The Finer Points of Simple Tables

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Within the documents you compose in Notion, you’ll likely want to present tabular information without the complexity databases. The Table block does just that.

Let’s explore how to create and customize these “simple tables.”

Create a Table.

• Insert a Table like any other block, by clicking + or typing /table. By default, a new Table is 2×3 with no formatting.
• Alternatively, you can convert a table-formatted database (without multiple views) to a Table block by clicking its ⁝⁝ menu and selecting Turn into simple table.
  
  
  
• That means you can paste cells from a Google Sheet, then convert the resulting database to a Table block.
• Conversely, you can convert a Table to a database from its ⁝⁝ menu.

Adjust widths.

• While row heights are dictated by their inner contents, you can manually resize columns by dragging their borders.
• When editing a Table, you’ll see its primary menu at the top-right. At any time, clicking the double-arrow extends the Table to the full width of the content area, with equal column widths.
  
  

Format headers.

• To emphasize the heading of columns or title of rows, you can enable a Header row or Header column. Doing so shades the top row or leftmost column.
• You’ll find both options within the Options dropdown of the Table‘s primary menu.
  
  
  
• Alternatively, you can use the ::: menu specific to each row or column. Hover over the row or column to reveal the icon.
  
  
  

• When you convert a database to a Table, it the Header row is automatically enabled.

Add and edit rows and columns.

• Within the ::: menu for a column or row, you can duplicate, delete, clear, or add an adjacent column or row.
• You can also add columns or rows by clicking or dragging the + bar that appears when you hover over the last column or row.
• You’ll find a draggable + at the bottom-right corner of the Table as well.
• With a full column or row selected, you can use keyboard shortcuts like cmd/ctrl + b to apply formatting to all of its cells.
• By clicking and dragging their ::: menus, you can rearrange rows and columns.

Populate cells.

• The cells of Tables work just like the Text properties of databases or individual Text blocks.
• You can format the text, add hyperlinks, and @-mention pages, people and dates.
• While you’re unable to add other blocks—including bullet, number and to-do lists—you can get creative with emojis, special characters (including the bullet: •), and line breaks (shift + return/enter).
  
  

Questions? Tweet @WilliamNutt.