Notion Table: How to Insert a Simple Table or a Database Table

To enter a table in Notion, type /table on an empty line and pick Table for a simple table, or type /Table view and press Enter for a database shown as a table. A simple table is a grid of text with headers, merged cells and cell colors. A database table turns every row into a page and every column into a typed property you can filter, sort and calculate. I'd start with a simple table when the grid is there to be read, and with a database the moment each row is something you'll track, because a simple table row is only text and a database row is a record.

For a rate card in a proposal, a package comparison or the numbers you'll walk through in a meeting, choose a simple table. For a client list, a task list or anything you'll filter by status or due date, choose a database in table view. Not sure yet? Start simple: a simple table can become a database later, and a table database with only one view can go back. If an older tutorial tells you to pick "Table - Inline" or "Table - Full Page", the menu names have changed since; the current ones are below.

Simple table or database table: which one do you need?

Notion's guide to simple tables and databases sums up the simple one in a line: "Simple tables let you create columns and rows. Display important text. Add headers. And that's just about it." A database is a different object. Every item in it is a Notion page, and in table view each column is one of that page's properties. Here's what each one gives you, feature by feature.

The deciding question is what a row means. If it's a line in a document, a simple table is enough. If it's a client, a task or an invoice that will pick up a date, an owner and a status, it's a record, and Notion's guide says to skip the simple table "when you need to capture multiple, categorical pieces of information about each item, like a sales CRM."

Which table for which job

• Rate card or package comparison in a proposal: simple table. Nobody filters a list of packages; they read it.
• Metrics you'll report in a meeting: simple table. Notion's guide uses this exact example, because the grid keeps attention on the numbers.
• Definitions for the metrics in a team doc: simple table, also one of the guide's own suggestions.
• An event plan, such as a team offsite: start with a simple table while ideas are still moving, then convert once everyone has signed off on the schedule and items need dates and owners. That's the order Notion's guide recommends.
• A client list or task list: database from the first row. Each entry needs several fields, and a client project tracker grows from exactly this kind of table.
• Anything you'll connect to Slack or a no-code tool: database. The guide calls databases "a better option from the get-go" for integrations.

How to insert a simple table in Notion

Notion's help page for simple tables lists two ways in and a handful of edge controls. A new table is 2x3 with no formatting, according to Notion VIP's notes on simple tables.

1. Hover over an empty line, click the + in the left margin and select Table. From the keyboard, type /table and select the first option.
2. Click into a cell and type. Press Tab to move to the next cell across.
3. To add a row, hover over the bottom of the table and click +. To add a column, hover over its right side and click +.
4. Drag the bottom right corner of the table to add or remove rows and columns at the same time.
5. Drag the side of a column to make it wider or narrower. Row heights follow whatever is in the cells.
6. Hover over the table and select ⋮⋮ → Fit to page width to snap it to the width of the page or column it sits in.

Headers, handles, colors and merged cells

A simple table spreads its controls across a handle for each row and column, the controls inside each cell, and the ••• menu for the whole table. Knowing which one does what saves a lot of hovering.

Header row and header column

Hover over the first cell of a row or column and select the six-dot icon to create a header row or header column. Notion shades it so it stands apart from the data. The same two switches sit in the table's Options menu, which Notion's guide describes as adding "a colored header background and bolded header text." I'd turn on the header row for almost every table, since it tells a reader at a glance which line is labels and which is content.

The row and column handle

The handle on each row or column adds a neighbor: above or below for a row, left or right for a column. Notion VIP lists duplicate, delete and clear in the same menu, and dragging the handle moves the row or column to a new spot. Clear is the quick way to empty a whole row while keeping its place.

To format a full row or column at once, select all of its cells and press cmd/ctrl + B; Notion VIP notes that shortcuts like this apply to every selected cell.

Cell color and clearing

Click into a cell and select the three-dot icon on its right side to change the text color or background color, or to clear the cell's contents. Color is set cell by cell here. In a database, cells get color from rules instead, which our guide to conditional color in Notion views sets up. Notion's help documents no alignment setting for either kind of table, so centering text in Notion takes a workaround, such as an equation line for a centered title above the table.

Merge and unmerge cells

1. Select a rectangular group of cells.
2. Open the cell menu and click Merge cells.

The top-left (anchor) cell keeps all of its content, and the other selected cells are cleared. So merge first and type second, or move any text you need into the top-left cell before merging. To undo a merge, select the merged cell, open the cell menu and click Unmerge cells. The anchor cell keeps its text and the covered cells come back as empty cells, so unmerging won't bring cleared text back. Merging is meant for spanning headers and grouped sections, like a single "Design" label across the columns for its deliverables.

