Notion vs Spreadsheets: The Major Difference Between Databases & Sheets!
Summary
TLDRThe video script contrasts Notion and Excel, highlighting their distinct functionalities. Notion is ideal for organizing tasks and notes through its database structure of columns and rows, each row being a page. It offers versatile views like Kanban, calendar, and gallery. Excel, on the other hand, excels in financial data management with its cell-based approach, allowing complex formulas across cells and sheets. The script advises viewers to choose based on their needs: Notion for organization, Excel for number-crunching.
Takeaways
- 🧩 Notion and Excel have different paradigms: Notion is organized around pages and databases, while Excel is a cell-based spreadsheet.
- 📊 Notion databases consist of columns for properties and rows for pages, with each row requiring a page.
- 🔗 In Notion, you can't delete the mandatory 'Name' column, which serves as the identifier for each row/page.
- 🌐 Notion allows for versatile data viewing with layouts like table, kanban, timeline, calendar, list, and gallery.
- 📑 Excel treats data as an open canvas where you can freely input information into any cell and use formulas across cells or sheets.
- 💡 Notion's formulas are limited to the properties within the same row, unlike Excel's broader formula capabilities.
- 💼 Excel is more suitable for complex financial tasks that require pulling and calculating numbers from various sources.
- 📈 Notion calculations are restricted to the same column, making it less flexible for cross-column calculations.
- 🔢 Notion allows for basic calculations within a column or row, but it's not as robust as Excel for complex number handling.
- 📱 The presenter prefers using Google Sheets over Microsoft Excel due to personal preference and the availability of a free alternative.
- 🌙 Google Sheets lacks a built-in dark mode, which is a minor inconvenience for some users.
Q & A
What is the main difference between Notion and Excel according to the script?
-The main difference is that Notion is better for organizing and simplifying tasks and notes, while Excel is better at handling complex calculations and financial transactions involving numbers from various places.
How are Notion databases structured?
-Notion databases are made up of columns representing different properties and rows where each row is a page related to these properties. It's mandatory for each row to have a page.
What is the significance of the 'Name' column in Notion databases?
-The 'Name' column in Notion databases is mandatory and cannot be deleted. It represents the title or identifier for the page associated with each row in the database.
How many different views can you switch between in Notion?
-You can switch between six different views in Notion: table, kanban board, timeline, calendar, list, and gallery view.
What is the limitation of formulas in Notion compared to Excel?
-In Notion, formulas can only reference other properties within the same row, whereas in Excel, formulas can reference cells from anywhere in the spreadsheet or even on different sheets.
Can you perform calculations across different columns in Notion?
-No, in Notion, calculations can only be performed within the same column, not across different columns.
What is the recommended way to get in touch with the speaker for questions about Notion?
-The recommended way to get in touch with the speaker for questions about Notion is to tweet at them using the handle 'productive_underscore_dude' on Twitter.
Why does the speaker prefer Google Sheets over Microsoft Excel?
-The speaker prefers Google Sheets because it is a free alternative that has almost all the features they personally need.
What is the speaker's opinion on using Notion for financial tracking?
-The speaker finds it feels forced to use Notion for financial tracking, suggesting that Excel or Google Sheets are more suitable for such tasks.
How does the script describe the flexibility of Excel compared to Notion?
-The script describes Excel as being more flexible and free-form, allowing for complex calculations and referencing cells across different sheets, whereas Notion is more confined to the structure of its columns and rows.
What is the script's suggestion on when to use Notion versus Excel?
-The script suggests using Notion for general organization and tasks, and using Excel for handling lots of numbers and financial transactions.
Outlines
📊 Notion vs. Excel: A Paradigm Shift
The speaker begins by sharing their initial misconception of Notion, comparing it to Excel due to their shared use of tables and formulas. However, they quickly realized the significant differences between the two platforms. Notion databases are structured with mandatory pages per row and columns representing properties. In contrast, Excel spreadsheets are more flexible, treating data as an open canvas where cells can be freely manipulated with formulas referencing any part of the sheet. Notion offers various viewing options like tables, Kanban boards, timelines, calendars, lists, and galleries, which are not as easily replicated in Excel. The speaker also mentions their preference for Google Sheets over Microsoft Excel, noting the lack of a built-in dark mode in Google Sheets.
