The best Notion templates for business productivity

Notion is hands-down one of the best and most versatile productivity apps around right now, no matter what platform or type of device you might be using. But it’s also one of the most overwhelming services to wrap your head around — because it’s so versatile and so packed with potential that it’s almost like a blank canvas. And unless you’re already an accomplished painter in this particular domain, that makes it difficult to know where to begin.

We’ve talked before about specific ways Notion can make you more efficient and how the service can step up your game both with team collaboration and when it comes to personal productivity. But even with those concepts in mind, it can be challenging to figure out how to go from that blank canvas to a fully fleshed-out work of (metaphorical) art.

That’s where Notion’s rich library of templates comes into play. Templates are exactly what they sound like: a series of starting points and frameworks for all sorts of things you can use the service to do.

And goodness gracious, does Notion have a lot of ’em — hundreds, maybe even thousands, created and shared both by the company itself and by Notion power-users around the world. With pages upon pages of endless-seeming options, it can be impossible to even know where to begin. (Sensing a theme yet?!)

Think of this as your cheat sheet. I’ve sifted through and tested out numerous Notion templates to find the best and most broadly useful choices available for business productivity purposes. The 12 templates below are all clear, simple, and thoughtfully designed. And they can all be imported into your own Notion workspace with a single click — then customized and fleshed out as you see fit.

And while some Notion templates do come at a cost, the ones on this page are all completely free and just waiting to be called into action.

A quick Notion template primer

Before we get into the meat of this efficiency-enhancing sandwich, let’s take a sec to go over some quick logistics about how, exactly, these Notion templates work.

First, as you’d expect, you’ll need to sign into Notion — or create an account with the service, if you aren’t already using it. (Notion itself is free at its base level, with an optional $10-per-user-per-month Pro plan that adds in extra features and a $15-per-user-per-month Business plan for additional team management capabilities.)

Then, once you’ve clicked through on one of the template recommendations from this page, you’ll see a “Get template” button in the upper-right corner of its entry.

Click that and follow the prompt to select where you want the template to be saved within your Notion workspace — and a moment later, you’ll be staring at your own custom copy of the template, ready for customization and editing!




A freshly imported Notion template creates a sketched-in canvas for you to customize and control. (Click image to enlarge it.)
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A freshly imported Notion template creates a sketched-in canvas for you to customize and control. (Click image to enlarge it.) JR Raphael

A freshly imported Notion template creates a sketched-in canvas for you to customize and control. (Click image to enlarge it.) JR Raphael

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JR Raphael

From there, working with the template is really no different than working with any other Notion page. You can click on any text, field, or card to edit it — or, if you’d rather blast away all the demo data and give yourself a completely fresh start, you can use your keyboard’s arrows and Shift key to highlight multiple items at once then hit Del to erase them. (You can also right-click on any item and then select “Delete” from the pop-up menu to accomplish the same thing on a case-by-case basis.)

To add a new entry, meanwhile, look for the “+ New” option within any area of a typical Notion template.

Anytime you’re editing an existing entry or creating a new one, you’ll see a side panel show up with all the available fields and options. You can click on any of those fields to edit its contents — either by typing in new text or selecting from a dropdown list of available options, depending on the field type.

You can edit the text or select from a dropdown list of options for any entry within a Notion template.
JR Raphael

You can add your own new properties into the mix, too, by clicking the “+ Add a property” option within a copied-over Notion template. (Depending on the template and how many properties it already has present, you might have to first click an option to expand and display all of the existing properties before you’ll see that.)

Adding new properties takes just a couple quick clicks within any Notion template you’ve selected.
JR Raphael

Beyond that:

To change views — in templates that offer multiple format choices — look for the horizontal list at the top of the template.

To add new columns into tables and boards, scroll all the way over to the right and look for the “+” symbol.

To edit an existing column, click on its name. To edit or move an existing row, hover over it and look for the six-dot icon that appears along its leftmost edge.

