essay template notion

Academic Writing in Notion (with Template)

You’ve got that paper to write but no idea where to start? You are drowning in literature that’s scattered all over the place? And you just don’t have a system to turn all your research into some tangible results? Whenever I had some sort of Academic Writing to tackle, it usually started with the feeling of being overwhelmed. So much literature to go through. No structure in place to sort what I’ve found. And certainly no time to take a deep breath and look for a good system to do it all. I usually ended up writing notes in Word while copypasting links to sources in a frantic attempt to organise all my readings. Needless to say, it wasn’t a very effective approach. Luckily, Notion is absolutely amazing at organising any Academic Writing project. And with this Academic Writing in Notion Template, you can easily master your reading list, set your writing project up for success and start connecting the dots .

Read on for more explanations or jump to the bottom of the page to get this ( free ) Academic Writing in Notion Template

Your Academic Writing Hub in Notion

The main page of the template is designed to be the command center of your writing projects.

Up top, you’ll find the the Navigation Bar that will let you jump quickly between sections.

You can customise your Quick Links section according to your most used resources. Quick Notes lets you create a new note without interrupting your workflow. And with Active Writings , you never lose track of what you’re working on.

Next, you’ll find your Inbox that will keep track of all new readings that you’ve collected.

Tip: Use the Save to Notion Webclipper instead of Notion’s native clipper to customise how you import your sources.

And directly below, there’s your reading list, sorted by priority, so that you always know what to work on next.

Your Readings List in Notion

If you’ve ever struggled to organise your readings list or deal with all the material you’ve already worked through, then this is the section for you.

Your Readings shows you various views of your sources, so that you can focus on what really matters: working through the list and using your insights for your writing projects.

It contains an Inbox for new material that needs to be sorted and a Reading List that shows you what you should read next.

Further down the page, you’ll see your Most Used Readings . If you write a lot of articles, then this will become a treasure trove of your most useful resources so that you don’t have to sort through piles of documents to find that one article that you keep referencing everywhere.

See where you stand at a glance with the Status View. What are you currently reading? Which articles need to be summarised? Track your progress and make sure that nothing falls through the cracks

Lastly, the Master Table provides you with a comprehensive overview. Add the correct citation so that you can easily export your readings list to your literature cataloguing software of choice. Add a short summary and the relevance of this reading to sort through them quickly at a later time.

Think of your Readings section as your own personal knowledge management system , dedicated to a specific purpose: producing great writing.

Most importantly, add the Topics of the Reading to make some magic in Notion happen. How? We’ll get to that in a moment.

Your Topics in Notion

Topics are one of the coolest features of this Academic Writing for Notion Template.

Everyone who’s ever written an academic paper knows the struggle: how do you best match your readings to the content that you want to write? Your sources rarely only cover one aspect. Most of the times, a reading is relevant for several parts of your paper and on top of that, it might be useful for a different writing project too.

Enter Topics .

Simply tag each writing with the topics covered in it. Go as granular as you need – you can always delete topics later or add more, but try to get the gist of them.

This has three major benefits over the traditional let’s-take-notes-in-word-and-hope-we-find-it-again-later-when-we-need-it-approach.

First, you can open the My Topics to sort through your Topics and see recurring themes immediately. What topics keep popping up? It’s the first step to start connecting the dots.

Second, you can use a Topic to write so called Evergreen Notes . Evergreen Notes are notes that – like evergreen songs – are timeless and can be reused in a variety of ways. If you keep referencing certain concepts in your articles, then you can simply use your Evergreen Notes on that topic to quickly insert text snippets instead of having to start from 0 every single time.

Each Topic comes with it’s own dashboard to show you every single reading, writing or note that you’ve ever created for this topic. That way, creating your Evergreen Notes is a breeze.

The underlying concept for this part of the Academic Writing in Notion template is called Global Tags in Notio n and it’s super powerful.

The third thing is the magic we’ve talked about above and you’ll find it in the next step.

Your Writings in Notion

Now to the heart of the template, your personal Writing HQ.

First of, you have a general dashboard to keep track of all your writing projects.

Use the Master Table to add information to your projects. You can both create standalone Articles as well as Books and their respective Chapters for longer projects.

The Status View is your personal project management tool. Never forget an idea for a writing project again. And simply drag & drop a project into a different status once you’re ready to take the next step.

What’s even better though is the specific dashboard for each writing project. Any time you add a new project in your Academic Writing in Notion Template, the system will create it automatically.

Once you pick all related Topics for a writing project, it will automatically pull in all the relevant information that you’ve ever collected. Never dig through your notes again or frantically try to remember where you saved that paper that could come in handy now. They will all resurface on their own.

Like Magic.

( speaking of magic: have you tried my method to replace Siri with ChatGPT ? )

Your Notes in Notion

Lastly, no template would be complete without a dedicated section for Notes .

The Academic Writing in Notion Template comes pre-loaded with two types of notes:

• Meeting Notes to keep track of talks with your supervisor or colleagues, so that you always have their input within arms reach
• Brainstorming Notes to quickly jot down some thoughts that can be sorted later

Just remember to assign a Topic or Related Writing and your notes will automatically appear in the right context, wherever you need them.

Don’t forget to use the Quick Note feature on the main page of the template to make a quick note without interrupting your workflow.

Tip: You could easily integrate this part of the Academic Writing in Notion Setup with another template of mine: Zettelkasten for Notion , a simple tool for networked thoughts. If you need help setting this up, just tweet me @mfreihaendig .

Get Your Free Academic Writing In Notion Template Now

Streamline your workflow and start connecting the dots with my (free) Academic Writing in Notion Template:

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The 12+ Best Notion Templates for Writers to Unlock your Writing Potential

Explore the best notion template for writers.

Welcome to the world of writing, where the highs are as exhilarating as reaching the peak of a literary mountain, and the lows can feel as deep as the darkest literary abyss. As a writer, you know the thrill of crafting a beautiful sentence, the satisfaction of completing a thought-provoking article, and the joy of sharing your words with the world. But you also understand the frustration of writer's block, the chaos of scattered ideas, and the overwhelming task of organizing your thoughts.

That's where Notion comes to the rescue! If you're a writer seeking an efficient way to streamline your creative process, organize your projects, and boost your productivity, you're in the right place. In this blog post, we're going to explore the best Notion templates designed specifically for writers, helping you harness the power of this versatile tool to enhance your writing journey. Whether you're a seasoned author, a freelance writer, a student working on essays, or simply someone who enjoys putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), Notion can be your trusty companion on the path to better writing.

