The Definitive Guide to Notion Page Layouts and the Powerful Tabbed Structure
Transcript
In this tutorial series, we're learning Notion by reconstructing the Notion VIP template for tracking your wealth because it bundles all of Notion's advanced features and best practices in a relatively simple system.
And in this one we're going to unpack database page layouts, which is really one of Notion's most powerful but underutilized features,
especially the tabbed layout, which creates database views that are automatically filtered for related items.
And for you to use and reference as you practice these new concepts, the wealth tracker is available to duplicate for members of Notion A-to-Z, along with the Bulletproof framework and all of my resources for getting the most from Notion.
And if you haven't seen the introduction to this series, where I overview the wealth tracking system, go watch that one first one first so this one resonates better. It's linked in the video description.
What Are Page Layouts?
So page layouts apply to database pages, or items of databases when you open them as a page.
And for the most part, we're talking about how the item's properties are displayed within the page.
A page has three primary sections where you can display properties.
And within each section, you have options for how the properties appear.
And then there's an advanced tab feature, which, I mentioned, is really powerful and pretty widely underutilized.
So, we'll dive into that after walking through the basics.
And it's important to keep in mind that each database has just one layout configuration, so when you modify the layout from within a page, it's going to apply to all other pages of the database.
Enter Edit Mode
And the easiest way to edit a layout is to hover your cursor over the title and click Customize layouts.
That's going to split the components of the page into blue boxes.
You select one box at a time to edit it, with its configuration options at the far-right.
And at the top, you can choose another item of the database to display as the preview.
Page Heading
So the first area you can display properties is below the title in what's called the "Heading."
If we click on it, we get a list of properties to the right for "pinning" properties to the heading.
You can pin up to four properties.
And at the bottom, you can choose whether to display the names of the properties,
as well as if and how to display the item's backlinks, or other pages that link to the page.
Main Page Area
And then below the heading is the main page area.
Property Group
And by default, that will include "property group."
So, the property group includes all the properties that you don't use in other places.
If we click on it, each property has an eyeball icon where we can show it, hide it, or hide it when it's empty.
And at the top-right, we can create sections for grouping properties by category, which is just an enormous enhancement to the experience of viewing the page.
So for my assets and liabilities, I've created sections for Classification, Account, and Valuation.
And when you're viewing the page, you can expand and collapse the sections for another big enhancement to the experience.
Property Modules
So, in addition to the property group, you can break out properties into their own individual modules.
That's what I've done for the Last Valuation property in the Holdings layout.
And when you do that, you have the option to display them in a larger size, which is a nice way to bring emphasis to the most important properties and create more of a dashboard feel.
Page Panel
And then for everything you can do in the main page area, you can also do over here in this side panel.
It's a sidebar that can be toggled opened and closed with a details link below the page title.
So the panel's well suited for secondary information or deeper detail.
For the property group or any existing modules, we can click its three-dotted menu and choose Move to panel.
And then you can also create new modules within the panel.
Page Settings
So, if you click outside of the modules or choose Page settings at the top, you can manage how comments appear, hide the icons next to property labels, and make the page full-width.
And most importantly, you switch the structure from Simple to Tabbed.
Tabbed Structure
And this is really what makes layouts so powerful.
It's a quintessential representation of what makes Notion so special.
And that's its unique integration of relational databases and documents.
And these tabs also a highlight a key benefit of my #1 rule for using Notion,
which is to structure all information in related master databases,
then create contextual views for accessing it.
That's the crux of my Bulletproof framework and my approach to every Notion workspace.
So these tabs are views of related databases.
And they're automatically filtered to display only the items related to the current page.
So in a more common example, if we have a database of projects and another for tasks, with each task related to its project,
then within each project we can have tabs that display only its tasks.
And we can have multiple tabs with different layouts and filters and other configurations.
You can have or more tabs for any related database.
So within this asset of the wealth tracker, the Details tab displays all the configured properties and includes the freeform page body,
And then the Valuations tab is a view of the Valuations database that's automatically filtered for this asset's valuations and groups them by year.
So if we were to open another asset, we would see only its valuations.
Every asset and liability displays only its valuations.
And it's entirely automated.
Like I said, this is the perfect representation of Notion's distinctive superpower.
And then the Timeline tab is another automated view of the valuations related this asset.
Instead of a grouped table, it uses the chart layout, and specifically the line chart type.
Conclusion
So you can see how when you use database page layouts to their fullest, you can automatically create really intuitive and pleasing dashboards out of every item of every database.
And they're especially powerful when you follow the Bulletproof method of structuring all content in related master databases.
So grab the wealth tracker template if you haven't already and dissect the page layout configurations,
and then go try these new concepts on your own databases.
Let me know in the YouTube comments if you have any questions,
and be sure to subscribe to Notion VIP for more insights for getting the most from Notion.
