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Never Lose Another Idea or Thought Again
Notion is an excellent tool for centralizing and organizing all your important information, whether for personal or business use.
However, when it comes to quickly capturing notes on the go, Notion isn’t as efficient or user-friendly as some other tools.
Although the Notion mobile app exists, adding a note to a page or database involves too many steps to be practical for everyday use, especially when capturing those unexpected thoughts and ideas throughout the day.
While some third-party mobile apps have emerged to tackle this problem, there is an easier way.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create your very own Notion quick notes solution using only the Shortcuts app on your iPhone, allowing you to easily capture notes by typing or recording your voice.
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How to Capture Notion Quick Notes with Your iPhone
Simply follow these steps to create your own Notion quick notes iPhone widget:
1. Install & Log Into the Notion App on Your iPhone
This is a prerequisite for all the following steps. Even if you don’t actively use Notion on your iPhone, installing the app enables a crucial shortcut functionality that we’ll need later.
2. Create a New Notion Inbox Database
To store your captured quick notes, you'll need to create a database for them.
In my own Notion workspace, I’ve set up a dedicated and very simple inbox database specifically for this purpose.
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While it’s possible to create separate widgets for different databases, I recommend keeping the note-taking process as simple as possible. That’s why I send everything to the same inbox database.
3. Create a New iPhone Shortcut
Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone and tap on the + button in the top right corner.
Tap on + Add Action, then on Apps, find and tap on Notion, and choose Create a database page.
This is the only action needed for this shortcut.
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Next, tap on the Title variable and select Ask Each Time.
Tap on the small > arrow next to the Database variable to ensure you can select your Notion account and workspace. Then, tap on Database and find and select the inbox database you created in the previous step.
That’s it!
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Lastly, tap on the ˅ symbol at the top to open the shortcut menu. Make sure to give the shortcut a fitting name like “Quick Note” and choose an icon for it.
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The shortcut is now fully functional and can be run directly by tapping on it in the main menu of the Shortcuts app.
4. Add a Shortcut Widget to Your iPhone Home & Lock Screen
To make the process of capturing a quick note as smooth as possible, add a shortcut widget to your home screen, lock screen, or both.
You have four different options to do so:
- Add a shortcut widget icon, similar in size to an app icon, to your home screen by tapping on Add to Home Screen in the shortcut menu within the Shortcuts app.
- Add a larger shortcut widget to your home screen by long pressing the home screen to enter customization mode, then tapping the + symbol in the top left corner.
- Add a larger shortcut widget to your Today View screen by tapping on Edit, followed by tapping the + symbol in the top left corner.
- Add a small shortcut widget to your lock screen widget bar to run a shortcut without unlocking your phone. To do this, long press the lock screen, tap Customize, select Lock Screen, tap the widget bar, and choose the shortcut.
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5. Check & Sort Your Inbox Notes Regularly
Now that you can quickly capture any note, thought or idea with the simple tap of a button on your phone, make sure to also think of a process to regularly check and sort out your inbox database to ensure those gems are put to good use.
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How to Record Notion Voice Notes with Your iPhone
You can also set up a simple voice note shortcut to quickly dictate a note instead of typing it.
Open the Shortcuts app, tap the + symbol, tap on + Add Action, find and add the Dictate Text action, and select your preferred language.
Next, add the Notion database page creation action as described before as the second step, tap on the Title variable and select 🎙️ Dictated Text.
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Now you can add quick voice notes to your inbox database in Notion with just one tap of a button!
All Your Thoughts & Ideas Captured in Notion
Using these shortcuts not only lets you quickly capture and save any thought or idea directly into your Notion workspace, but it also frees up mental space that would otherwise be taken up by these seemingly small things.
Simply capture them with a tap, then organize or sort them out later.
I personally use them to capture creative ideas or quickly track something on the go, like a store purchase, which I’ll later move to its appropriate database.
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