So, let's dive in and discover how Notion can be your secret weapon for unlocking your full writing potential!

Want more Notion templates and updates? Join our mailing list and check out our several other Notion template round-ups ! You can also check out our 99+ free templates for Notion articles, and our 99+ Aesthetic Templates for Notion articles, and the best 99+ Best & Free Notion Template for Students  where you can find even more templates ready to download!

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Best Writing Template for Notion

W. i. p. - advanced system for novel writers.

W.I.IP is a comprehensive writing project management template for Notion designed to help writers handle multiple novel writing projects with ease.

What's Included

• Dashboard Overview: Provides an organized view of multiple writing projects in one place.
• Character Building: Allows you to develop and associate characters with specific projects.
• Research Management: Helps manage research and notes related to each individual project.
• Storyboarding: Facilitates chapter planning using plot cards to outline your story's structure.
• Custom Lexicon: Lets you create a personalized reference dictionary for your writing projects.
• Project-specific Information: Offers project-specific details such as word count goals, target dates, estimated pages, reading time, progress bars, chapters, characters, storyboards, tasks, and project stages.
• Automatic Calculations: Automatically calculates total pages and reading time for your novels and dynamically adjusts daily word count goals for active projects.

Key Features

• Pre-built Templates: Provides pre-built templates to create new projects and chapters, which automatically link project-specific sub-content.
• In-App Writing: Allows you to write chapters directly within Notion, with Lexicon and Plot Cards conveniently accessible in the sidebars.
• Project Archiving: Enables you to archive completed projects to keep your active view clutter-free.

Template Available Here

Writer - Minimalist Distraction-Free Writing Workspace

Writer is a tool that helps writers focus by providing a distraction-free environment. It guides writers through different stages of their writing project, from drafting to editing and finalizing. Furthermore, it allows writers to easily organize their research and create character personas.

Key Features:

• Clean and Focused Writing: Immerse yourself in your writing with a distraction-free workspace, ensuring that your words take center stage.
• Project Management: Easily create writing projects with essential project-related details. Keep track of your writing goals, estimated page count, reading time, chapters, characters, and research.
• Writing Process Support: Seamlessly manage the various phases of your project, from planning to drafting, revising, and editing. Efficiently organize your research materials. Create and manage character personas right within the editor workspace.

If you are looking for a minimalist, focus-enhancing system, Writer can be your choice for writing inside Notion.

The Modern Writer

The Modern Writer template was born out of a writer's need for a focused and efficient workspace to bring their stories to life. It's all about simplifying the writing process so you can concentrate on what truly matters - writing your book.

What's Included:

• Streamlined Writing Canvas: A clean and distraction-free space where you can collect and refine all your creative ideas and concepts without the need to switch between different software.
• Comprehensive Writing Toolbox: Access everything you need, from brainstorming and mind mapping to sub-plot development and progress tracking, all within the same writing canvas.
• Focused Writing: Provides a clutter-free environment for you to concentrate solely on writing your book, eliminating distractions.
• Integrated Tools: Seamlessly integrates various tools and features, ensuring that you have everything at your fingertips without leaving your writing space.
• Effortless Progress Tracking: Enables you to keep track of sub-plots and overall progress, helping you stay organized and on top of your writing goals.

Very Detailed Story Writer

The Very Detailed Story Writer Template is a tool for writers to create intricate and well-structured stories. It offers a comprehensive framework to develop ideas and bring stories to life.

• Story Structure: It helps you outline your story's plot, narrative arcs, and key events, making it easier to organize your story.
• Character Development: You can delve deep into your characters' motivations, traits, and relationships using character profiles and story arcs, which helps in creating compelling personas.
• World-Building: This feature allows you to create immersive story settings by mapping out locations, establishing histories, and developing rich lore to add depth and authenticity to your narratives.

World Building Bible

World Building Bible by StoryFlint is a Notion template designed to streamline your world-building process. It's ideal for writers and tabletop RPG enthusiasts who want to keep track of characters, settings, and all the intricate details of their imaginative universes.

What’s Included

• Locations: Keep track of cities, towns, regions, landmarks, and landforms.
• Events: Track every significant event, whether historical or plot-related.
• Groups and Races: Monitor teams, gangs, tribes, and races within your world.
• Research Library: Store all your world-building research in one place.
• Details: Ensure consistency across all elements of your world, from locations to characters.
• Characters: Keep a comprehensive record of all story characters.
• World Elements: Document cultural and physical aspects such as plants, animals, weather, religions, and governments.
• Custom Months + Eras: Create unique months and historical eras connected to the Events database for a well-structured timeline.
• Effortless Universe Creation: Dive into the depths of your fictional world and unravel its intricacies effortlessly. StoryFlint's World Building Bible empowers you to craft an entire universe, ensuring no detail goes unnoticed.
• Connected and Up-to-Date: Say goodbye to disarray and confusion. Keep your world's details seamlessly organized in Notion, utilizing seven interconnected databases to track characters, locations, settings, research, and more. Never lose track of any element, past or present.
• Customizable Freedom: Tailor your world organization to your unique needs. With Notion's flexible structure, you can modify and customize templates and dashboards to align with your creative process and thinking.

Write Hub is a Notion dashboard designed to help you write a bestselling book.

• Chapter Overview Table: Organize and track your story's chapters.
• Character Profile Templates: Create detailed and well-rounded characters.
• Deadline Tracker: Stay on top of your writing schedule.
• Magic System Question Sheet: Develop a unique magic system for your story.
• Word Count Tracker: Keep tabs on your progress.
• Quotes Organizer: Collect and manage important quotes.
• Relationships Table: Visualize and manage character relationships.
• Customizable: You can tailor the dashboard to your specific needs.
• User-Friendly: It includes a tutorial on how to use and customize it.
• Comprehensive: It covers various aspects of the writing process, from characters to word count tracking.

Writer’s Toolbox

The Ultimate Writer's Toolbox is a toolkit designed for writers who use Notion. It provides everything a writer needs, from generating ideas to publishing their work.

• Diverse Prompts: A wide range of creative prompts to inspire your writing.
• Masterful Plot Crafting: Templates and generators to help structure your story effectively.
• Character Deep Dive: Worksheets for developing well-rounded characters.
• Conflict Crafting & Resolutions: Guides to create engaging conflicts and resolutions.
• World Building: Tools to create detailed and immersive settings.
• Name Generators: Helps you find the perfect names for characters and places.
• Research Tools: Ensures the authenticity of your narrative with comprehensive research tools.
• The Road to Publication: Aids in crafting query letters and synopses for publication.
• Resources & Beyond: Offers self-publishing checklists, copyright essentials, and more.
• Making a Grand Entrance: Detailed launch checklist and marketing plan for your book.

