What is Notion AI? How to Make Use of It

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What is Notion AI? How to Make Use of It

Notion AI is a built-in assistant within the Notion workspace that simplifies tasks like writing, summarizing, and managing data. It helps you create content, extract insights, and automate workflows - all without leaving the platform. For $10 per user per month (20% off annually), it integrates directly into your Notion setup, saving time and boosting productivity.

Key Features:

Writing Tools: Generate, edit, translate, and refine content.
Q&A: Quickly find answers from your documents and notes.
Database Auto-Fill: Automatically extract and organize data.
Automation: Pair with tools like Latenode to connect Notion with apps like Slack, Google Sheets, and Jira.

Quick Start: Subscribe, enable AI in settings, and use commands like /AI to generate content or insights. For advanced workflows, integrate with Latenode to automate tasks across 300+ apps.

Ready to simplify your work? Let’s dive into how it works.

Notion AI: Full Guide for Beginners (2023 Notion AI Tutorial)

Notion

How to Set Up Notion AI

Getting started with Notion AI is simple, allowing you to quickly tap into its wide range of features.

How to Enable Notion AI

To begin, subscribe to Notion AI for $10 per month. Navigate to Settings > Plans (or Upgrade if you're currently on the free plan) to activate it. The activation takes effect immediately. If you don’t see the features after subscribing, ensure your device is compatible. Restart or reset Notion if necessary ^[4]^[5]^[6].

How to Access Notion AI Features

Once Notion AI is enabled, you can easily incorporate its tools into your workflow. Here are a few ways to access its features:

Highlight any text and select "Ask AI" to enhance or refine the content ^[1].
Type /AI on any page to generate summaries, insights, or other outputs ^[1].
On a blank page or a new line, press the space key and enter your prompt to trigger content generation ^[1].

Each of these methods provides the same functionality, allowing you to streamline tasks and improve productivity.

How to Work with AI Responses

After accessing Notion AI’s features, refining the outputs becomes key. The platform offers options to copy, regenerate, or provide feedback on the AI-generated content ^[3].

"No matter how or why you are using Notion AI, the best way to get the output you want is to focus on specificity of the prompt" ^[1].

To achieve the best results, craft detailed and precise prompts. Include keywords, define the desired tone, and specify formatting preferences. Notion AI can adapt its writing style, translate text, and suggest synonyms to ensure the output aligns with your needs ^[1]^[2].

Main Notion AI Features

Notion AI turns your workspace into a smart productivity center by simplifying tasks and automating repetitive work.

Writing and Editing Tools

Notion AI's writing tools help create new content and refine existing text by adjusting tone, translating languages, and offering synonym suggestions to improve clarity. When you link your style guides to prompts, it ensures your content stays consistent with your preferred tone and format ^[10].

For instance, in December 2023, digital marketer Alfredo Flores showcased how Notion AI’s translation capabilities streamline workflows. He used an inline database with columns for English text and AI-generated translations. By selecting the "autofill all pages" option, he was able to translate multiple rows of marketing copy in one go ^[10].

Detailed prompts specifying tone, formatting, and context enable Notion AI to excel at tasks like brainstorming ideas, reformatting pages, or drafting new material. Beyond writing and editing, Notion AI supports data retrieval, particularly through its Q&A feature.

Document Q&A Feature

The Q&A feature provides quick answers by pulling information directly from your documents, meeting notes, or project files.

"It delivers instant answers utilizing information from your documents, projects, and notes. Less searching, more doing", says Ivan Zhao, Notion's Co-founder & CEO ^[8].

This tool has proven to save time significantly. In November 2023, Remote, a global HR platform, participated in the early access program for Notion AI's Q&A feature. They reported that the time employees spent searching for information dropped from up to 10 minutes to just a few seconds ^[8].

You can activate the Q&A feature through the sidebar search, the sparkle icon on any Notion page, or the shortcut Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + K. As Zhao explains, "AI has the potential to augment human intellect in unforeseen ways. Q&A is a step in that direction - allowing you to focus on higher-leverage work instead of searching for the information you need to do that work" ^[8]. Once your content is improved, Notion AI further enhances productivity by automating data organization.

Database Auto-Fill

In addition to its text tools, Notion AI simplifies data management with its Database Auto-Fill feature. This tool automatically populates database properties based on your content, offering functions like AI Summary for quick overviews, AI Key Info for extracting important details such as dates and action items, and AI Custom Autofill for tailored data extraction.

This feature is versatile across various tasks. In sales databases, it can identify critical details like deal values, decision-makers, and expected close dates. Customer support teams can use it to update ticket statuses, summarize issues, and highlight key actions. Recruitment teams benefit from its ability to pull qualifications, experience, and references directly from resumes or profiles ^[11].