Put a table beside other content

Drag the table by its ⋮⋮ handle next to any other block and follow the blue guides; dropping it there creates a column. That's how you put a rate card next to the paragraph explaining it. Columns are available on tablet but not on mobile, where the right-hand column shows up under the left one.

What you can put in a simple table cell

A cell takes text you can format, hyperlinks, and @-mentions of pages, people and dates. Press shift + enter for a line break inside the cell, which Notion's keyboard shortcuts describe as a line break within a block of text. Because a simple table stores plain text, Notion's guide says all of the collaboration tools, including inline comments, work as expected; cmd/ctrl + shift + M creates a comment. For lists inside a cell, our guide to bullet points in a Notion table covers both simple tables and database cells.

How to insert a database table in Notion

A database table looks like a grid, but Notion's help page for table views treats each row as a database entry that can open as its own page. There are two ways to start one.

1. Inline, inside a page you're already writing: type /Table view and press Enter.
2. As its own full page: create a new page, then under Get started with, click ••• → Table.

Notion's guide to creating a database adds a third route: open an existing page and use the slash command /database. The same page offers a Notion AI database builder, which "is free on the Business or Enterprise plans"; on other plans it uses credits from your workspace. New databases are created as tables, so whichever route you take, you start in table view.

Set up the columns

• The first column holds the name of each database page. You can't delete it, because that Title property is what gives you access to each page, but you can drag it left or right.
• To add a property, click an existing property and choose Insert left or Insert right. Notion's own database walkthrough also uses the + button to the right of a property.
• To change what a column holds, click its name, then Edit property → Change type. Choosing between Select and Status for progress is its own decision, which our Status vs Select comparison walks through.

Work with rows

• Click + New at the bottom of the table to add a row.
• To open a row as a page, hover over a cell in the Name column and click OPEN.
• Drag a row up or down by the ⋮⋮ icon on its left. Drag a column by its heading.
• To edit several rows at once, hover over a row and click the checkbox that appears next to it.

Table tools a simple table doesn't have

• Wrap text: click a property name and select Wrap text so long entries show in full.
• Calculate: click a property, hover over Calculate and pick an option. Which options you see depends on the property type.
• Freeze up to column: click a column name and choose Freeze up to column so that column stays visible on the left while you scroll, as described in Notion's views, filters and sorts help. Unfreeze column reverses it.
• Filter and Sort: both live in the settings menu at the top of the database, and each view keeps its own filter.
• More views: the same rows can show up as a board, a calendar or a timeline. Our guide to choosing a database view matches each layout to the question it answers.
• Relations: a database can link its rows to rows in another database, such as projects to clients, which our guide to relations and rollups builds step by step.

Inline and full-page databases switch places too; the conversion table below has both moves.

Convert a simple table to a database, and back

A first choice isn't permanent, because both directions exist. They don't have the same conditions, though.

The database-to-simple-table route comes from Notion VIP's write-up of simple tables rather than Notion's help. The help pages also don't say what happens to a simple table's first row, its cell colors or its merged cells when it becomes a database. Before converting a table you care about, drop a copy of it: holding option/alt while you drag and drop duplicates any content on a page, according to Notion's shortcuts list. Convert the copy and compare the two. Notion handles the conversion; deciding which rows deserve to be records, and which properties they need next, is still your call.

Getting spreadsheet data into a Notion table

Notion's simple table help is blunt about pasting: "At this time, you can't paste in multiple simple table cells at once." Most documented routes for a block of data create a database, which you can then keep or turn into a simple table.

The import routes are covered in Notion's help page on importing data, and they run on desktop and web, not on mobile. Because a merge adds rows and never updates them, I'd check for duplicates right after every merge rather than at the end of the month.

How to add something under a table

Write the new text on any free line, then drag it below the table by its ⋮⋮ handle, which Notion's help calls your handle for drag and drop. From the keyboard, press esc to select the block you're in, then hold cmd/ctrl + shift and press the down arrow; that shortcut moves a selected block around the page, one block at a time, and the whole table counts as one block.

My pick: decide what a row is, then insert

Use a simple table for anything people read: a rate card, a package comparison, a meeting summary, a set of definitions. Use a database in table view for anything people track: clients, tasks, invoices, deliverables with owners and dates. I'd start with a database that has only the Name column and the one property you'll filter by, add a second view once that one is in daily use, and grow from there.

A good signal that you've outgrown simple tables is the third one. If you're about to build another simple table listing the same kind of thing, such as a third client's deliverables, make it one database with a property for the client instead. Our guide to Notion database organization covers when one database is enough and when to split.