Notion starter kit: Make it easy to access
The fewer number of times we’re made to touch, scroll, or click on a screen, the faster we can get what we want.
As a product designer, I spend my days thinking about how to help people get things done faster and with less friction.
One principle I like to keep at the top of my mind is how fewer clicks = smoother experiences.
You know how people suggest that if we want to stay consistent with our gym habits, we should set up our morning the night before? Sleep in our gym clothes, place our shoes by the door, fill up our water, and pack our gym bag. So all we have to do in the morning is put on our shoes and go.
That’s the goal of this chapter: to make it easy to get into Notion so we can get straight to our goals as seamlessly as possible.
This chapter holds 7 levels of level-ups I use to reduce the number of times I have to touch, click, or scroll on a screen to get into Notion.
(The last one is my current pet project: my attempt to bypass Notion’s front door to get information in even faster.)
Level 1 : Streamline access to the Notion app
Starting off simply at level 1 with downloading the Notion app.
Download the Notion app on desktop: Up until recently, I preferred the browser experience more than the desktop app. But I’ve noticed that the app has become feature-rich to the point where it’s adopted many browser-like capabilities, like the ability to open multiple tabs and windows. It also has offline mode, so when the goal is to make Notion easier to access, being able to open it without an internet connection is a big win.
Notion desktop app
1. Go to <https://www.notion.com/download>
2. Download Notion for macOS or Windows
3. Open the installer and complete setup
4. Sign in to your Notion account Download the Notion app on mobile: I’m not a big fan of using Notion on my phone. I find it cumbersome, especially when I want to edit pages. But having it in my pocket as a reference tool for quick page lookups has been extremely handy.
Notion mobile app
1. Open the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play Store (Android)
2. Search "Notion"
3. Install the Notion app
4. Open Notion and sign inLevel 2: Streamline access to Notion pages
I have a collection of root Life Block pages (which I’ll elaborate on more in my next chapter about making it easy to find information). But the tl;dr is that they serve as my Notion portals. Any page I want to find can be easily accessed in only a few clicks from each page. So it’s important to me to surface my Life Block pages and make them the entryways to my Notion space.
Pin important pages to the side panel: I’ve added custom navigation in my app by pinning each Life Block to the side panel.
Notion side panel
1. Open Notion on desktop
2. Navigate to a page you want instant access to (e.g., a Life Block hub)
3. Click the ⭐ (Favourite) in the top right
4. Repeat for your other "home base" pages
5. In the left sidebar, find the "Favourites" section
6. Drag-and-drop favourites to reorder themAdd favicon-only bookmarks to Chrome: I’ve turned my Chrome browser into a minimal launchpad for my Life Blocks.
Browser bookmark bank
1. In Chrome, navigate to a Notion page you want easy access to
2. Drag the icon next to the URL into the bookmarks bar (my vid shows how to enable your bookmarks bar if it isn't already)
3. Right click the newly added bookmark
Use favicon-only bookmarks
4. Select `Edit`
5. Delete the Name, so that you're left with a tidy text-free collectionPin important pages to the app top bar: I’ve mimicked my Chrome bookmarks bar in the app itself. Even though I already have access to my Life Blocks in my side panel, sometimes the side panel is collapsed. Having them pinned to the top of my app ensures just one less click.
Notion pinned tabs
1. Open Notion on desktop
2. Open a page you return to often
3. Right-click the page in the topbar
4. Click "Pin tab"Add the “Favourites” widget to iPhone: I’ve also added a version of a bookmarks bar on my phone using the Notion Favourites widget allowing me to jump right into the Life Block page I need at any given moment.
iPhone favourites widget
1. Favourite pages you want to bookmark using the Notion side panel steps from above
2. Press and hold iPhone screen until everything jiggles
3. Click `Edit` in the top left corner
4. Click `Add Widget`
5. Search “Notion”
6. Swipe to find Favourites widget and add itAdd the “Recents” widget to iPhone: Sometimes it can be helpful to jump back into whatever page I was just using. That’s where the Recents widget comes in.
iPhone recents widget
1. Press and hold iPhone screen until everything jiggles
2. Click `Edit` in the top left corner
3. Click `Add Widget`
4. Search “Notion”
5. Swipe to find Recents widget and add itAdd the “Page” widget to iPhone: For scenarios where I really want to bring a specific page to the foreground, I would add that page alone to my home screen.
iPhone page widget
1. Make sure the page you want has a memorable title
2. Press and hold your Notion app until your iPhone Home Screen jiggles
3. In the bottom of the menu, tap the second icon next to the grid
4. Tap and hold to setup your page widget
5. Search and select the page you want to add to your Home ScreenAdd page shortcuts on iPhone: This is an alternative to the iPhone page widget option above for when I need to be a bit more space-efficient. Saving a page as a shortcut creates a smaller icon option, comparable to other apps.
