30+ new Notion features you should know about

This video reviews Notion’s major 2024 updates, which the host frames as a dramatic evolution of the platform into a more powerful, all-in-one workspace. Key highlights include the new Notion Calendar unifying Google Calendar and Notion databases, and Layout Builder with Side Peek for redesigned database pages. Automations are called the biggest change, now featuring custom formulas, variables, email actions, and webhook integrations that enable real-time event-driven workflows. Notion Forms simplifies client submissions, while Notion Sites turns public pages into a full website builder, competing with Framer and Squarespace. AI gains native PDF/image analysis, global shortcuts, and connections to tools like Slack and GitHub, while quality-of-life additions like custom emoji, Suggested Edits, and a floating table of contents round out the release. The video also highlights thoughtful interface tweaks, from a three-column inbox layout to new formula functions, showing that Notion focused on both major features and the “paper cuts” in user experience.

• ▶ 0:20 Notion Calendar unifies Google Calendar accounts and Notion databases into one week view, and adds scheduling slots and multiple time-zone displays.
• ▶ 1:42 Layout Builder is the host's favorite 2024 feature, letting users redesign database pages with pinned properties, sidebars, and instant content previews in Side Peek.
• ▶ 2:59 Use Control/Command + Shift + Backslash to toggle database page side panels, though the host notes it should also work in Side Peek.
• ▶ 3:19 Notion Automations are the biggest change in Notion in 2024, evolving from a basic "if this then that" builder into a dramatically more powerful tool.
• ▶ 3:58 Custom formulas inside automation actions, including the "trigger page" object, allow users to dynamically change values based on the context of the triggering page.
• ▶ 4:31 New automation actions—such as Define Variables and Send Mail—add significant power, but the Send Webhook action at ▶ 5:24 is the game-changer, enabling real-time, event-driven integrations that eliminate costly API polling.
• ▶ 7:05 Notion Forms is a built-in form builder created via /form that lets you share forms without giving recipients access to the underlying database — ideal for clients submitting tasks into a centralized database.
• ▶ 8:51 Notion Home's "My Tasks" widget is currently the only place in Notion that combines pages from multiple task databases into one unified view.
• ▶ 11:02 Buttons are now available as a database property, so clicking a button in a row triggers an automation just like a standalone button.
• ▶ 12:25 Basic public pages have been available since at least 2018, letting users publish simple live sites (e.g., resumes or bake sale pages) and share URLs.
• ▶ 12:53 Notion Sites adds custom domains, header/navigation, favicons, Google Analytics, and SEO settings, turning public pages into a full website builder product.
• ▶ 13:20 This positions Notion as a direct competitor to established builders like Framer, Squarespace, and Wix.
• ▶ 13:29 Notion Marketplace replaces the old Templates sidebar, letting almost anyone share or sell templates directly inside Notion.
• ▶ 14:10 Creators can sell or give away templates, collect emails, and get template protection to prevent re-sharing.
• ▶ 14:47 Notion acts as merchant of record, handling sales tax and managing refunds by removing paid templates from buyers' workspaces.
• ▶ 14:54 Custom emoji was the biggest applause-worthy feature at the Make with Notion event in San Francisco.
• ▶ 15:13 Notion now supports custom emoji similar to Slack or Discord, distinct from the existing upload option.
• ▶ 15:21 Custom emoji become part of a set, and users can add GIFs as custom emoji.
• ▶ 15:28 Suggested Edits are introduced as a review feature similar to Google Docs, letting users propose page structure changes without direct editing; users need "Can Comment" permission or higher, and editors can approve or reject suggestions.
• ▶ 15:46 The feature works well but has a major limitation: no easy way to hide suggestions—users must either accept them (altering the page) or reject them (deleting the suggestions).
• ▶ 16:09 The narrator hopes this feature gets more refinement in 2025, noting it has potential but currently lacks flexibility around dismissing or hiding suggestions.
• ▶ 16:23 Notion AI can now analyze PDFs and images, including scanned/image-only PDFs.
• ▶ 16:34 Use Notion AI as an OCR bot to digitize handwritten notes directly inside Notion.
• ▶ 16:56 Previous workarounds (external APIs like OpenAI or Gemini) are no longer needed—this capability is now native in Notion.
• ▶ 17:09 Paid Notion AI users get a new global AI shortcut: Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + J opens a floating, Raycast-like Notion AI window from anywhere on desktop.
• ▶ 17:26 Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + K opens Notion's global search from any app, even while using other applications—the speaker calls it a favorite.
• ▶ 17:45 The section ends with a light-hearted tangent about the speaker's pride in custom CSS styling for keyboard input elements on their website.
• ▶ 17:53 Notion AI can now connect to external tools like Slack, GitHub, and Google Drive, allowing it to answer questions about files and projects across those platforms.