The "Auto-update on page edits" function ensures that AI-generated data remains current as your content evolves ^[7]. Custom prompts allow you to adapt the AI’s outputs to your specific needs, whether extracting unique details or formatting data to fit your team’s standards ^[9].

For the best results, label your data clearly and provide specific context in your custom prompts. This helps Notion AI understand exactly what information you’re looking for and how it should be formatted ^[2].

How to Use Notion AI for Common Tasks

Notion AI is a powerful tool designed to tackle creative blocks, simplify lengthy texts, and reduce repetitive data entry, making everyday tasks more efficient.

Generate Ideas and Brainstorm

When it comes to brainstorming, Notion AI can be a game-changer. It generates diverse perspectives and organizes ideas efficiently, helping you break free from creative ruts. By providing specific prompts, you can unlock its full potential. For example, instead of asking for "marketing ideas", try something like, "Give me 10 unique angles for promoting a productivity app to remote teams" ^[13]. This approach ensures more targeted and actionable suggestions.

You can also use Notion AI to refine project plans. Ask it to create detailed task lists or organize bullet points for clarity ^[12]. Additionally, it can rank ideas based on criteria such as market appeal or originality, offering a structured way to evaluate options ^[13].

For collaborative projects, pair Notion's teamwork features with AI. Set up a shared brainstorming database where team members contribute ideas, and then use AI to synthesize the inputs into a cohesive plan. This allows for a range of perspectives while keeping everything organized ^[13].

Now, let’s explore how Notion AI simplifies the process of summarizing and analyzing information.

Summarize and Analyze Text

Notion AI excels at condensing large volumes of text into clear, actionable insights. Its advanced natural language processing capabilities make it particularly effective for summarizing survey results, meeting notes, or research documents.

To summarize content, simply highlight the desired text, click "Ask AI", and select "Summarize." Alternatively, you can type /summarize or /AI to access blocks that process entire pages ^[1]. Custom prompts allow you to control the format - ask the AI to "create bullet points", "summarize this in a table", or "identify common themes in this data" ^[1].

For instance, one practical use involved analyzing hundreds of open-ended survey responses to identify group sentiment. Users highlighted the text and asked the AI to "pull out the five most common themes" or count mentions of specific issues. This method transforms hours of manual review into just minutes of AI-assisted work ^[1].

With text analysis streamlined, let’s look at how Notion AI can automate repetitive tasks to save even more time.

Automate Repetitive Work

Notion AI is a valuable ally in reducing routine tasks through templates, smart buttons, and database automations. These tools handle everything from recurring data entry to automatic notifications.

Repeating database templates simplify recurring tasks. For example, you can set up a template in your "Tasks" database to create a new task every Monday morning, removing the need for manual updates ^[14]. As Notion explains:

"With Notion's repeating database templates, you can create a page template once and set it to create new entries in the database as often as you need" ^[14].

Smart buttons further streamline workflows. Imagine a department homepage with an "Add new task" button. Clicking it could automatically insert a new task into the team database, pre-filled with a "To do" status, a default assignee, and a due date set for one week later ^[15].

Database automations take efficiency to the next level by triggering actions based on specific changes. For instance, teams can configure automations to send Slack notifications when new pages are added, assign tasks dynamically based on priority, or update project statuses as deadlines approach ^[16]. These automations adapt to your workflow, saving time and effort.

For tasks that go beyond Notion's native features, Latenode offers seamless integrations with over 300 apps. With Latenode, you can create advanced workflows like connecting Notion with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google Sheets. This allows you to process new database entries, generate AI summaries, and export results to spreadsheets for deeper analysis - all without manual intervention.

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Connect Notion AI with Latenode for Advanced Automation

Latenode

Notion AI already simplifies a variety of tasks within your workspace, but when paired with Latenode, your automation potential expands significantly. By combining Notion AI’s core strengths with Latenode’s advanced capabilities, you can create workflows that go far beyond what Notion offers on its own.

Setting Up Notion and Latenode Integration

Latenode’s visual builder makes it easy to connect Notion with other apps and services. This platform allows you to sync Notion databases with external tools and automate updates triggered by events in CRMs, calendars, or payment systems.

To get started, add the Notion node from Latenode's integrations library and connect your Notion account using your API key. Once connected, you can define triggers - such as monitoring page edits or database updates - and set actions like creating or updating content in your Notion workspace. This setup ensures that any changes in Notion can automatically trigger corresponding actions in connected apps, streamlining your processes.

Beyond basic integrations, Latenode offers features like built-in AI tools, a headless browser for web automation, asynchronous flows, unlimited branching, and JavaScript support. These tools let you design highly customized workflows that go well beyond simple data synchronization.