iPhone page shortcuts
1. Open Apple Shortcuts
2. Tap "+" to create a new shortcut
3. Tap "Add Action"
4. Search for "Notion"
5. Choose "Open page"
6. Tap "Page" and select the Notion page you want
7. Tap the shortcut name at the top → Rename (e.g., "Open 2026")
8. Tap "Done"
9. Add to Home Screen:
- Tap the share icon → "Add to Home Screen"
10. Add to iPhone widgets:
- Add the "Shortcuts" widget and pick this shortcutConfigure Notion to open by double-tapping on the back of your iPhone: For those of us who haven’t quite gotten around to spring-cleaning our phone home screens, it can be a bit difficult to track down the Notion app. One solution I’ve tried is enabling my iPhone’s Back Tap feature. By tapping the back of my phone twice, I’ve configured it so that Notion opens.
iPhone back tap
1. Open iPhone’s Shortcuts app
2. Click `Library` from the bottom tabs
3. Select the Notion app
4. Press and hold `Open page`
5. Click `Notion Page`
6. Search for Notion page you want to open with the Back Tap feature
7. Navigate to `Settings` on the iPhone
8. Click `Accessibility`
9. Click `Touch`
10. Click `Back Tap`
11. Select Notion shortcut that was just created
12. Tap the back of your phone a couple time et voilaMake use of Notion’s global search: Perhaps the most efficient way to get to any page in Notion is by using the global search feature. Teleport to any page by typing instead of navigating.
Notion global search
Desktop
1. Open Notion
2. Press Command + K (Mac) or Ctrl + K (Windows)
3. Type the page name (or a keyword inside the page)
4. Use arrow keys to select the result
5. Press Enter to open
Mobile
1. Open Notion
2. Tap Search (magnifying glass)
3. Type the page name or keyword
4. Tap the result to openLevel 3: Streamline access to Notion blocks
Learn a few essential keyboard shortcuts
Since I mostly use Notion on desktop, keyboard shortcuts have saved me a lot of time and effort.
We can open a list of Notion’s keyboard shortcuts in the app by pressing (Command Alt /) or by going into the side panel clicking the ? icon in the bottom left corner. Clicking More and clicking Keyboard shortcuts.
Here are some of my favourites:
(/) This is the master of all commands that summons the menu of any block we want
(> space) Create a toggle list
(-space) Create a bullet list(Command F) Search a page
(Command D) Duplicate current block
(Command E) Create an inline code block
(# space) Create level 1 heading
(## space) Create level 2 heading
(### space) Create level 3 heading
([] space) Create checkbox
Level 4: Streamline access to Notion AI
Bookmark Notion AI: Notion AI has been my favourite tool lately, so adding it to my Chrome bookmarks bar was a no-brainer.
Browser AI bookmark
1. Navigate to the Notion page I want to save in Chrome
2. Drag the icon next to the URL into the bookmarks bar
3. Right click the newly added bookmark
4. Select `Edit`
5. Delete the Name, so that I’m left with a tidy text-free collectionAdd Notion AI to iPhone lock screen: I’ve also made it easy to access Notion AI from my iPhone Lock Screen, so it is one click away.
Notion AI widget
1. Wake iPhone to the Lock Screen
2. Press and hold the Lock Screen until the wallpaper gallery appears
3. Tap "Customize"
4. Tap "Lock Screen" (not Home Screen)
5. Tap the widget area (below the time)
6. Scroll or search for "Notion"
7. Tap the "Notion AI" widget
8. Tap the "X" to close the widget picker
9. Tap "Done"Level 5: Streamline access to your workflows
Sometimes the best way to turn something into a habit is to take advantage of friction:
remove friction that gets in our way
add friction that makes it harder to fall back to what we usually do.
I’ve found it helpful to think about which of my apps are competing with Notion, and to try to consolidate them or replace them completely.
Embed Notion Calendar: I’ve been drawn to this idea of intentionally introducing helpful friction lately. One way I’ve done this is by removing my calendar from my bookmarks bar and embedding it directly into my Notion homepage. That way I’ve made it a natural part of my daily flow to visit Notion to plan my day. And by doing that I’ve also reduced the number of apps I have to visit each day.
Embed Notion calendar
1. Open Notion Calendar in the web
2. Open the calendar view you want
3. Copy the share link / URL for that calendar view
4. Go to the Notion page you want as your home base
5. Paste the link
6. Choose "Embed"
7. Resize the embed so you can see more contextLevel 6: Streamline access to quick capture
Capture with the Notion web clipper: Honestly, I tend to use Reader Readwise as my go-to web capture tool. But given the lesson I learned above about streamlining access to my workflows, I want to give Notion’s Web Clipper a solid try.