• ▶ 18:01 New one-click AI actions can quickly summarize a page or extract action items, accessed via the icon in the bottom right corner.
• ▶ 18:15 Notion AI now has general knowledge capabilities, and users can @-mention people or pages to narrow searches, as well as reference style guides to direct the AI's tone and writing style.
• ▶ 18:53 Notion added a floating table of contents for pages using heading blocks, letting you hover to see and jump to all headings—a long-requested writing app staple.
• ▶ 19:19 The sidebar's Private section now shows a "More" button that opens a slide-out pane, where you can sort all private pages by last edited date.
• ▶ 19:54 The Inbox can now be locked as a centered pane, creating a three-column layout (sidebar, inbox, content) that makes Notion feel like an email client.
• ▶ 22:06 The lightning round kicks off, focusing on quality-of-life tweaks and fixes that address "little paper cuts" viewers likely missed.
• ▶ 22:15 New formula functions are introduced, described as math functions for "formula nerds."
• ▶ 22:23 The first explicitly mentioned function is mean, with additional math functions teased.
• ▶ 22:25 Notion formulas now support a median function for statistical calculations.
• ▶ 22:28 The today() function returns a date object with no time component, making date comparisons and calculations more useful.
• ▶ 22:34 New padStart and padEnd functions append strings before or after an original string, useful for formatting numbers or fixed-width outputs.
• ▶ 22:43 Notion added an independent text and background color picker, allowing separate color choices for content.
• ▶ 23:00 The customization also applies to button blocks, but not database buttons.
• ▶ 23:04 The speaker finds the feature "kind of gross," but used it anyway for demonstration.
• ▶ 23:08 The speaker highlights Notion's new rounded checkboxes as a small but welcome quality-of-life improvement.
• ▶ 23:12 He jokes that old square checkboxes felt like they could give him "a pixel cut" from their sharp edges.
• ▶ 23:22 He humorously calls the square checkboxes "constant OSHA violations" and celebrates them now being "OSHA compliant."
• ▶ 23:31 Notion introduces personalized page URLs, a paid feature replacing the long random string in public page URLs with cleaner custom text.
• ▶ 23:42 Users can swap the default "gobbledygook" URL for a simple custom one like weighted scores.
• ▶ 23:46 Custom URLs are much easier to say aloud, put on screen, remember, and type manually for an audience.
• ▶ 23:52 Notion now supports commenting directly on database properties.
• ▶ 24:00 Users can add comments to specific database property values on a page, both in table view and on full-page database pages.
• ▶ 23:50 This is especially useful for properties containing URLs, making it easier to attach notes or feedback directly to those values.
• ▶ 24:08 Notion now supports links on images, allowing users to link to external sites directly from an image.
• ▶ 24:08 The speaker notes they hadn’t realized this wasn’t possible before, highlighting it as a small but useful addition.
• ▶ 24:08 This feature is presented as part of the broader roundup of minor Notion features.
• ▶ 24:14 Desktop tab hover previews let users see a quick visual preview of a page by hovering over a tab in Notion.
• ▶ 24:14 Positioned as a minor, quality-of-life feature rather than a major workflow tool.
• ▶ 24:14 The speaker admits they rarely use it, but acknowledges it as an easy-to-overlook update.
• ▶ 24:24 Notion has improved Command F (Cmd+F) search for on-page searching, making it a much more important feature than the previous minor one.
• ▶ 24:36 Previously, on-page search missed two types of content: content inside closed toggles and content inside database properties — now both are findable with Cmd+F.
• ▶ 24:46 The speaker demonstrates searching for "tiny turtle" with Cmd+F, successfully highlighting content that previously would not have surfaced.
• ▶ 24:50 The formula editor adds a "Show Details" (i) button that reveals the data type of a formula's return value.
• ▶ 25:02 An example shows a formula returning a list of blocks, clearly labeled and bracketed as a list/array rather than a comma-separated string.
• ▶ 25:18 This detail is especially useful in automations, helping you tell whether output is a real date or just text that looks like a date — earning strong praise from the speaker.
• ▶ 25:31 The speaker highlights Notion's new built-in option to shorten URLs within URL properties, calling it a favorite feature.
• ▶ 25:31 The feature is simple to enable—toggling it on neatly truncates long URLs in databases, improving the aesthetic cleanliness of pages and databases.
• ▶ 25:31 The speaker begins introducing the next minor feature: the ability to hide weekends in calendar view, a straightforward display toggle for calendar-based databases.
• ▶ 25:39 A visual/UI improvement makes the calendar layout appear less truncated and "looks a little bit better."
• ▶ 25:40 Notion introduces a practical quality-of-life feature: users can hide weekends in calendar view for a cleaner, workday-focused view.