Automation Examples with Latenode

Integrating Latenode with Notion opens the door to automating repetitive tasks across various platforms. Here are some practical examples of how this partnership can simplify your workflows:

HubSpot: Automatically update Notion databases when deals reach specific stages, triggering task assignments and progress tracking.
Jira: Generate Notion pages for new issues, centralizing project documentation and status updates.
GitHub: Create Notion entries for new issues, linking them back to repositories for efficient tracking.
Google Sheets: Sync spreadsheet data to Notion databases, automating report creation.
Airtable: Mirror project data by adding new Notion database entries from Airtable records.
Slack: Share daily Notion database summaries in Slack channels, keeping teams informed about project updates, while Twilio sends SMS reminders for deadlines or appointments.
Zoom: Automatically save meeting recording links and summaries to Notion pages, building a searchable archive of discussions.
Zendesk: Log new tickets in Notion, simplifying request tracking.
Mailchimp: Update Notion with campaign stats, offering real-time insights into email performance.
BambooHR: Create task lists in Notion for new employees, streamlining onboarding.
Pipedrive: Trigger Notion updates for new deals, providing a unified view of sales progress and notes.

Getting the Most from Notion AI

Notion AI brings creativity and efficiency to your daily tasks, seamlessly integrating advanced productivity tools into your workspace. Unlike traditional conversational AI tools, Notion AI is built to enhance workflows directly within your existing setup, making it a practical choice for streamlining productivity.

To get the best results from Notion AI, specificity is key. For instance, Thomas Frank demonstrated its potential by crafting a detailed blog post outline with the prompt, "The best ways to improve the aesthetics of your office." The result? A well-structured piece complete with multiple paragraphs, headings, and subheadings ^[6]. By providing clear context, background details, and specifying the desired tone or output length, you can guide Notion AI to deliver more precise and tailored results.

Start with straightforward prompts like "Let's think in steps," "Return the results as a list," or "Create a table" to shape the output format ^[6]. For example, when Frank asked Notion AI to calculate the volume of a cylinder with a height of 20 and a radius of 8, using the prompt "Let's think in steps. Format the output as a list," the AI not only calculated the correct volume of 4,021 but also presented it in the requested list format ^[6].

Once you've mastered crafting effective prompts, you can unlock even more potential by integrating Notion AI with advanced automation tools like Latenode. This combination elevates productivity by automating tasks based on changes in your Notion database or page edits. For example, when a new project entry is added to your Notion database, Latenode can automatically generate AI-powered project summaries, create tasks in other connected tools, and notify your team - eliminating the need for manual updates.

Notion AI is versatile, whether you're a student summarizing research, a writer brainstorming ideas, or an entrepreneur managing complex workflows. It handles routine tasks like writing, editing, and analysis, freeing you to focus on more strategic work. Pair this with Latenode's 300+ app integrations, and your Notion workspace becomes the central hub for automated workflows across your digital toolkit.

Start small by automating repetitive tasks like drafting emails, summarizing meetings, or creating content outlines. Then, take it further with Latenode to design intelligent, round-the-clock workflows tailored to your needs. Together, these tools can transform how you manage your daily responsibilities.

FAQs

How can Notion AI help teams work more efficiently on collaborative projects?

Notion AI enhances team efficiency by taking on repetitive tasks and making collaboration more intuitive. It simplifies workflows by creating meeting summaries, organizing documents, and even auto-filling database properties, cutting down on time spent on routine administrative work.

Beyond task automation, Notion AI supports teams in brainstorming, drafting content, and summarizing key information. This allows team members to dedicate more energy to creative and strategic efforts. With features like real-time updates and feedback, it keeps everyone on the same page, improving communication and speeding up project progress.

What tasks can you automate with Notion AI and Latenode?

Automate Workflows with Notion AI and Latenode

Integrating Notion AI with Latenode opens the door to automating various tasks, helping you save time and work more effectively. For instance, you can set up automations to update project statuses, sync notes, or even draft content directly into your Notion databases. This removes the hassle of manual updates, ensuring your data remains accurate and current without extra effort.

Notion AI also shines when it comes to organizing and summarizing database entries. By configuring AI-powered properties, you can automatically refine content, categorize information, and handle repetitive tasks. These streamlined processes allow you to focus on higher-priority work, making your workflow smoother and more efficient. With this integration, managing your projects and data becomes a much simpler and faster experience.

How can I make sure Notion AI matches my writing style and tone?

To make sure Notion AI reflects your unique writing style and tone, you can give it clear, detailed instructions while using its features. For instance, you can highlight specific text and request adjustments by specifying preferences like making the tone more formal, casual, or concise. Another helpful approach is to create a style guide directly within Notion and refer to it in your prompts, ensuring the AI generates content that matches your voice.

You can also refine the tone of the AI's output by using dropdown options or crafting detailed prompts that outline the style you're aiming for. By experimenting with these tools, you’ll be able to fine-tune the results to better suit your needs.