Notion web clipper
1. Open Chrome
2. Go to the Chrome Web Store
3. Search "Notion Web Clipper"
4. Select the official Notion Web Clipper extension
5. Click "Add to Chrome" → "Add extension"
6. Pin it so it is always visible:
- Click the puzzle icon (Extensions)
- Click the pin next to "Notion Web Clipper"
Quick test (proof it works)
7. Open any article
8. Click the Notion Web Clipper icon
9. Choose a destination (page or database)
10. Click "Save"
Optional: make it absurdly easy
11. Put your default destination as an "Inbox" database (if you use one)
12. Process later, don’t decide in the momentLevel 7: Streamline access to quick input
Finally, my latest pet project: my Notion ⚡️ Spark Notes ⚡️ workflow.
Capture quick notes with a custom note taker
Mixing and mingling my own lessons above, I want to create a quick capture tool that makes it friction-free to record notes.
My goals
Consolidate competitors: Right now, I use the Apple Notes app to quickly jot down most of my in-the-moment ideas. I want to make Notion my go-to tool for that.
Double back tap: Right now, my double back tap opens my Notion to my Life Blocks page. I want to replace that with a new shortcut that lets me quickly enter and submit a note.
Shortcuts: Because I’m in the Apple ecosystem, I want to take better advantage of the Shortcuts app. I want to get it to direct my Spark Notes into an inbox database for future processing.
Notion agents: I’ve recently been given access to Notion’s beta Agents feature which, to my understanding, should allow me to configure an AI to process my each of my Spark Notes and redirect them from my inbox into a more appropriate page.
Example user flow (mobile): I double-tap the back of my phone → an input field appears → I enter “I just watched the movie Christine and thought it was excellent” → I click submit → that note gets saved to an inbox database → my Notion agent is triggered and processes that note → it determines that it should make a new entry in my Movies database with the relevant information about that movie (title, actors, studio) and assign it my grading of “Excellent”.
Example user flow (desktop): I type a newly created global keyboard shortcut → an input field appears → … the rest happens the same as above
Here’s how I’m planning it out:
A) Notion setup
Create inbox database (where all spark notes will initially be stored)
1. Create a database in Notion called something like ⚡ Spark Notes Inbox
2. Add these properties (names must match exactly):
- Title (default title property)
- Status (Select) with options: Unprocessed & Processed
Create integration (this allows the Apple shortcut to create Notion pages)
3. Go to https://www.notion.so/my-integrations → New integration:
- Name: Spark Notes Integration
4. Copy the Internal integration secret.
5. In the integration page, click Content access → Add pages:
6. Select your ⚡ Spark Notes Inbox database.
7. Copy your database_id (the long string for the database).B) Apple Shortcut
8. Open Shortcuts app in mobile → New Shortcut.
9. Add action: Ask for Input
- Type: Text
- Prompt: Spark note
10. Add action: Text
11. Paste the following JSON (replace the database_id; keep everything else):{
"parent": {
"database_id": "YOUR_DATABASE_ID_HERE"
},
"properties": {
"Title": {
"title": [
{
"text": {
"content": ""
}
}
]
},
"Status": {
"select": {
"name": "Unprocessed"
}
}
}
}12. In that JSON Text block, tap inside the quotes for "content": "" and insert the blue variable:
- Ask for Input
13. Add action: Get Contents of URL
- URL: https://api.notion.com/v1/pages
- Method: POST
- Headers:
- Authorization → Bearer YOUR_SECRET
- Notion-Version → 2022-06-28
- Content-Type → application/json
- Request Body: File
- For File: choose the variable Text (your JSON text)
14. Run the shortcut once and confirm a new page appears in the Spark Notes Inbox database in Notion.C) Mac trigger (global keyboard shortcut)
15. On Mac, open Shortcuts app → select your shortcut → click the ⓘ Details button.
16. Enable:
- Use as Quick Action
17. Click Add Keyboard Shortcut and assign a keyboard combo. I used Control + Option + N (⌃⌥N)
18. Confirm it’s enabled in macOS:
System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Services → Shortcuts
19. Ensure Notion capture is checked and shows ⌃⌥N.
20. Test anywhere by pressing ⌃⌥N (or whatever hotkey you chose) → the capture prompt appears → submit → entry lands in Notion.D) Notion agents
21. Under Agents in Notion side panel, click + New agent
22. Write a prompt that instructs it to process notes and direct them to appropriate spaces in your Notion.
23. Set the Trigger to whenever a new note is added to the Spark Notes Inbox.
24. Save the Agent.
25. Test out the entire process with That’s all for this one, my fellow system-thinking psychos. Please lemme know if you’ve got any touch-less tips that’ve helped you save some seconds and I’ll keep you updated on how my final experiment goes!
In the next chapter, I’ll dive into some lessons I’ve learned about designing my Notion space to find information faster.
See you soon! 👋😁