• [25:43–25:44] The speaker notes that since this is a feature release, it earns a spot on the list.
• ▶ 25:44 The speaker signals one final release must be added to the list of Notion features.
• ▶ 25:46 This is the last item in the rundown of Notion's own official releases.
• ▶ 25:48 The final release is a Monday.com data importer, allowing users to bring data from Monday.com into Notion.
• ▶ 25:50 The speaker introduces Flylighter, their team's Notion web clipper, which captures highlights and full article text, and integrates with Notion databases by letting users fill in properties during capture.
• ▶ 26:13 The speaker recommends Flylighter for research workflows needing to clip and organize web content directly into structured Notion databases, concluding the section.
• ▶ 26:15 A free browser extension lets users create custom “flows” that automatically fill database properties and take highlights from web content, described as “a Web Clipper for nerds.”
• ▶ 26:33 Users can bypass the waitlist by joining the team’s Discord, where they get direct interaction with the speaker and can help shape the roadmap.
• ▶ 26:41 Discord members also get early access to the latest build, with upcoming beta testing opportunities for future Dev builds.
• ▶ 26:49 Ultimate Brain 3.0 is a major release from the speaker's team—a complete from-the-ground-up redesign of their signature Notion template for life management, made leaner and easier to use.
• ▶ 27:21 The speaker's favorite new feature is the "Execute" section on the "My Day" page, inspired by Wunderlist: checking a checkbox on any task sends it to a focused daily list, without relying on due dates.
• ▶ 28:04 The Execute section provides a laser-focused area showing only deliberately chosen tasks, including completed/outstanding items, time tracking, and energy/location tags; get Ultimate Brain 3.0 via the link in the description or at thomasjfrank.com/brain.
• ▶ 28:25 The speaker introduces Notion Helper, a JavaScript library built to simplify working with the verbose and difficult Notion API.
• ▶ 28:46 The library was created out of personal frustration with writing repetitive boilerplate code like "a zillion brackets and curly braces" for Notion projects.
• ▶ 29:16 Notion Helper replaces roughly 80 lines of raw API code with a fluent, chainable interface that includes built-in loop functions for complex properties.
• ▶ 30:01 The speaker introduces a Loop function, an automation tool for working with arrays inside Notion.
• ▶ 30:03 It automatically traverses arrays and lets you create any block for each item, with further advanced capabilities.
• ▶ 30:10 The tool is available as open source on npm and GitHub, with additional examples linked below the video.
• ▶ 30:17 A consolidated list of links to all mentioned resources will be provided below the video.
• ▶ 30:21 This marks the complete wrap-up of everything Notion released in 2024.
• ▶ 30:23 The speaker also highlights their own team's releases alongside Notion's official updates.
• ▶ 30:25 The speaker transitions to the new year, teasing "a whole bunch of cool stuff" and closing out previous year's releases.
• ▶ 30:34 Two upcoming tutorials are announced: a spaced repetition tutorial for Notion and a time tracking tutorial, already implemented in Ultimate Brain 3.0.
• ▶ 30:41 The speaker is excited about Ultimate Brain 3.0 ("freaking rocks") and says the time tracking tutorial will be released "very, very soon."
• ▶ 30:44 Something "in particular" is arriving "very, very soon," teasing upcoming Notion content.
• ▶ 30:50 Viewers are urged to subscribe to the YouTube channel so they don't miss new tutorials and template releases.
• ▶ 30:53 The speaker invites viewers to join the "Notion Tips" newsletter at thomasjfrank.com for updates.
• ▶ 30:55 Directs viewers to resources at thomasjfrank.com and mentions "fundamentals" as useful.
• ▶ 31:00 Recommends a specific related video, encouraging viewers to click to help the algorithm.
• ▶ 31:08 Thanks the audience for watching and promises to see them in the next video.

• ▶ 0:00 Introduction, Calendar & Layout Builder (0:00 - 3:16) - Opens with the 2024 Notion update intro, then covers Notion Calendar and the Layout Builder.
• ▶ 3:16 Notion Automations Upgrades (3:16 - 7:05) - Covers automation upgrades: custom formulas, new actions like variables/notifications/mail, and the send webhook action.
• ▶ 7:05 Forms, Home, Charts & Database Buttons (7:05 - 12:28) - Covers Notion Forms, Home/My Tasks widget, Charts as a database view, and database buttons with time tracking.
• ▶ 12:28 Sites, Marketplace, Emoji, Edits & AI (12:28 - 18:42) - Covers Notion Sites, Marketplace, custom emoji, suggested edits, and Notion AI upgrades including PDF analysis.
• ▶ 18:42 Minor Features & Lightning Round (18:42 - 31:12) - Wraps up with minor releases, sorting/inbox tweaks, URL mentions, image cropping, imports, shortcuts, and the lightning round of quality-of-life features.