Notion Story Wiki

Story Wiki is a versatile Notion template designed for authors, screenwriters, and storytellers to streamline their creative process.

• Worldbuilding Without Limits : With over 40 customizable templates for characters, species, cultures, and more, Story Wiki lets you build and customize your story's world without any constraints. It helps you establish connections between different story elements for a coherent narrative.
• Effortless Note Keeping : You can access your research, notes, and scenes while writing, making it easy to stay organized and maintain a steady writing flow. The Writing Prompt of the Day is there to help you overcome writer's block.
• Flexible Writing Formats : Write your story in chapters using the Manuscript module or as a screenplay in the Screenwriting Space, complete with scene templates for various formats. You can even work in episodes if that suits your style.

Story Wiki also provides tools to combat writer's block, allows you to share your work with others on public pages, and is accessible on the go with Notion's mobile app. Best of all, it's a cost-effective alternative to pricier writing software, offering similar functionality without the hefty price tag. You can find a showcase of the template here .

Free Template for Notion Writer

Are you searching for a free Notion template to enhance your writing process? If so, keep reading as I've curated a list of free writing templates that you won't want to miss.

Aesthetic Writer's Notion Templates

Rebecca Mix, a New York Times bestselling fantasy author and a Notion enthusiast, has created a collection of writer-focused Notion templates to streamline your creative process.

• Tailored Templates : Rebecca Mix has designed these templates specifically for writers, addressing the unique needs of authors and novelists.
• Easy Access : Simply click on the template you're interested in, and it will take you to the Notion page or Patreon page where it was originally shared. You can easily copy the template from there.
• Expanded Access : For access to a wider range of templates, including detailed outlining, work-in-progress project pages, revision planning tools, and more, you can explore Rebecca's Patreon.

These templates are a valuable resource for writers looking to enhance their organization and productivity within Notion. And if you're a fan of fantasy books with intriguing characters and mystical magic, you might also want to check out Rebecca Mix's own books.

Storybook Pro

• Progress Board : Easily track your project's progress and celebrate milestones.
• Brainstorming : Unleash your imagination with dedicated spaces for brainstorming and shaping your narrative.
• World-Building Database : Create immersive worlds for your characters effortlessly.
• Three-Act Story Structure : Craft captivating plots with a built-in template.
• Simple Workflow : An intuitive interface ensures you focus on writing, not tool complexity.
• Multiple Project Support : Perfect for single epic tales or multiple projects.
• Templates Galore : Dive into your creative flow with pre-designed templates for Projects, Characters, Cultures, and more.

Free Aesthetic Writer Dashboard

This Aesthetic Writer Dashboard is a free template designed to help writers and authors manage their series and chapters more efficiently.

• Storyboard List: Keep track of your series information and chapter progress, including deadlines and status (such as planning, scripting, revision, etc.).
• Three Main List Views : Easily switch between Chapters view (to organize your chapters), Deadline view (a calendar for tracking deadlines), and Completed Chapters (to view all finished and published chapters).
• Author Sidebar: Access your author profile, store concepts and ideas, and jot down miscellaneous notes or brainstorming ideas.
• Quick Series Addition: Easily create a new series with a single click.

Free Blogging Manager

Created by Molly Jones, a certified Notion Consultant, blogging manager is designed to help you effectively manage your blogging activities.

• Expert Design : Molly Jones, a certified Notion Consultant, has designed this template to ensure it meets your blogging needs.
• Three-Step Workflow : It provides a simple three-step process to help you plan, manage, and track your blog posts effectively.
• Toolkit for Bloggers : The template includes a set of useful tools tailored for bloggers, making it easier to organize and optimize your content creation and publishing efforts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is notion good for writing.

Yes, Notion can be a great tool for writing! It's a versatile platform that can help you write a variety of content, from essays to articles. In my opinion, some use cases work better than others. Personally, I use Notion for writing articles and blog posts, and it has streamlined my process so much that I can't imagine using any other tool.

One of the main advantages of Notion is that it allows you to easily add images, links, and bookmarks to your writing. Additionally, you can sync your articles database with your task database, which can be helpful if your writing requires a lot of repetitive tasks, such as adding common resources or links. Overall, if you're looking for a tool that can make your writing more efficient, Notion is definitely worth considering.

Can I Write a book in Notion?

Yes, you can write a book in Notion. However, as a writer myself, I still prefer to use traditional software like Google Docs or a word processor for writing fiction, like novel or short-story. While Notion is a pretty safe system and has version history and third-party backup available, it cannot guarantee that your book will be 100% safe (No cloud system can). Therefore, if you decide to write in Notion, be sure to make frequent backups by duplicating the page you're writing on or exporting a copy in PDF or Markdown format. However, keep in mind that I am pretty protective of my writing and always back it up in multiple ways, such as saving it onto a USB drive and sending the file to myself via email. The last thing you want is to lose your writing! And this is not just something to worry about when using Notion but with every tool. Be sure to backup and keep your work safe!

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, these Notion templates offer a range of valuable tools for writers of all genres and levels of experience. From comprehensive story structuring to distraction-free writing environments, these templates streamline the creative process and enhance productivity. Whether you're a seasoned writer or just starting, these templates can help unlock your writing potential and take your work to the next level.

Additional Resources

• How I Use Notion for Writing (& My favorite Notion Writing Templates)
• Notion Tutorial for Writers + FREE Templates
• How Indie Authors Can Use Notion for Writing

Notion Beginner? Start Here

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• How to Save a Page as a Template in Notion (2023)
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Notion for Academic Research & Note-Taking

I have to write a literature review for my master’s thesis. When I wanted to start, I didn’t know how to create a list of scientific papers to read and how to manage this growing list of literature. How do I keep track of all open tabs on my browser? How to find a paper X which used such a method? How to order and classify scientific papers?

There are Mendeley and Zotero , two well-known tools for saving articles and generating bibliographies, but these are only useful for keeping a list of papers. There is little customization possible at the folder or tag level. In any case, they never met my needs. Zotero only serves me as a bank of scientific articles, nothing more.

If you want to build yourself a real list of scientific articles classified according to your needs, as in the image below, continue reading this article to discover my method!

Why use Notion for academic research?

I was looking for a tool that would allow me to create my own fields to filter out articles that I found during my literature search.

