Style & customize your page

Notion is equipped with all the text styling features you've come to expect from any word processor — with a few more added in. Highlight any text to see this menu:

Of course, all the usual shortcuts apply, like cmd/ctrl + B for bold and cmd/ctrl + shift + S for strikethrough. But we've thrown in a couple others:

• cmd/ctrl + E to display code inline.

• cmd/ctrl + shift + M to add a comment to any text.

• Oh, and you can always use @ to mention a page or a person in your workspace. 

Notion supports all Markdown styling on desktop, web and mobile. Here's a quick rundown of shortcuts:

While typing:

• Type ** on either side of your text to bold.

• Type * on either side of your text to italicize.

• Type ` on either side of your text to create inline code. (That's the symbol to the left of your 1 key.)

• Type ~ on either side of your text to strikethrough.

At the beginning of any line of text:

• Type *, -, or + followed by space to create a bulleted list.

• Type [] to create a to-do checkbox. (There's no space in between.)

• Type 1. followed by space to create a numbered list.

• Type # followed by space to create an H1 header.

• Type ## followed by space to create an H2 sub-header.

• Type ### followed by space to create an H3 sub-header.

• Type > followed by space to create a toggle list.

• Type " followed by space to create a quote block.

• Choose from three different typography styles for every page you produce — selected to match most writing moods! Just click ••• at the upper right of your page and pick Default, Serif, or Mono. All the text on your page will change accordingly.

• This same menu includes the Small text toggle. When you turn it on, the text on your page shrinks. Helpful if you want to fit more on a page or if you like the way it looks.

Spice up your text by turning it a color or giving it a color highlight. There are many colors to choose from and several ways to apply them:

• Give in-line text a color or highlight from the same menu you'd use to bold, italicize or comment — just highlight any text and choose a color from the A dropdown:

• You can also turn an entire block of text the same color. The easiest way to do this is to type that handy / followed by the name of the color you want to write in, like /red.

• You can also change the color of a text block by typing cmd/ctrl + / at any point and then the name of the color you want followed by enter.

You can shrink the margins on any page and widen your content area by going to ••• at the top right of your Notion window and toggling on Full width.

The top of any page in Notion can include two things: backlinks and comments.

• Backlinks indicate all the pages that link to the current page so you can easily navigate between them.

• Comments capture conversation between you and your teammates. You can use them to tag each other, ask questions, provide feedback and more.

To customize backlinks and comments for a non-database page:

1. Click the ••• button at the top right of the page and select Customize page.

2. In the window that opens, toggle on or off Show backlinks.

3. Toggle on or off Page discussions.

To customize backlinks and comments for a database page:

1. Click ••• at the top right of the page and select Customize layout.

2. Click on the Heading module and toggle on or off Show backlinks.

3. Click on the settings button next to your database’s name at the top of the page. Decide if you’d like inline comments on your page to be displayed as they are by Default (with the comment visible alongside the commenter’s profile photo), or displayed in a Minimal way (with only the number of comments showing, which you can click to expand).

4. You can also decide if you’d like your page discussions, or comments that are added at the page level, to be Expanded (with all comments showing) or Off (not showing).

5. When you're done adjusting these settings, select Apply to all pages at the top of the page. Note that your backlink and comment customizations will apply to every page in the database you're in.

You can create a custom layout that applies to all pages in a database. Learn more in this article →

Callout blocks are useful for highlighting specific text or breaking it out from the rest of a document. Perhaps you want to draw attention to a warning or a tip.

You can add a callout to a page in a few ways:

• Hover over a new block and select + to the left of the block → Callout.

• Type /callout in your page and press enter.

You can move your callout block around your page by hovering over it and using the ⋮⋮ that appears as a handle to drag and drop it. Callouts can even be placed in a column.

• Your callout block can contain other block types like bullets and headings. You can drag these blocks around to rearrange them within your callout.

  • Note that if you use headings in your callout, those headings will appear in your page's table of contents.

• Every callout block comes with an icon. To change the icon, click on it and choose a new one. To remove the icon, click on it and select Remove.

• You can also upload your own icon image (ideal size is 280 x 280 pixels), or paste a link to the image you want.

• Click 🔀 to generate random icon options until you find one you like!

• Change the color of the callout block itself (or the text inside the block) by clicking the ⋮⋮ icon that appears to the left on hover.

• Select Color and choose from the background color menu to change the entire block's color. Choosing Default turns the block white with a light gray outline.

• Selecting a non-black color for the text turns the block white with a light gray outline.

• You can also change text and background colors with the shortcut cmd/ctrl + / and typing the name of the color you want.

Every page can have its own icon — either an emoji or an image you upload yourself (like your logo). It'll appear at the top left of your page and in the sidebar next to it. This helps make pages memorable and easy to find.

There are a few ways to add page icons:

• Hover over the top of any page and click Add icon.

• Click on any page icon in your sidebar.

• Both will bring up a menu that lets you search for or choose an emoji, upload a file of your own from your computer (like a logo), or paste in the URL of an image from the web.

• Icon images should ideally be 280 x 280 pixels.

• When you upload a file to turn into a page icon, you’ll also have the option to turn it into a custom emoji in your workspace’s emoji library. Just check the box next to Add to workspace Emoji library while you’re uploading your file. You can then use your custom emoji as a page icon, a reaction, or inline in a page.

• You can also click 🔀 to cycle through randomly chosen emojis 'til you like one!

• To remove an icon, just click on it and choose Remove.

Cover art appears as a banner image at the top of any page, bringing some elegance, color, and style (even to databases).

• Hover over the top of any page and click Add cover.

• Hover over the cover that appears and choose Change cover.

• A menu will pop up with a gallery of choices curated by Notion.

• Click Upload to add your own image from your computer, or click Link to paste in the URL of an image from the web.

• You can also search for and choose an image from Unsplash, a library of 1,000,000+ beautiful, usable stock photos.