Edit an existing row by clicking the six-dot icon alongside it — or move a row by clicking and dragging on that same icon.
JR Raphael

Got it? Good! Now, let’s get to the fun part.

Notion template #1: Projects and tasks tracker

One of Notion’s most potential-packed possibilities is in the area of organization — and at the most basic level, that means keeping track of your work-related projects and tasks, whether personally or across an entire team or department.

The aptly named Projects & Tasks template provides an admirable framework for setting up and starting a system to accomplish exactly that. It gives you carefully crafted tables for both projects and tasks (surprise, surprise!), complete with columns for tracking each item’s status, owner, priority, and completion estimate.

Notion’s Projects and Tasks template provides a ready-to-roll framework for tracking your work-related endeavors.
JR Raphael

All you’ve gotta do is copy the template to your workspace and then start filling in the blanks.

Notion template #2: Product roadmap

When you’re diving deep into a new product or project at work, having a proper place to keep all the progress organized can be the difference between messy confusion and a smoothly executed plan.

The Product Roadmap Notion template is a smart ‘n’ easy way to orchestrate any endeavors you and/or your colleagues are tackling at any given moment. It offers up a timeline-style “Projects” calendar view for mapping out all your in-progress projects and then a Kanban table for breaking down the status of specific tasks within each project.




Organizing work-related projects is painless with the Product Roadmap Notion template. (Click image to enlarge it.)
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Organizing work-related projects is painless with the Product Roadmap Notion template. (Click image to enlarge it.) JR Raphael

Organizing work-related projects is painless with the Product Roadmap Notion template. (Click image to enlarge it.) JR Raphael

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JR Raphael

You can tweak and customize the setup as needed, but by and large, it should just work right out of the box for most common purposes.

Notion template #3: Product wiki

Once you’ve got a project finished, the Product Wiki template will help you keep its many moving pieces organized and optionally also keep other people on the same page about any procedures and processes around it. It’s your own personal wiki, in other words — for yourself, your company, or maybe even external sharing.

The Product Wiki template acts as a neatly organized home for any project or procedure. JR Raphael

The specific format may end up varying from one project to the next, but this basic framework will provide a strong starting point for practically any purpose imaginable.

Notion template #4: IT issue tracker

If there’s one type of ongoing project that absolutely requires its own specific space and system, it’s the ever-popular gallery of glitches — a.k.a. the place where you report, store, and track any and all IT-related issues. (Yay, technology!)

The IT Issue Tracker template is all you need to get your hell helpful home for such matters started. It features a premade board for filing and managing tech troubles of any variety as they move from being observed and submitted to — hopefully, allegedly, theoretically — being fixed.

You may not be able to make tech troubles go away easily, but you can at least keep track of ’em with the handy IT Issue Tracker template. JR Raphael

I might just suggest adding in one extra field for the reliably relevant measure of “likelihood to cause insanity.”

Notion template #5: Editorial planner

No matter what manner of work you’re doing these days, odds are, you’ve got some sort of capital-C Content to contend with — be it company blogs, editorial articles, or maybe even just meandering social media musings.

The Notion Editorial Calendar template is a terrific place to create an approachable system for keeping track of all such matters.




The Editorial Calendar template can be useful for any type of content you might be crafting — from blogs to articles and short social media posts. (Click image to enlarge it.)
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The Editorial Calendar template can be useful for any type of content you might be crafting — from blogs to articles and short social media posts. (Click image to enlarge it.) JR Raphael

The Editorial Calendar template can be useful for any type of content you might be crafting — from blogs to articles and short social media posts. (Click image to enlarge it.) JR Raphael

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JR Raphael

Customize the fields and options to match the parameters that make sense to you, and you’ll be up and running in mere minutes.

Notion template #6: People directory

Give everyone on your team an easy way to find and learn about colleagues, clients, or even competitors with the delightfully simple People Directory Notion template.