For example:

• Rating to say how interesting the article is for my research
• Reading priority
• The main subject
• Reading status: to read/read

What sets Notion apart from all competitors is that this note-taking tool offers the possibility of personalizing everything from A to Z, which allowed me to customize the tool exactly for my needs and what I needed for my literature review.

Of course, the main disadvantage of Notion is that since it is a very customizable tool, the learning curve is quite steep: it is difficult to understand how Notion works when you start.

I started using Notion with the current project I’m going to explain in this blog post, so if you have never used Notion before, you should be able to get started with this project!

Related | 14 Ways to Get Motivation to Study NOW!

How to use notion to manage literature for graduate students, first steps on notion & creating the database.

Start by creating an account on Notion . From the left menu, create a new page. Enter a title, and you can also choose an icon to represent the page! Then, select “Table” under “Database” to create a new database to start entering your scientific papers.

Now that the database is created, we need to fill it up! To do so, I used the Google Chrome extension from Notion . 

Add scientific papers with the Notion Chrome Extension

When I’m on the website with the paper or PDF, I click on Notion’s Chrome extension and then select the database I want to add the new article. That’s it! The article is then automatically added to the database with a direct link to the web page.

Then, you can delete the 3 empty rows that were entered in the database automatically.

So, after adding a few papers, you get a database in which ALL of your papers are referenced, regardless of their research subject or methodology. Later, we’ll see how to create different “views” to sort through the papers.

Adding a paper using the Notion Chrome extension is very easy!

How to get the reference of the papers in the Notion database?

I use the Google Scholar Chrome extension to get the BibTex entry for that paper. All that I need to do is to select the title of the paper before clicking on the Google Scholar icon. 

Add properties to the research papers

Now that you’ve learned how to add papers to the database, the next step is to customize the properties you want for the papers! Properties are certain fields we can create to describe the papers in the database. There are many different kinds of properties one can create:

• Select (1 choice only), Multi-Select (Multiple choices)
• Dates (Custom date, Created date, Last Updated Date)
• Files & Media 
• Tag a Person 

Now that you know what a property is, it’s time to create some! To do this, click on a paper’s title to open the page. Then click on “Add a Property” and add the properties you want. Every property you add will be added to the complete database. You can start with just a few properties that you think will be useful to you, and you can always add more later as you learn to use Notion and discover new ideas for sorting your academic literature!

Here are some ideas of properties: 

• Status: To Read, Currently Reading, Finished Reading, which is a Select
• Interesting? : 1 to 3 stars rating, using Select
• Link to the article, using an URL property
• The date that you read the article, using a Date property 

Then you can add properties that are directly related to your search. For example, as I’m working on three specific Parkinson’s disease symptoms, I added a “selection” property that lists the symptoms the paper discusses.

The following image shows the properties that I created in my main database to give you some ideas and inspire you. I have a lot ! You don’t have to create that many properties. For me, my database grew from week to week, and I added more and more properties that I found interesting for my research.

Add different views to sort your papers 

The next step is to create different views to visualize the papers. A view is a way of filtering your main database and saving the filter with a specific name so that you can return to it later. You can filter the papers according to the properties we just created. For example, I created a view that will only show me the papers that I added the tag “To-Read”:

For example, the image below shows all of the different “views” I have of my main database.

• All: The main database that will show all the papers with no filter 
• Comparison Table: A view that shows certain properties that I have selected. It’s a little bit like an Excel table for me. I use this view to compare the papers for my literature review.
• To Read:  List of papers that I identified as a priority to read for my research.
• Read: List of papers that I finished reading.
• Symptoms: 3 different views showing only papers that are related to a specific Parkinson’s Disease symptom
• Uncontrolled Env: List of studies that were done in controlled laboratory environments  
• Scripted Tasks: Again, this view is for my research, but it’s a distinction between different ways to evaluate the disease with smartwatches 

Finally, here is an example of what my Reading List looks like, listing papers I identified as absolutely wanting to read:  

And here is a screenshot of my “Comparison table” view that I use very often: 

Related | My Research Internship at Johns Hopkins University

Conclusion .

I hope this article has been useful for you and helps you build the basics of your own Notion system for managing your scientific papers! Adapt this method to your needs, and don’t hesitate to share your projects with me. I’m curious to know what you will come up with!

Marie likes to push her limits and always keep learning new things. She shares her weekly learnings because "if you can't explain it simply, it means you didn't understand it well enough".

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Thanks for this post Marie ! I recently discovered it and I am using your template to manage the papers of my Master thesis. I never truly benefited from using Zotero and because I am using Notion for everything else, it seemed like the right decision to use it too for my research.

Hello Irene! Thank you so much for your comment. I’m happy to know this was helpful! Marie

Hi I am a PhD student and working on climate change. I also work a lot with big data and just started stepping on ML too. This blog post is very useful and what I have been looking for. Thank you so much for sharing it.

Hello Kyoung, Thank you so much for your comment! 🙂 Very happy to know my post was helpful! Marie

Thank you for your helpful article! I did have a question because I tried using your template and wasn’t sure how to get it to work the way you demonstrated. When I’ve tried using the Google Chrome extension to add articles, I’ve only been able to add them as a separate page, not as an entry into the database.

Hello! Yes, that is possible. When that happens, I actually drag and drop the item afterward in the database. Best, Marie

Oh my gosh, this is one of the most helpful articles I’ve found. Why didn’t I know about this before? It makes it easier to navigate and research. Thank you so much for these tips.

Hello Miranda, I’m so glad I was able to help 🙂 Marie

Thanks for this very informative blog-post.

I have been doing some google searching and I found an idea of have two linked tables. https://www.reddit.com/r/Notion/comments/gs0f6l/template_workspace_for_machine_learning/ it says for Machine learning but it is applicable to all fields.

Just wondering if you have worked with two linked tables and if you find this idea useful ?

The only time I used a linked database is to keep some important citations. I created a “citations” database, and when I wanted to keep an argument that might be useful for my thesis, I would add it to the citations database and link it to the actual paper in my Reading List database.

But for sure, the dashboard that I’m sharing in this blog post can definitely be pushed further!

Best, Marie

Hi Marie! This is super helpful, and exactly what I was looking for. Such a sophisticated and useful way of storing research notes. I just wondered how you capture all of the details of the academic paper? Do you manually copy and paste author name, year, journal etc? I didn’t really understand the BibTex google scholar extension part? Thank you for the template! Emma

Hello Emma! I’m glad I was able to help!

Yes, at the moment, I manually copu and paste the information that I want to have in my Reading List database on Notion.

