Formula Reference Introduction

This site is a comprehensive reference for creating, using, and debugging Notion formulas.

Since Notion launched, it has lacked a full reference for the formulas feature. This is that reference.

It is the result of more than 300 hours of writing, testing, debugging, and documenting (in addition to experience gained from five years of daily Notion use).

Every formula constant, operator, and function has been fully documented with example code and one or more working example databases, complete with templates you can duplicate.

You’ll also find reference guides on things like operator precedence, data type conversion, debugging, and regular expressions.

If you’d like a more structured, hands-on way to learn Notion formulas, you can check out my Notion Formula Bootcamp course. It’s a guided, exercise-heavy learning experience, and is a great companion to this site (which is more like a technical reference):

The Notion Formula Bootcamp – Learn Notion Formulas in 14 Days
Go from beginner to Notion formula expert in this fun, 14-day formula bootcamp taught by Thomas Frank.
thomasjfrank.com

“Why isn’t this guide written directly in Notion?”

I initially wrote most of this reference in Notion, but ultimately decided to host it on this website for multiple reasons:

  • This website provides a left-hand, scrollable page list, which is common in the world of language/API/software documentation and extremely useful.
  • It also provides a floating table of contents for each page.
  • Notion pages don’t support custom domains, nor easy-to-remember URLs.

For all of these reasons, the documentation is hosted here on my site. However, I’ve also included a companion resource to this guide directly on Notion:

Notion – The all-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, wikis, and databases.
A new tool that blends your everyday work apps into one. It’s the all-in-one workspace for you and your team
thomasfrank.notion.site

This collection contains every example formula featured in this guide, along with a working example database showing the formula in action.

Additionally, each example page is able to be duplicated, so you can duplicate any example, test it out, and make changes in order to build custom formulas and improve your formula knowledge!

Finally, if you want a more general overview of how to use Notion before diving into the world of formulas, check out our free Notion Fundamentals course:

Notion Fundamentals – The Complete Notion Course for Beginners
The comprehensive, public, and 100% free guide to Notion. Go from beginner to Notion expert with video lessons, articles, and downloadable templates.
thomasjfrank.com
About the Author

My name is Thomas Frank, and I'm a Notion-certified writer, YouTuber, and template creator. I've been using Notion since 2018 to organize my personal life and to run my business and YouTube channel. In addition to this formula reference, I've created a free Notion course for beginners and several productivity-focused Notion templates. If you'd like to connect, follow me on Twitter.

🤔 Have an UB Question?

Fill out the form below and I’ll answer as soon as I can! ~Thomas

🤔 Have a Question?

Fill out the form below and I’ll answer as soon as I can! ~Thomas