Notion guide
Marta Kowalczyk writes about design and creative apps for Appcyclopedia, working on a MacBook Air, an iPhone 16 Pro and a Galaxy A55.
- Web
- macOS
- Windows
- iOS
- Android
Short answer
Click the new page icon (📝) at the top of the left sidebar, or press Cmd+N on a Mac or Ctrl+N on Windows in the desktop app. On a phone, tap 📝 at the bottom of the screen. Type a title, then start writing or pick one of the options under it.
Where it lands matters: a page under Private in the sidebar is visible only to you. A page in a teamspace is visible to everyone in that teamspace.
Below: the ways to make a page, the four places a page can live, how pages inside pages replace folders, and what to add after the title.
Make your first Notion page, from title to first block
To create a page in Notion, decide first where it should live, then use whichever button is closest. The last two steps turn the empty page into something you can use.
-
Create the page
Choose the sidebar section the page belongs in
Look at the left sidebar before you create anything. Private holds pages only you can see. Teamspaces, on the Plus, Business and Enterprise plans, hold pages for a team. Shared holds pages you have shared with selected people. Hover over the section you want and a + appears next to its name.
-
Click + in that section, or 📝 at the top of the sidebar
The + next to a section creates the page there directly. The 📝 button at the top of the sidebar opens a new page as a preview and asks where to put it when you are done. In the desktop app, Cmd+N on a Mac or Ctrl+N on Windows does the same.
-
On a phone, tap 📝 at the bottom of the screen
In the Notion app for iPhone or Android, the new page button sits at the bottom of the screen. Tap it and a blank page opens, ready for a title. The rest of these steps work the same on a phone.
-
Give it a title and some content
Type a title
Type a title into the large grey Untitled line at the top. That title is what appears in the sidebar, in search and in links to the page, so make it the word you would search for later.
-
Pick a starting point, or just write
On the web and desktop, options appear under the title: import from an app or file, use a template, create a table and others. Ignore them and press Enter to write on a blank page. You can come back to a template later.
-
Type / to add anything that is not plain text
Type / anywhere on the page and a menu lists every block Notion has. Keep typing to filter it:
/h1gives a large heading,/todoa checkbox,/pagea page inside this one. Press Enter to insert the highlighted block.
A common first set-up: a Notes page under Private, with a subpage for each project, each with a to-do list made with /todo. Nothing is shared, and each project page can move into a teamspace later.
Start private and move pages out when other people need them: moving a page is a drag, and nobody sees it before you do.
If the page ends up in the wrong place
- The new page is in a teamspace and you meant it to be private
Drag it in the sidebar and drop it under Private. Everyone in the teamspace could see it while it was there, so check what you wrote before you moved it.
- You made a subpage by accident
Typing
/pageor dropping a page onto another one nests it. Expand the parent page’s toggle in the sidebar and drag the subpage out to where you want it.- You cannot find the page you just made
Pages created from the 📝 button wait as a preview until you place them. Check Private first, then use search at the top of the sidebar with the title you typed.
- There is no Teamspaces section in your sidebar
Teamspaces come with the Plus, Business and Enterprise plans. On the free plan, your pages live under Private and Shared.
Where a new page lives, and who can see it
Every page in Notion sits somewhere in the sidebar, and the section decides its audience. The button you use changes nothing about that.
| Sidebar section | Who sees pages here | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Private | Only you | All plans |
| A teamspace | Every member of that teamspace | Plus, Business, Enterprise |
| Shared | Only the people you invited | All plans |
| Favorites | Shortcuts to pages you starred; access is unchanged | All plans |
Favorites is not a place a page lives. It appears once you star your first page with ⭐ at the top of the page, and a favourite keeps whatever access it had before.
When in doubt, create the page under Private: it is the one section where a mistake stays invisible.
Pages inside pages: how Notion replaces folders
Notion has no folders. A page can hold other pages, those pages can hold more, and that nesting is how you organise everything.
There are three ways to put a page inside another:
- Hover over the parent page in the sidebar and click its +.
- Open the parent page and type
/page. - Drag an existing page in the sidebar onto the parent until it highlights blue.
Expanding the parent’s toggle in the sidebar shows its subpages, and breadcrumbs at the top of each page show where it sits. To undo a nesting, drag the subpage back out.
What to add after the title
An empty page with a title is already useful as a note. When you want more structure, these four blocks cover most first pages.
| Type this | You get | Good for |
|---|---|---|
/h1 | A large heading | Splitting a long page into parts |
/todo | A checkbox | Task lists and checklists |
/page | A page inside this one | Projects, topics, anything that grows |
/table | A table | Lists with several details per row |
Templates do the same job faster when one fits. They appear under the title of a new page on the web and desktop, and choosing one fills the page in for you.
What to do after your first Notion page
The first page is the hardest part of Notion only because the sidebar does not tell you who can see what. Once you know Private is yours alone, the rest is typing.
Create the page under Private, give it a searchable title, and add blocks with / as you need them. If a page you care about disappears, the guide to recovering a deleted Notion page covers Trash and page history.
Notion page basics people ask about
- Does Notion have folders?
- No. Notion uses pages inside pages instead. A page that holds other pages works like a folder, and it can also hold its own text.
- Who can see a new Notion page?
- It depends on where you create it. A page under Private is visible only to you, a page in a teamspace to its members, and a page under Shared to the people you invited.
- Can I create a Notion page on my phone?
- Yes. Tap the new page button at the bottom of the screen in the iPhone or Android app. The page is part of the same workspace you see on your computer.
- What happens if I delete a page by mistake?
- It goes to Trash and can be restored from there for a time. Subpages inside it go with it and come back with it.
Share this guide
Link copied
Was this guide helpful?
What was missing?
Thanks, that helps us.
Test log
Followed the steps? Tell us how it went on your device. Entries appear here after we check them.
- Worked Every step, start to finish · Elias Brandt and Daniel Okonkwo Team
I tested this
Steps performed and confirmed 15 days ago
When you need this
To have a page of your own in Notion, whether you have just signed up or joined someone else’s workspace, create one from the sidebar. Where you create it decides who can see it.
- Describes
- Notion in a browser and the desktop app for Mac and Windows · Notion app for iPhone and Android
- Takes
- Under a minute per page
- Platforms
- Web · macOS · Windows · iOS · Android
- Published
- 7 October 2026
- Facts checked
- 7 October 2026
Steps repeated and verified by 
Elias Brandt and 
Daniel Okonkwo
on
- Elias Brandt: the Windows and web steps on a ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Windows 11 Pro).
- Daniel Okonkwo: the Mac steps on a MacBook Pro (macOS 27.0.1), the iPhone steps on an iPhone 15 (iOS 27.0.1) and the Android steps on a Pixel 9 Pro (Android 17).
Notion 