Since I published this blog post, Notion has released their API, allowing some automation to be done. I haven’t looked into it yet, but you could search around that if automation is possible now for papers information 🙂

For the BibTex Google Scholar Extension part, did you see the gif I shared about that? Basically, I downloaded the Google Scholar extension for the browser Chrome. This means that I can highlight the title of a paper, and then, when I click on the extension, I can directly get all the BibTex information.

Hope this helps! Marie

Can we make the thesis report or write a research article in notion? Many prefer latex. Can we do it in Notion?

I don’t think I would suggest writing a research article on Notion. I prefer to use Overleaf, as it supports LaTeX, version history, collaboration, comments, etc.

Notion is better for Markdown!

Hi, I was wondering is it possible to import Mendeley’s library to notion? I have a 1000+ library and I would love to use my attention pdf. How are you dealing with the annotation of pdf? Are you using any pdf file or just doi with your own annotations for the paper within notion?

Hello! I am basically using this as a way to write notes instead of annotating a PDF on my iPad most of the times. I haven’t done a workflow that does both. Since your comment, Notion has released their API, so it might be possible to import your articles from Mendeley to Notion with such a tool: https://tray.io/connectors/mendeley-notion-integrations

But I haven’t tried it! Marie

I am considering adopting Notion and your post (forwarded to me by a dear colleague) is very useful! I have a quick question to help me appreciate better the power of Notion: what would be the difference between the Notion database of articles and a spredsheet (Google sheets, Excel, OO)? Thanks!

Hello Patricia! Glad to know people are sharing my blog posts! 🙂

I would say that Notion can be like a Google Sheet, but the opposite isn’t true. In a way, Notion can be more powerful. The interface is also prettier to work with, at least in my opinion, and more instinctive!

It also allows to add “properties” to each paper, which you can’t really do on Google sheets (or would be more complicated to implement), it would mostly just be columns and rows. In Notion you can do that, but also have more information and see it from different views.

Hope that helps! Marie

OMG, this is crazy <3 , exactly what I am looking for! Thank you so much!

Glad to hear that!

Hi Marie, have you made any updates to the template?

Hello, I have not!

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• Setups & Tech
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The 40 Best Notion Templates for Students in 2024 (Aesthetic & Functional)

Notion is a must-have if you’re a student in 2024. With how versatile the platform is, you can use Notion to do everything from planning out your semester, taking notes, tracking grades, organizing your extracurriculars, and more.

Starting a Notion workspace from scratch can be a time-consuming process, especially if you have a busy school schedule to begin with. To make your life easier, we’ve curated a list of the best Notion templates for students, that have already done the heavy lifting for you. Easily pick one that works best for your academic lifestyle and personal aesthetic!

Are you a teacher looking to streamline your semester in Notion? Check out our blog post featuring the best Notion teacher templates !

Looking for more productivity tips and tools? Subscribe to The Flow — our quick, snappy, value-packed focus and recharge newsletter. Also, don’t miss our several other  Notion template round-ups and guides !

• First Name First

Table of Contents

• All-in-One Notion Student Templates

Notion Study Templates

Notion student planner templates, notion class & assignment templates & trackers, notion student note-taking templates.

• Notion Templates for PhD & Grad Students
• Notion Medical School Templates
• Notion Law School Templates

Free Notion Student Templates

Aesthetic notion student templates.

Get the all-in-one Life OS template , the only Notion template you’ll ever need — with over 25 integrated templates built in.

All-in-One Notion Student Dashboard Templates

Manage every aspect of your student life with a Notion student dashboard template, where you can plan out your days, prioritize your daily to-dos , manage projects , take notes, and lots more!

For more dashboard templates, visit our roundups featuring the best Notion life OS templates and Notion dashboard templates !

Student OS: All-in-One Student Template

With over 15 templates in a centralized dashboard, Student OS by yours truly is the ultimate all-in-one workspace for everything you need for your academic career – both in and out of the classroom! Use the class planner, assignment and deliverables tracker, automatic grade calculator, study zone with flashcards, job and internship application tracker, reading tracker, and so much more to set yourself up for success for the next school year and for your whole degree.

Student OS template is available in two different themes, offering the same functionality:

• Template Available Here  [Aesthetic Edition]
• Template Available Here [Minimalist Edition]

Advanced Student Dashboard & Knowledge Base

Template Available Here

ADHD Student Daily Dashboard

Available in multiple themes!

For more templates like this, don’t miss our full round-up of ADHD-friendly Notion templates — and check out the ADHD FAQ section at the bottom of this very guide.

Template Available Here  |  Plus Version

Acadashboard: Notion Studio OS

Green University Student Notion Dashboard Hub

Academia – Academic Management System for University Students

Aesthetic University Student Productivity Hub

Notion x Student Workspace Template

Notion for University Students

Student Planner Hub

Ultimate Notion Template for College Students

Keep your focus and refine your study routine with a Notion study template. Create a healthy and efficient study routine with Notion, and ace your exams!

Tomato: The Ultimate Pomodoro Notion Template

Check out our full round-ups of Notion Pomodoro templates and Notion Pomodoro timer widgets to deck out your setup!

Notion Study Kit Template

Simple Flashcards Template

Check out our full post on Notion flashcards for more templates and a tutorial!

Notion Flashcard Template for Learning & Studying

Flocus is a free browser-based dashboard for both focus and ambience. Featuring aesthetic themes, personal greeting Pomodoro timer, and lots more! Get early access to Flocus here .

The balance between your social life, academic performance, and mental and physical wellness can be overwhelming during a busy semester. Use a Notion student planner template to help you organize your life and prioritize the things that need to be focused on first!

For more templates, check out our post rounding up the best Notion planner templates .

Notion Semester Planner & Tracker

academia – Notion School Organizer Template

Simple Notion Course & Class Schedule Template

Simple Notion Thesis Planning Template

It’s tough to keep track of all of your deliverables when you have a full class schedule and a life outside of school to balance. Thanks to these templates, you can be sure you don’t fall behind in class with Notion! Monitor your progress and stay up to date with assignments and marks with these templates.

For more templates like these, check out our full round-up of Notion assignment tracker templates !

Notion Courses Manager Template

Notion Syllabus Template

Notion Grade Calculator Template

Notion Advanced Grade Calculator Template

Notion’s beautiful UI makes it easy to jot down notes and organize your documents in databases so you can revisit information for each class easily! Depending on your note-taking style, here are some great Notion student note-taking templates that use beloved techniques such as Cornell, Zettelkasten, and more.

For more templates like this, check out our full round-up featuring the best Notion note-taking templates .