The template is set up to showcase such details as location, title, and time with the company along with more elaborate contact info within each individual card — but, as with any of these templates, you can take total control and shake things up to meet whatever purposes you might need once you’ve copied this over into your workspace.

The People Directory template can be used for practically any person-organizing purpose.
JR Raphael

Your co-workers have never looked so presentable.

Notion template #7: Company events calendar

In addition to its prowess with charts, tables, and databases, Notion is great at maintaining graphical calendars for event organization.

And the Events Calendar template serves up a simple starting point for creating your own calendar view and then filling it in with whatever significant stuff you’ve got on your agenda.

The Events Calendar template is simultaneously as basic and effective as can be.
JR Raphael

With the ability to switch to a more detailed list- or card-based view and to link each item to its own separate page (like, say, a product roadmap!), this template will fit right into your growing hub for info and organization.

Notion template #8: Job application tracker

Certain tasks deserve their own dedicated spaces, and that’s certainly the case with the complex chore of searching for a new job.

The Notion Job Application Tracker template is perfectly qualified for the role. It’s a simple and effective setup for storing positions you want to apply for and then keeping tabs on your journey as you move further along with each new item, all within a convenient Kanban-board-style, card-centric pipeline.

The Job Application Tracker Notion template makes the job of searching for a new job a little easier to manage.
JR Raphael

With a separate section for action items also already present and waiting, you’ll be ready to find that perfect next gig in no time.

Notion template #9: Read later

My favorite Notion productivity secret is how incredible the service is at acting as an interactive link library and read-it-later service. Honestly, it’s better than any dedicated read-it-later app I’ve ever used.

And the Read Later template is all you need to understand why. Pair it with the Notion Web Clipper browser extension or the standard mobile sharing function from any other app into Notion (on either Android or iOS), and it’ll serve as a warm and inviting home for anything and everything you save.

Notion is surprisingly great at saving links for later reading, and the Read Later template is a top-notch way to get the party started.
JR Raphael

Anything you save into that space will automatically show up as its own card, complete with a title, image, and URL — and, in the most important twist, the entire text of the article waiting inside, optimally formatted and with all ads and other distractions stripped away.

You can read or share the info right then and there and even edit, annotate, or mark it up in any way you want. Whether you’re saving work-related articles for your own future perusal or creating a repository of relevant resources for your entire team — for general purposes or maybe for specific individual projects — it’s an invaluable way to collect important info and keep it readily available for later revisiting.

Notion template #10: Reading list

In addition to organizing online articles, Notion can be supremely effective at helping you organize actual books you intend to read — be they printed editions or e-book equivalents.

That’s what the Reading List template is all about. It’s a meticulously mapped-out structure for storing info on books you want to tackle — for work purposes or even for personal, brain-recharging pleasure — and then having a complete collection of everything you’ve read for future reference as well.

Turn Notion into your own personal reference desk with the free Reading List template.
JR Raphael

With ready-to-fill fields for summaries, categories, and even your current page-turning progress, you’ll never lose track of anything important again.

Notion template #11: Sticky notes

For all of our fancy-schmancy modern organizing systems, sometimes a good old-fashioned Post-it Note is exactly what you need.

The Notion Sticky Notes Board template brings that same analog style into the digital domain with a virtual bulletin board for all manners of on-the-fly notes — organized into different categories with a comfortingly Post-it-like appearance.

The Sticky Notes template adds a simple spot for Post-it-like note-taking into your Notion environment.
JR Raphael

All that’s missing is the adhesive.

Notion template #12: AI text generator

Last but not least in our list of commendable Notion templates is a little somethin’ that ties into our current generative-AI obsession — and that’s an AI text generator for your own articles, memos, emails, and more.

It’s called the AI Blog Post Generator template, and it has spaces to add in a summary of the topic you’re thinking about along with a series of bullets for the main points you want the text to address. Fill in those fields, click the “Generate” button, and boom: Notion’s built-in AI will cough up some custom prose for your purposes.