Notion Fundamentals: How to Create and Edit Pages

Notion Pages are the foundational building blocks of the entire platform, serving both as content canvases and as a navigation system where page hierarchies in the sidebar mirror links embedded in the content. You can create pages from scratch, nest them infinitely, or place them inside databases where they gain properties like tags. Customization is a major highlight: users can add icons and cover images, adjust fonts and full-width modes, and manage comments and backlinks directly on the page. Backlinks are automatically generated when linking to a page, and their display can be toggled to control clutter. Breadcrumbs reveal your location, though database pages remain hidden from the sidebar and are accessed via their database views. Overall, the lesson emphasizes that mastering pages unlocks flexible, deep organization, with further resources available through the course hub.

• ▶ 0:00 Pages are a foundational Notion feature; the lesson builds a simple example page from scratch, covering how to create, navigate, edit, and customize pages.
• ▶ 1:41 Pages also serve as navigation: a page can contain links to other pages as blocks, and the same hierarchy appears in the sidebar—unlike traditional note apps where navigation and content are separate.
• ▶ 2:21 A key distinction: pages can be top-level, nested inside other pages, or inside databases—where database pages include properties (like tags) shown as columns.
• ▶ 3:45 Create a page from scratch via the “add page” area or sidebar “New page,” then name it and choose the Empty option under initial setup to start with a clean canvas.
• ▶ 5:18 Enhance the page with an icon and a cover image — both can be random, linked, uploaded, or custom, and appear in multiple locations like the page top, breadcrumbs, and sidebar.
• ▶ 6:30 Adjust page display settings through the three-dot menu: switch fonts (default, serif, mono), enable small text, and toggle full-width mode for flexible layouts.
• ▶ 7:20 You can add comments to a whole page, or to individual blocks/text (covered later), enabling contextual feedback.
• ▶ 7:32 Linking to a page from anywhere automatically creates a backlink to that source; use Control+L to link and then mention it to see the backlink appear on the target page.
• ▶ 8:04 Customize the display of backlinks (popover, expand inline, or off) and page comments (expand or off) to control page clutter.
• ▶ 8:46 Notion supports unlimited nested pages ("turtles all the way down"), allowing deep hierarchical structures like Page 3 inside Page 2 inside Page 1.
• ▶ 9:08 Breadcrumbs at the top show your location, but pages inside databases are not listed in the sidebar — only database views are; find them through the database itself.
• ▶ 10:05 The course hub at thomasjfrank.com/fundamentals provides written lessons and duplicatable templates, and the next lesson covers Notion's hybrid markdown writing system.

• ▶ 0:00 Introduction and Page Fundamentals (0:00 - 3:11) - - Course plan, what a page is, page navigation, and the page vs database difference.
• ▶ 3:11 Creating and Formatting Page Content (3:11 - 7:12) - - Builds the example page with text, icons, covers, and display settings.
• ▶ 7:12 Comments and Backlinks (7:12 - 8:27) - - Adding comments, working with backlinks, and customizing their display.
• ▶ 8:27 Navigation and Lesson Wrap-Up (8:27 - 10:58) - - Navigating nested pages, then lesson wrap-up with resources and next steps.