Note-Taking OS

Academic Research Hub – Notion Research Template

Zettelkasten for Notion – Personal Knowledge Management Template

Notion Cornell Note-Taking Template

FlexiNote Note-Taking Template

Simple Aesthetic Lectures & Class Notes

Smart Notes for Students

Notion Student Notes Index

Notion Spaced Repetition Notes Template

Synthetic Notes Template

Basic Notion Class Notes Template

Notion Templates for Grad & PhD Students

There are some great Notion student templates out there, and some even go as far as creating solutions specifically for grad, post-grad, PhD, and master’s students! Plan your thesis, set grad school goals, store notes, track your progress, and so much more with these grad school-ready templates.

Templates Available:

• Grad School & PhD Notion Hub
• Simple Notion Grad School Template
• Notion Academic Dashboard for PhD Students
• Minimal Notion Grad School Dashboard
• Graduate School Applications Template for Notion
• Notion Grad School Application Planner
• Academic Notion Website Template
• Academic CV Notion Template

Notion Templates for Medical Students

If you’re a med student, you know that between all the classes, resources, placements, exams, and everything else, life can get unwieldy. With the right Notion template, organize and centralize everything for your med school journey in one spot!

Check out our full round-up of the best Notion medical school templates for even more options!

• Simple Aesthetic Medical Student Template
• Medical School Dashboard Template
• Notion Medical School Student Dashboard

Notion Templates for Law Students

For the up-and-coming lawyers, these are the templates for you! Organize your law school courses, track firms you want to work at or have applied to, store the hundreds of resources and links you need as a law student, and so much more with these Notion templates for law students.

• Notion Template for Aspiring Solicitors | Video Tutorial
• Aesthetic Law Student Dashboard | Video Tutorial
• Aesthetic Notion Law Student Planner & Dashboard Template | Video Tutorial

If you’re looking to use Notion for your studies, but don’t have the extra coin to pay for templates, there are a ton of simple free Notion student templates to meet basic needs. Here are some of our favorites!

Looking for more free templates? Check out our full list of free Notion templates .

Bright & Airy Aesthetic Student Dashboard Template

Simple Notion Student Homepage

Notion Academic Dashboard Template

Aesthetic Minimal Academic Life Organizer

Notion University / College Hub Template

JaniceStudies Student Notion Dashboard

The Ultimate Notion College Hub Template

Notion Student Loan Tracker Template

Notion School Dashboard Template

Student Hub

Notion Roommate Space Template

The beauty with Notion is that you can personalize your student setup with your favorite visuals, colors, and themes! For inspo, check out these aesthetic Notion student layouts.

Interested in more aesthetic templates? Check out our detailed blog post showcasing the most aesthetic Notion templates !

Cafe Themed Student Planner

Botanical Academia

College Life Academic Planner

Uni-Verse: The Student Template

School Life Dashboard

Aesthetic Matcha Student Planner

Purple Aesthetic Notion Student Template

Sailor Moon Themed Student Dashboard for Medical Students

Notion for Students: A Quickstart Guide

New to Notion? Get to grips with this popular productivity app with our quick guide to Notion for students!

Is Notion a good tool for students?

Yes, Notion is one of the best and most popular productivity tools for students! Thousands of real students use Notion to enhance their academic experience.

Here are a few reasons why Notion is a good tool for students:

• Track every element of your student life — from your assignments and notes to extracurriculars and chores — in Notion’s powerful, connectable databases.
• Features like Notion’s toggle blocks are great for active recall and spaced repetition, helping you take study sessions to the next level.
• Notion is fully customizable, letting you create minimalist or aesthetic spaces — whatever suits your brain and keeps you motivated!
• Collab with other students in real time on Notion — ideal for group projects.
• Use third-party tools to sync your Google Calendar , access helpful widgets , and much more.

Want to learn more about how Notion works? Check out How to Use Notion as a Student: A Full Guide !

What about Notion for ADHD and neurodivergent students?

Notion is an excellent organizational and productivity tool for ADHD and neurodivergent students. On Reddit, you’ll find dozens of posts ( like this one ) from neurodivergent students looking for the best ways to use Notion.

Here are a few reasons Notion is good for ADHD and neurodivergent students:

• Storing your notes, assignments, and other essential info in Notion can prevent distractions and tab-switching.
• Filters, statuses, and other database features help combat “time blindness”, helping you better prioritize tasks.
• ADHD-friendly organization systems like Zettelkasten can be easily set up in Notion.
• To-do lists, calendars, progress bars , and databases let you break big tasks down into small steps — and organize your academic life in a way that makes sense to your brain.
• Dozens of specially-made, ADHD-friendly Notion templates make setting up your student hub quick and easy.

Is Notion free for university and college students?

Notion offers a free plan for everyone that gives you all the functionality needed to help you conquer your coursework.

Students at US-accredited higher education institutions are eligible for a free Notion Plus Plan. The Plus Plan lets you share your Notion pages with up to 100 guests, access 30 days of page revisions, and more.

Unfortunately, Notion does not offer its free Plus Plan to high school students.

You can access Notion Plus for free as long as you have access to a valid educational email address. (Notion doesn’t accept student IDs as proof.)

To redeem your Plus Plan, make sure the email address of your Notion workspace matches your student email. To change your email address, open Settings & members from your Notion sidebar, then select My account > Change email .

To learn more, visit Notion’s help center .

Is Notion AI free for students?

Notion AI is a separate paid add-on. You can test out Notion AI for free with a set number of complimentary responses.

Many students find Notion AI useful for summarizing text, creating bullet points out of class notes, and highlighting key points.

It’s worth noting you shouldn’t use Notion AI to generate essays and assignments — doing so almost certainly breaches your university’s policies on plagiarism.

Which Notion templates for students would you recommend? Are there any Notion student templates that we’re missing from the list? Let us know in the comments below!

Gridfiti is supported by its audience – when you buy something using the retail links in our posts, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Read more  about our affiliate disclaimer.

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8 Best Notion Templates for Writers in 2024

As a writer, a journalist or even a scriptwriter, you can easily get overwhelmed by the amount of information that you have to deal with.

Whether you are writing a short story, a novel, an article, a blog post or a storyline, you need a system in order to stay organized and productive .

The problem with popular tools likes Microsoft Word or Google Docs is that they’re only good for the writing part, the content. But how about all your research work, your notes, drafts, links and external resources? How about the structure and outline of your writing?

Instead of multiplying tools, you need one flexible workspace that can be adapted to your own writing needs . Notion is the best tool for that.

In this article, we selected the best Notion templates for writers, so you can start using Notion for all your writings in a few minutes.

