Over the past year, Notion has rolled out a host of new features. That gives you more options, but it can also make a workspace more complex more quickly. Beginner or more advanced user, these three basic principles will help you build a structured and secure Notion environment.
1. Databases
A page for temporary notes is perfectly fine, but information you use regularly or share with others is better stored in a database.
A database gives your information a consistent structure, making it easier to find what you need. That helps you, your colleagues, clients, automations and AI. Even if you work alone or don’t use AI, that structure is well worth the effort.
Of course, you don’t need to create a separate database for every topic. In our view, these are three essential databases for a professional Notion workspace:
- Tasks
- Contacts
- Documents
You can expand these later with projects, organisations, meetings, and more.
Notion allows you to combine multiple data sources in a single database, but we recommend using one data source per database.
Keep your databases on a separate page and use linked views in your day-to-day pages and dashboards.
2. Users
Regularly check who has access to your workspace and pages. Make sure you distinguish between guests and members.
Guests are external users, such as clients or suppliers, whom you give access to specific pages. You don’t have to pay for guests, but the maximum number is limited.
Members are part of your workspace and are charged for on paid plans.
Don’t just check who has access, but also what permissions they have. Does someone need to be able to edit information, leave comments or only view it?
Be particularly careful when sharing one central database with different external users. A filtered view does not mean that the other data is protected. Anyone with access to the underlying data may be able to see more than you intend.
From the Business plan onwards (see pricing), you can use page-level access. This allows you, for example, to ensure that an employee or client can only access database items assigned to them based on a person property. They will not have access to the other database pages.
3. Settings
The settings of a Notion workspace are easy to overlook. Yet they contain plenty of options that can make your workspace more secure and user-friendly. Here are a few things we would definitely check:
Account
Secure your account with two-factor authentication (2FA) or a passkey. It’s also worth reviewing your notifications and personal preferences.
Workspace
Give your workspace a name and icon, and set up a custom landing page.
Features
Under Notion AI, check whether your data may be shared with Notion to help improve Notion AI. We disable this by default.
Under Public pages, you can review which pages are publicly available. You can also set up your domain name for Notion Sites here.
Admin
Choose which teamspace should be the default in your workspace.
Identity is only available on Business and Enterprise plans, but it offers significant benefits in terms of security.
Access & billing
Check the number of paid members and your billing details. Read more here about how Notion handles billing.
In summary
The more capabilities Notion adds, the more important it becomes to have a solid and clearly defined foundation.
Start with structured databases and limit both user access and permissions.
Has your workspace grown somewhat organically over the years (read: turned into a bit of a mess)? At Wielson, we’re happy to help with an audit, optimisation or restructuring of your workspace.