NOTION FORMULAS 2.0: What You Need To Do Today

Summary

Notion has revamped its formulas, introducing a new language that offers powerful features like multi-line editing, error messages, and simplified property referencing. Users can now leverage arrays, rich outputs, and variables, along with new operators like 'map', 'filter', 'length', and 'find'. This update significantly enhances Notion's capabilities, allowing for more complex workspace customization and data manipulation. The video provides practical examples and new use cases made possible with the updated formulas, equipping users with the knowledge to optimize their Notion experience.

Takeaways

• 📝 **New Formula Language**: Notion has reworked its formulas, but automatically converted old formulas to the new language, ensuring continuity for users.
• 🔍 **Multi-line Editing**: Users can now edit formulas across multiple lines, which is more convenient and improves readability.
• 📚 **Simplified Property Reference**: The new formula language allows referencing properties by their name only, removing the need for the 'prop' syntax.
• 🚀 **Powerful New Features**: Notion's new formulas offer access to arrays, rich outputs, variables, nested property access, and workspace-level information.
• 🔧 **Practical Use Cases**: The script provides practical examples of how to use the new formulas, such as checking if a task is overdue.
• 🔗 **Arrays and Functions**: Arrays are now supported in formulas, and functions like 'map', 'filter', and 'find' allow for complex data manipulation.
• 📐 **Dot Operator**: The new dot operator simplifies the calling of functions on properties and accessing system properties.
• 📈 **Rich Text Formatting**: The 'style' operator allows for rich text formatting to be applied to any output in Notion, enhancing visual presentation.
• 🔑 **Variables with 'let'**: The 'let' function introduces the ability to define variables within formulas for more compact and reusable expressions.
• 📅 **Dynamic Task Display**: Users can now display the next open task with the earliest due date in a project view using the new formula capabilities.
• 🎯 **Combining Operators**: The power of the new formulas is showcased by combining various operators to create complex and useful expressions for workspace management.

Q & A

What significant change did Notion make to its formulas?

Notion completely reworked its formulas, introducing a new formula language that is more powerful and easier to work with.

How does the new formula language in Notion affect existing workspaces?

Notion automatically converted all old formulas to the new formula language, so workspaces continue to work as they did before the update.

What are some of the new features available in the updated Notion formulas?

The new formulas offer multi-line editing, improved error messages, a new way to reference properties, array support, rich outputs for Pages, Blogs, and People, variables through the 'let' function, nested access to other properties, and access to workspace-level information.

How does the new 'map' operator function in Notion formulas?

The 'map' operator allows users to work with every single item of an array, applying a certain command to each item and building a new array based on the results.

What is the purpose of the 'filter' operator in Notion's new formulas?

The 'filter' operator enables users to remove entries from an array based on a given condition, allowing for the creation of more specific arrays tailored to user needs.

How can the 'let' function be used in Notion formulas?

The 'let' function allows users to define a variable within a formula, which can then be used in multiple places within the formula, making the formula more compact and easier to manage.

What does the 'length' operator do in Notion formulas?

The 'length' operator counts the number of items in an array or the number of characters in a string, providing a way to perform calculations based on the size of the data set.

How does the 'style' operator enhance the visual presentation of data in Notion?

The 'style' operator applies rich text formatting to any output in Notion, allowing users to add bold, italics, background colors, and font colors to text properties, making the data more visually appealing and easier to interpret.

What is the primary use of the 'find' operator in Notion formulas?

The 'find' operator is used to locate the first occurrence of an item in an array that meets a specified condition, which can be useful for tasks like identifying the next due task based on due dates.

How can users adapt to the new formula language in Notion?

Users can adapt by learning the new syntax, exploring the new functions and operators, and taking advantage of the multi-line editor and improved error messages to create more powerful and efficient formulas.

What are some of the new use cases made possible by the updated Notion formulas?

New use cases include displaying only specific items in a relation, such as showing only open tasks, creating more complex and compact systems without the need for numerous rollups, and applying rich text formatting to any property through formula properties.