And if you are looking to go further with Notion, check out our selection of the latest  best Notion templates .

Ok. Let's get to it!

Notion for Writing Template Pack

One Notion template to manage every part of a writer's work. This template will help you with:

• Actually WRITING : track your daily word count, set tasks, and review your work each week and month.
• Having your work and productivity under control with goal and deadline setting, tracking progress on all your writing projects
• Creating a book structure : quickly create, organize, reorganize chapters
• Building your world with dedicated sections for describing everything about your fictional world. Including Characters, demographics, economy, language, magic, fashion, geography and more.

→ Get Notion for Writing Template Pack

The Modern Writer Template

The Modern Writer is a template that focuses on storytelling and book writing.

It's made for writers who need to capture all the free-flowing ideas and writing concepts. In this template, you can see everything in a glance in one central dashboard. It's the perfect workspace to create and organize all scenes, acts and chapters in an easy to navigate timeline.

→ Get The Modern Writer

World Building Bible

This template is for writers who are creating a whole fictional world for their novel or storyline. It can be difficult to keep a coherent story when it has a lot of characters, events, twists, places and eras, while keeping track of how everything is interconnected.

This template provides a workspace to describe your world in a very detailed way. World Building Bible is a Notion template with 7 interconnected databases, with pre-made dashboards and sub-templates, that help you keep track of each part of your world.

→ Get World Building Bible Template

Fictional Story Timeline

With this free Notion template, you can say goodbye to inconsistent character profiles, timelines, geography and plot holes. It can help you gain a better, deeper understanding of the world you’re creating, ultimately helping you to write a better story.

This template is great for writing fantasy stories as it allows you to put in custom dates and eras. It is free and compared to other Notion systems for writers, it is simpler and thus great for those who are just getting started with Notion or world bibles in general. If you want a more complex all-in-one solution for your writing, we recommend checking out other templates in this article.

→ Get Fictional Story Timeline Template

Storybook Pro Notion Template

Storybook Pro was created by experienced writers who are behind the Youtube channel Writing Quest. This template is a great writing helper, whether you’re writing a book, multiple standalone novels or an entire series.

Collect and organize random inspiration from your life experience or other books and resources. Brainstorm characters, plot lines and write chapters fast. Organize chapters into acts and finally, ensure a consistent story by writing a world bible in the World Building tools.

→ Get Storybook Pro

Aesthetic Notion Templates for Writers

Looking for an aesthetic Notion template to enjoy writing even more? Here is a collection of 6 FREE templates with beautifully designed dashboards.

This bundle features Notion templates with different aesthetic styles (cyberpunk, cotton candy and more) for drafting, revising, tracking progress and much more.

These templates are simple, straight-forward and very useful, as they include in-depth prompts, that will help you define your world and also motivations behind your writing. It's a great fit for Notion beginners.

→ Get Aesthetic Notion Templates for Writers

Stoic Life Journal Notion Template

This template is not specifically made for novel writers, but uses the power of journaling to reflect on what you learned and get a clearer mind while improving your writing process and skills.

Regular journaling will help you explore the depths of your emotions, personality and your life, ultimately helping you to write more profound stories. With journaling, you can get rid of persistent worries, start seeing useful patterns and be more grateful for what you have.

This template presents you multiple journaling systems, styles and techniques inspired by Greek Stoic philosophers such as Marcus Aurelius or Epictetus.

→ Get Stoic Life Journal Template

Notion Blog Dashboard Template Bundle

Is writing online part of your personal or business growth strategy? Then you must know how difficult it is to manage an entire blog and writing posts for your social media channels consistently.

This comprehensive blogging manager template is the all-in-one workspace that you'll need to master your content strategy. Blog articles, social media posts, newsletters, video scripts... Store and schedule everything from this mega template. Track your tasks, manage your content calendar and plan all your campaigns from a main dashboard.

In addition, you'll also get tools to analyze your content performances, manage your related finances and partnerships. As an extra bonus, this template includes 35+ resources on managing a blog and writing creatively.

→ Get Notion Blog Dashboard Template Bundle

Notion for Writers FAQ

Is notion good for writers.

Its clean interface and unique block style pages make Notion a must-have for writers. Notion also offers a lot more to simplify the writing process of novels, storylines or articles. It allows creating entire systems that help writers to organize everything, from storing notes and ideas to writing whole stories.

Can you write a novel in Notion?

Notion turns out to be very handful for writing a novel or any kind of fictional story. Compared to other writing tools, its database feature makes it easy to build a custom writing system. Moreover, pre-built templates especially made for novel writers are available.

Thus, Notion is great for every part of the writing process. From storing drafts and inspirations, to organizing scenes and chapters.

Frequently asked questions.

Most popular articles..

The Best Notion Templates for 2024

99 FREE Notion Templates for Everything [2024]

20+ Aesthetic Notion Templates & Design Inspirations [2024]

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Honey, I Love You. Didn’t You See My Slack About It?

Some couples are using professional project-management software to maintain their relationships. Why does it bother other people?

By Erin Griffith

Ben Lang didn’t expect to get so much hate just for being organized. For the past three years, he and his wife, Karen-Lynn Amouyal, have been using Notion, a popular software tool, to optimize their household and relationship. His version of the tool, commonly used by businesses to manage complex projects, functions like a souped-up Google Doc, with sections for a grocery list, to-do lists and details of upcoming trips.

More unusual is a section Mr. Lang, a venture capital investor who previously worked at Notion, created about principles (“what’s important to us as a couple”). Another section, called “Learnings,” outlines things the couple have discovered about each other, such as their love languages and Myers-Briggs test results. There’s a list of friends they want to set up on dates. They also maintain a log of memories from their date nights. Mr. Lang, 30, was so proud of the creation that last month, he started promoting a template of the setup to others. “My wife and I use Notion religiously to manage our day-to-day life,” he wrote on X. “I turned this into a template, let me know if you’d like to see it!”

The internet responded with a venomous outrage. “People have told me my wife is cheating on me, people have told me I have a dead body in my basement, people have told me I’m autistic,” he said.

But his approach isn’t entirely unusual, especially among people who work in the tech industry and want to manage their personal lives the same way they manage their professional lives. For a class of young workers, it’s only rational to apply the tools of the corporate world to their relationships and families. Businesses have goals and systems for achieving them, the thinking goes. They get things done.