🔢 Calculations in Notion vs. Excel
The speaker illustrates the limitations of calculations in Notion compared to Excel. In Notion, calculations are restricted to the same column or within the properties of a specific row, demonstrated by adding and calculating numbers in a Notion database. Formulas in Notion are confined to the row they are in, whereas Excel allows for more complex and free-form calculations across different cells and sheets. The speaker suggests that Notion is better suited for organizing tasks and notes, while Excel excels at handling financial transactions and large sets of numerical data due to its flexibility and powerful calculation capabilities.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Notion
💡Excel
💡Databases
💡Spreadsheets
💡Formulas
💡Views
💡Properties
💡Calculations
💡Google Sheets
💡Kanban Board
💡Financial Tracker
Highlights
Comparison between Notion and Excel is discussed
Notion databases and Excel spreadsheets have fundamental differences
Notion uses columns for properties and rows for pages
Each row in Notion must be a page
The 'Name' column in Notion is mandatory and cannot be deleted
Notion allows multiple views: table, kanban, timeline, calendar, list, and gallery
Excel is more cell-based and allows for complex referencing across cells and sheets
Google Sheets is used as an example of Excel functionality
Excel is better for finance and complex calculations involving numbers from different places
Notion is better for organizing and simplifying tasks and notes
Calculations in Notion are limited to the same column
Formulas in Notion only work within the specific row they're in
Excel allows for more complex and free-form calculations across cells
The video aims to help viewers decide between Notion and Excel based on their needs
The presenter suggests tweeting questions to @productive_underscore_dude
The presenter emphasizes the importance of leaving the Excel paradigm when using Notion
Transcripts
when I was first getting started with
notion I compared it to Excel and I
figured oh this probably works how Excel
Works they both have tables they both
have formulas but boy was I wrong notion
in Excel are totally different and if
you are just getting started with notion
you might be stuck in that old Excel
Paradigm that you might be used to
because it's been around for so long and
so many people use it but today I'm just
going to explain the difference between
notion and Excel more specifically
notion databases and Excel spreadsheets
if you have questions about notion or if
you have questions about this video the
best way to get in touch with me is to
tweet at me so definitely tweet at
productive underscore dude on Twitter if
you have any questions and don't forget
to follow me for bite-sized notion and
productivity related content we'll see
you on Twitter in notion our databases
are made up of columns which represent
the different properties that are
available to you and rows where you can
create a page that's related to these
different properties in notion it's
mandatory that each row gets a page and
that's this name column here by default
it's called name you can change the name
of this but what you'll notice is you
cannot delete this name column it's
mandatory right so this is actually a
page that gets added to your notion
database you can open it you can see all
of the different properties that are
related to it like this tags property
here you also see it in the table view
now the other thing to mention about
notion is you can view this in many
different ways if I go to layout here
it's very simple to switch between a
table a kanban board
a timeline a calendar
a list and a gallery view
now while this is possible to view data
in a similar way in Excel it's very
difficult and it's going to require lots
of formulas and lots of referencing to
these different items that you're trying
to pull from but in notion it's very
simple you just change your layout here
and you can view your data in different
ways now I'm going to be explaining
Excel here in Google Sheets and I'm
sorry for those of you who are Microsoft
fans but I've never been able to jump on
board with Microsoft I just prefer this
free alternative that has almost all the
features that I personally need so this
is Google Sheets but it's similar enough
to excel that I think I can use this for
my explanation today and I'm sorry for
those of you who are being blinded right
now Google Sheets does not have a
built-in dark mode unfortunately at
least that I could find now in Excel or
Google Sheets we still have columns and
we still have rows but the way that
they're treated is different you can
think of excel as an open canvas or
where you can add information in any of
these individual cells it's a lot more
cell based we aren't stuck with just a
simple name column tags column and a
formula column for instance if I wanted
to create a formula in this cell I could
create a formula that has to do with
anything within this spreadsheet or even
on another sheet if I wanted to add
another sheet I can reference any cells
with a formula whereas in notion we can
only reference the other properties
within its specific row that we're
referring to so imagine being stuck just
confined to this row right here with
your formula in Excel it certainly
wouldn't be very flexible however notion
will be more useful to people who want
to simplify and organize things whereas
Excel is going to excel no pun intended
at things like Finance right where you
have lots of numbers pulling from all
different places and you need to create
a financial tracker Finance is something
that I've tried to do in notion and I've
even watched some tutorials but it just
feels like you're forcing it when you're
trying to do finance and notion whereas
in Excel or Google Sheets it's so much
easier to get exactly what you're
looking for and to be able to sum the
numbers from different places bring them
where you need to see them and so on now
calculations are possible in notion you
can calculate different things but you
can only calculate within the same
column that you're focusing on so if I
want to calculate something in this
column I could hit calculate here and I
could do one of these calculations I'm
going to delete this date property and
I'm going to show you also how formulas
work because formulas only work within
the row that you're in so this formula
only works in this row this formula only
works for this row and so on whereas
this calculation only works for this
column this calculation only works for
this column and we have this mandatory
page here that's related to all of these
different properties that you can add
here as columns so let's go ahead and
create a number I'm just going to show
you actually let's create two number
properties here I'm just going to show
you how we can do calculations in notion
this will help you visualize it a bit so
here we're just going to add 4 5 and 7
and here I can calculate and if I wanted
to I could sum these numbers
I could average them I could do anything
that I want but only with this
calculation in this column can I do that
now if I wanted to affect a row I could
put some numbers here
but I can only calculate with this
formula within this row so I can't go
prop and I can select number plus number
one which is referring to these
different properties here and hit done
it's going to add these two numbers
together but there's not a way for me to
use this formula in this row to
calculate all of these numbers for
instance whereas in Excel I could have a
number property here a number property
here and these actually aren't even
properties I'm just saying property to
relate it back to notion but I could
have a 10 and a 10 and we could put our
formula all the way over here you know I
could equal this Plus
this and it would work or I could even
go ahead and add a number over on a
separate sheet and I could add that as
well Plus
I go grab my 40 hit enter
and that formula is going to be able to
handle something more complex and free
form like that whereas in notion we're
stuck to the columns and the rows that
we're referring to at that specific time
so this is my best explanation of the
differences between notion and Excel
there are probably a lot more but I
think this video distills down
everything that you need to know when
you're making your decision about which
one you should go with again notion is
better for organizing things in general
things like tasks notes much much better
for things like that whereas Excel is
better at handling lots of numbers maybe
your financial transactions things like
that so I hope this video helped you and
I hope that it enlightened you on the
Paradigm that you need to have going
into notion in the old school Paradigm
of excel alright we'll see you in the
next one
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