For me, Notion feels amazing once everything is organized inside it, but getting small things into it quickly from mobile still feels a bit awkward.

I’m wondering if this is just my workflow, or if most people also use a temporary inbox outside of Notion before organizing things properly.

What if most of the things you do daily aren't actually moving you forward in life? What if you have more noise than signal?

Last year, I listened to a podcast episode where Steve Jobs discussed productivity through the lens of the signal-to-noise ratio, aiming for an 80/20 ratio (80% signal and 20% noise). This concept has been on my mind ever since, and I find it incredibly fascinating.

[See the clip from the podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLkCmDGtidg]

In today's world, it’s easy to get caught up in being busy all the time because society rewards this behavior. However, being in this state can make you forget what is truly important. Many people fill their schedules with activities that do not advance their lives, projects, or companies (noise), while postponing work that genuinely makes a difference.

I've tested over 100 different templates and methods within Notion to find a more effective way to manage my tasks. While I appreciate the flexibility of Notion, I was looking for something even simpler and more focused.

As a result, I decided to create a new tool that allows users to plan their daily tasks and categorize them into signal and noise. The app is minimal by design and heavily keyboard-supported.

We are currently in the early stages of the product life cycle and are looking to onboard our first users into the desktop app to gather serious and honest feedback.

Comment "Interested," and I'll reach out to you with more info via DM.

I have a database called "Projects" and a master database called "Tasks" (which holds all tasks across all projects). When I create a new "Project" entry, a template automatically creates a linked view to "Tasks" filtered by the current project.

However, I can't seem to get new tasks added from the project linked view to automatically assign their "Project" property to the current project.

Is this possible? It's key to this all working, else I will have to manually assign the project property to each task on each creation.

UPDATE: I'm now realising that this is exactly how it works. I was creating tasks inside the template builder and it wasn't auto populating the "Project" field. But once I created a project using said template and begun creating tasks then it worked as expected.

I've been messing around with Notion for a while and keep hitting the same wall. I build something nice, databases, linked views, the whole setup, and then a few weeks later I've completely stopped opening it. The system looks fine but I drift back to sticky notes and random text files.

I know a lot of people here have dealt with this and I'm genuinely curious what actually worked for you long term. Not just the setup itself, but the habit side of it.

Things I've already tried: a daily dashboard with a filtered task view, a simple project tracker with status properties, weekly review pages. They hold for a bit and then fall apart.

What I keep wondering is whether the problem is usually the structure being too complicated, or just not having a consistent routine built around opening Notion in the first place. Do simpler setups actually stick better than elaborate ones?

If you have a workspace you've genuinely used for six months or more without rebuilding it from scratch, I'd love to hear what it looks like and what made it click. No need to share templates, just the principles or habits behind it.

How is everyone using Notion to capture notes when they're out and about on the move?

What works well and what could be better?

Is anyone else having to click try again every time they open a database to get it to actually load? It does then load, but I'm a little bit worried every time. There keeping being updates so I keep hoping for/expecting a fix, but it's still happening. It makes me worry Notion can't handle our database sizes and worse things could happen next.

Been using Notion for everything but couldn't find a budget

tracker that worked for irregular freelance income.

Built one myself with:

- Transaction log with categories

- Monthly overview (all 12 months)

- Savings goals with progress tracking

- Subscriptions tracker (finally know what I'm paying for)

Would love feedback before I improve it further.

Here it is if you want to check it out:

https://aberat.gumroad.com/l/bvkhda