Anastasia Alt, 35, uses Kanban boards — a visual tracking system where tasks progress from left to right — in Trello, a project management tool, for “literally everything.” This includes work at Yana Sleep , her e-commerce start-up, but also planning trips and events with her partner. The two of them also have a dedicated Slack work space, named after a mash-up of their surnames with a logo created using the artificial intelligence software Midjourney. She acknowledged, in jest, that some of her systems were “a little psychopathic,” but said she’s always been an optimizer.

Ms. Alt said the Slack work space has emotional benefits for her relationship, too: freeing up their text messages and in-person conversations for the fun stuff.

“I’m glad, when the workday is over, that I don’t need to address 20 minutes’ worth of semi-urgent logistical items before diving into eating takeout food and hanging out with our dogs,” she said. “Sitting in person and hashing out a schedule together is less high-quality time than sitting in person and, you know, telling jokes.”

A #gratitude channel, where the couple posts messages of appreciation or acknowledgment of what the other person is doing, has become a repository of memories she likes to look back on, almost like a photo album, she said.

Lessons From Business

Relationships are work, but no one wants to admit it.

But this particular flavor of life hacking often causes observers to collectively recoil. It threatens to take the romance and spontaneity out of life, in their view. It feels cold.

“There is a phenomenon whereby the more you try to manage your life, the more you risk squeezing the vibrancy out of it,” said Oliver Burkeman, author of “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals.”

And yet, the crushing overwhelm of modern life, with daily to-do lists and schedules and notifications and digital logistics can feel so never-ending that any solution offering to optimize even the tiniest task — or most meaningful relationship — looks like a lifeline worth grasping for.

Emily Oster, a parenting expert and economist, rose to popularity by promoting a data-based approach to managing pregnancy, including in her latest book “The Unexpected.” She also wrote a book in 2021 called “The Family Firm,” which advises using a “business process” to make family decisions about, for instance, extracurriculars or getting your kid a phone. Some critics have attacked her approach for the same reasons they recoil from a Notion template for married couples — it can feel detached.

Dr. Oster said the problem is not systems like hers — it’s not having difficult conversations about priorities and principles. Her spreadsheets and other tools are designed to set people up for the lives they want, she said.

“Surfacing conflict on purpose is something we don’t generally like to do,” she said. “It’s hard to do at work, also, but it’s even harder to do with someone you want go to sleep with at night.”

Dr. Oster said the lesson she takes from the business world to her personal life is to make thoughtful, deliberate decisions. “I don’t think there is a limit to how far you can take that,” she said.

She’s not alone in that thinking. Even amid the backlash to Mr. Lang’s template, more than 2,400 people liked it enough to download a copy, with an option to pay up to $25.

‘They Are Craving a Solution’

Claire Kart, 40, was among those who bought the template, in part, she said, because she was amused by all the jokes about it. But also, with two kids under the age of 3, the allure of a better, more productive, more organized way of life at home was irresistible.

Ms. Kart, a marketing executive at a cryptocurrency start-up, already has some optimization systems in place with her husband, a start-up founder. They use Google’s Keep app for a shared grocery list and Google calendars to manage their schedule. She has elaborately color-coded Google Sheets for Christmas gifts and vacation planning. (She calls herself the family’s chief creative officer, as well as chief investment officer. Her husband is the chief financial officer and chief technology officer.)

Ms. Kart said systems like hers were necessary for splitting up household management duties. One person can keep everything in their head, she said, but “dividing and co-owning that work” leads to “coordination friction.”

Like Ms. Alt, she believes the systems free up their limited in-person time for more meaningful conversations. “Using that really rare time to talk about a grocery list feels lonely,” she said.

Since her second child was born a little over a year ago, Ms. Kart and her husband have been “cutting scope,” she said, using a project management phrase for doing less. “We’re in survival mode,” she said. “Just cooking dinner feels like a win.”

Mr. Lang’s template could help, she said. The only problem so far? She’s been too busy to set it up.

A smaller subset of people have always used tech tools in their personal lives, but the practice has spread in recent years. Mei Lin Ng, the co-founder of the family tech start-up, Hearth, said that one reason past attempts to create technology for the family have failed was that consumers weren’t as open to it. Her company’s product, a 27-inch screen that families can mount in their homes to display schedules, assign chores and help kids with morning and bedtime routines that became available last year, is being adopted by digitally native millennials.

“Consumers are really, really ready for something like this,” she said. “They are craving a solution.”

After Ms. Alt told her friend and fellow optimizer, Ryan Matzner, about her couples’ Slack, he immediately started his own. It was a bit of an uphill battle to get his fiancée, Kate McKenzie, on board — she is a medical school student and preferred analog tools like a paper planner — but they’re now using Trello, Slack and a shared Google calendar to plan their wedding.

Mr. Matzner, 39, co-founder of a product development agency called Fueled, realized that he had been avoiding responding to text messages from Ms. McKenzie because their thread had turned into a to-do list full of tasks.

So they dumped all their administrative tasks into Slack, which has expanded beyond wedding planning into regular life with more than 40 channels including #house-parties, #travel and #ludwig-the-car.

Being hyper-organized and efficient is a natural outgrowth of having a very active work and social life, Mr. Matzner said. He sends calendar invites the minute he makes plans and saves new friends into his contacts with their city — searchable anytime he’s in town — as well as a note if they’d be fun to invite to a dinner party. He wishes someone would build a “personal C.R.M.” (customer relationship management, the kind of system sold by companies like Salesforce), since none of the options he’s tried are entirely satisfying.

Being the organized person in a relationship can lead to friction. Kate Reznykova, 27, a venture capital investor, used to frequently field random queries like, “How do we log into our internet?” from her partner throughout the day, which tested her patience. She recently started using Mr. Lang’s Notion template to establish a “shared source of truth” for such questions. “If I get a text, I say, ‘Go to the page, it’s all there,’” she said.

Mr. Lang was amused by the attention his template got online. There were memes about divorce rates spiking in San Francisco, about “offboarding” one’s wife and about requiring your partner to submit a “purchase order approval form” to spend money. He posted his own joke version, with quarterly objectives and annual reviews for relationships.

He and Ms. Amouyal used Notion to plan their wedding — a life event that, anecdotally, seems to turn many couples into project managers — and decided to keep it going after their honeymoon. The most hated part of his template, the date night log, was simply a way to follow all the marriage advice he kept hearing, he said. Everyone told him how important it was to keep the connection strong as life gets busier and more complicated. Why not create a journal of all the fun things they’ve done together? The outsized reaction was a surprise.

“I thought a few people would respond and think it’s cute,” he said.

Erin Griffith covers tech companies, start-ups and the culture of Silicon Valley from San Francisco. More about Erin Griffith

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