Notion is among the coolest-looking apps, as a result of it seems like a Wiki you may simply put collectively. Sadly, that concept is precisely why it does not work in addition to it ought to. I’ve discovered myself losing an excessive amount of time on irrelevant info simply to make notes work. Now, I can see why the time period “Jack of all trades, grasp of none,” exists. Do not ditch your subscriptions just yet, first see in the event you can deal with this overbloated app.
It is so onerous to take notes with Notion
That flashy interface finally ends up being its largest subject
Notion is supposed to be a common workspace, however its design makes taking notes quite a bit tougher than it must be. When it is advisable jot down a quick thought or a posh code snippet, you need a device that will get out of your means instantly. Notion’s gradual launch time will get in the best way proper from the beginning. It’s so bloated now.
By the point the app hundreds, and also you set it up, your preliminary thought may very well be gone. You want to have the ability to write down your concepts rapidly with out shedding momentum. With Notion, you spend treasured minutes determining the place the doc ought to stay or which database it belongs to. This delay is a ache whenever you’re attempting to remain targeted.
When you’re lastly within the app, the display screen litter makes you deal with the UI as an alternative of your notes. You’ll want to fiddle with properties, customized icons, and header photographs. You will possible lose observe of the place your notes belong in the event you don’t remain on prime of your area. You find yourself wanting every little thing neat and tidy. This results in distractions and administrative duties as an alternative of simply taking notes.
Finally, you are exhausted from switching between enthusiastic about your code and your workspace. As an alternative of capturing technical particulars, you alphabetized your venture folders and color-coordinated your workspace.
The half I do not like about Notion in any respect is whenever you truly attempt to write and format the content material. The block-based enhancing system signifies that formatting takes rather more time than the writing course of. When you have ever tried to create a posh desk in Notion, you recognize it may be very annoying.
Structuring technical notes needs to be simple, however coping with inflexible blocks provides steps you needn’t each single line you kind. You spend extra time constructing your productiveness system than truly being productive. This was meant to be a spot for notes, and it acts like a file cupboard.
Notion is just troublesome to make use of as a result of it is attempting to do an excessive amount of
As an alternative of forcing each course of right into a database, utilizing specialised instruments like Home windows Steps Recorder is significantly better for you. Steps Recorder captures each click on mechanically, creates a visible file without having screenshots, and is already in your OS, so it does not want configuring.
Once I tried to do every little thing in Notion, documenting a step-by-step course of meant manually typing out directions, taking particular person screenshots, cropping them, and pasting them into blocks. That is gradual and forces you to modify focus, which breaks your momentum.
Home windows Steps Recorder, which has been constructed into the working system since Home windows 7, solves this drawback by quietly working within the background and logging your actions. You simply press file, undergo your job, and the appliance generates a compiled file containing a sequence of your mouse clicks and keystrokes alongside related screenshots.
Then there’s the Sticky Notes app, which I exploit day by day to jot down down little issues I take into consideration to have a look at later or analysis. I needn’t discover my particular space for random writing in Notion anymore, which is a ache to maintain up with. If I’ve to do extra, I can put it in Google Docs or Phrase.
If you’d like a database, you should be using Obsidian instead, so that you personal your entire recordsdata and preserve them to your self. If you use Notion, you are letting one other firm care for that, and are topic to outages, points with the web, and different bugs and glitches. I at all times really feel safer proudly owning my very own knowledge, and whereas Notion appears good at first, you are giving up numerous privateness.
There’s an issue with the one workspace setup
Typically, extra is healthier
Some individuals may say a single workspace for every little thing is extra organized. That is true. It is extra organized than the choice. Nevertheless, that may result in an area the place easy directions get buried beneath layers of subpages. That isn’t environment friendly; it’s only a useless construction.
All-in-one productiveness apps sound good till you want them for smaller initiatives or notes. That is once they find yourself feeling bloated and sophisticated. Notion is extra like an organizational device pretending to be an operational device. You turn into the engine powering the system, spending your time typing duties, adjusting statuses, and reviewing boards.
Utilizing specialised instruments makes your notes extra helpful as a result of you may deal with writing. Specialised software program makes documenting quicker because the device is designed for a selected objective and does not want configuring.
This additionally provides you recordsdata which are simpler to share together with your crew or purchasers without having them to navigate a sophisticated database. I do not wish to give somebody a large wiki as a result of I had a number of notes for them; that’s the reverse of useful.
If you wish to depart a setup like this, do what I did. I checked out how I used to be utilizing Notion: holding observe of initiatives, notes, and particular particulars. I then appeared for apps that might assist me with these particular duties. I exploit Obsidian as a result of it is higher than Notion. I exploit Sticky Notes as a result of I simply have to jot issues down rapidly. I do not like taking screenshots, so I exploit Steps Recorder. Finally, I favored the concept of Notion greater than the truth of utilizing it. It could have been so cool to have a unified area, however working with it’s extra irritating than useful.
Notion simply does not add as much as specialised apps
I actually wish to like Notion. It seems like each few months, I am going again to it, considering this time can be totally different. If I ever made an enormous Wiki, I’m certain Notion can be nice. Nevertheless, I would fairly have an AI fill all of it out with notes that I already made for it. Doing small initiatives in Notion is already too time-consuming; I am unable to think about having to fill out a big Wiki with that interface. In the long run, this app simply is not all it’s lower out to be, and also you’d do higher in the event you appeared elsewhere.
- OS
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Home windows, iOS, Android, macOS, Linux
- Model
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Obsidian
- Value
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$4/month (Sync), or $8/month (Publish)
- Free trial
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Free model obtainable
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