Last updated: Oct, 2022

How to share Notion Pages: Complete Guide

How to share pages in Notion? Notion is a powerful tool to manage your projects, build your second brain or simply organise your favourite recipes. Notion is already great if you use it on your own. But if you need to collaborate with others, Notion has got you covered too. In this guide, you’ll learn everything you ever need to know on how to share pages in Notion, the different levels of page permissions in Notion as well as how you can invite guests and members into your workspace.

Don't make these 3 mistakes when you share a Notion Page II Beginner, Intermediate, Pro

What are pages in Notion?

Your Notion Workspace is made up of two different types of content: pages and databases.

A page is similar to a supercharged Google Doc or Word Doc. It has a title and a lot of space for any sort of content that you want to add. You can use it as a normal text editor or create more advanced, website-like structures with rich media embeds.

A database is basically a collection of pages in a structured container. You can add all sort of additional information to a page through database properties like checkboxes, status fields or file uploads.

When it comes to sharing your work with others, pages and databases behave the same way. So for the rest of this article, whenever I refer to pages, it also includes your Notion databases.

If you want to learn everything about pages in Notion, check out video that is part of my complete Notion tutorial:

How to share a page in Notion

To share a page in Notion, click on the Share in the top right corner of a page and type in the email of the person you want to share the page with. Alternatively, click on the Share to web toggle to create a public link.

How to share Notion Page

If you invite a person via their email to your Notion Page, you are adding them as a guest. You can modify their rights by clicking on the Can edit dropdown. A guest must have a Notion account to access your page. If they don’t have one already, they will be prompted to create one when clicking on your invite.

Access Rights Guests Notion Page

If you share a page to the web, you’re basically creating a public website from your Notion page. In theory, anyone with the link can access the page and see your content. In practice, it’s highly unlikely that anyone would guess the random combination of letters and numbers, but it’s still a good idea to not include any sensitive information.

Share Notion page to web

You have a range of settings for pages shared to the web. By default, Notion will enable Duplicate as Template which means that anyone can copy the shared page into their workspace.

By using the share to web link, you can share a Notion page with people who don’t have a Notion account. However, if you want to enable edits and comments, they still need an account.

Lastly, you can set an expiry date for your Notion page and choose whether or not search engines should index it. If you toggle on yes for indexing, then your Notion page could potentially show up in Google for a specific search.

How to share Notion template

To share a Notion template, click on the Share option in the top right corner of a page, toggle on Share to web and make sure that Allow duplicating as template is toggled on. Now, copy the link to share the Notion template.

Share Notion Template

You can find my collection of powerful Notion templates here.

How does the Notion Sharing Hierarchy work?

If you share a page with someone in Notion, they will get access to the page you shared as well as to all of the sub-pages. They won’t be able to see anything else in your workspace.

A sub-page is any page that currently “lives” inside your shared page. These sub-pages appear also in the sidebar if you open the toggle of the main page.

Notion Sharing Hierarchy

If you share a database, all entries inside the database count as sub-pages. Notion currently doesn’t have a foolproof way to only share a sub-section of a database other than going into the individual pages and sharing them one by one.

For a workaround that will get you there 95% of the way, check out the video below:

You can override this default sharing hierarchy by navigating into any sub-page, clicking on the Share settings and reducing the access. Notion will show a restricted message to indicate that this page does not inherit all sharing settings from the parent page.

Collaborating in Notion

When working with others in Notion for the first time, the different options can be a bit confusing. Should you add them to your workspace? Or invite them to an individual page? And what exactly is the difference between a guest and a member in Notion? Here’s everything you need to know.

What’s a guest in Notion

A guest in Notion is anyone who you’ve added via their email address to an individual page using the Share option in the top right corner of a page. By default, they will get access to this page and any pages it contains, though you can go into individual sub-pages and remove their access by clicking on the Share setting again.

On the free plan, you can invite a maximum of 5 guests to your workspace. All paid plans have unlimited guests. Adding someone as a guest will not impact how much you have to pay for Notion.

If you collaborate with someone for a limited time or a specific project, adding them as a guest is the way to go.

What’s a member in Notion

A member in Notion is anyone who was added at the workspace level through the Settings & members option in the left sidebar. By default, members will get access to your whole Notion workspace.

You can create more granular access rights by using teamspaces to separate your workspace (and the access of your members) into different areas or by removing access for specific pages through the Share settings in the top right corner.

Members are only available on Team and Enterprise Levels. Both plans are usually billed per member, so adding someone to your workspace will increase your monthly costs.

You should only add someone as a member to your workspace if you collaborate for a longer time, i.e. your business partner or employees.

Notion Shared Pages Explained

If you are using a personal or personal pro Notion plan, Notion assumes that you work on your own by default. Once you add your first guest to a Notion page, your sidebar suddenly shows two new categories: Shared and Private.

Notion will automatically sort all top level pages with guests under the Shared section. However, if you add a guest to a page that is nested somewhere, it won’t show up here. That means you can’t 100% rely on the distinction between Shared and Private Pages in the sidebar. Always check the top right corner. If a page has guests, you’ll be able to see their avatar here.

Notion Private Pages Explained

If you work on a team or enterprise plan, then your sidebar will have an additional section: teamspaces.

By default, any page that you create in a team or enterprise workspace is visible to anyone else in the workspace (unless you specifically restricted the access of members to this teamspace). You can restrict access to teamspace pages on an individual basis through the share settings in the top right corner. However, if a page lives inside the public teamspace area, admins can always overrule your privacy settings.

If you want to create pages that no one else has access to, use the Private section at the bottom of the sidebar. These private pages are only visible to you. Admins can’t overrule sharing settings here.

Frequently asked questions

Why is content missing on my shared Notion pages?

Sharing a page with someone gives them access to this page and all sub-pages. However, Notion offers various ways to embed information from other pages in your current page that won’t be shared by default.

You can use a synced block to show normal page content elsewhere. And linked views of a database show database content elsewhere. However, unless you share the source of these embeds with your guest, they will not be able to see them.

So if you share a page that contains a synced block or a linked database view, make sure to also share the source with them.

Can you share Notion with others?

Yes, you can share Notion with others. They don’t even need to have a Notion account. Simply click on the Share settings, toggle on Share to web and copy the link. Your Notion page can now be accessed like a regular website.

Can you share Notion for free?

Yes, you can share Notion pages for free. All plans can share an unlimited number of pages to the web. If you want to add a guest to a specific page for collaboration, you can do so for up to 5 guests on the free plan. Team members are only available on the paid plans.

Can you make a Notion Page collaborative?

Yes, you can collaborate on Notion Pages. To do so, invite someone as a guest through the Share settings in the top right corner via their email and give them Edit Access. Alternatively, share a page to the web and toggle on the Edit Option. The other person will require a Notion account to make edits.

Can you share documents on Notion?

Yes, you can easily upload all types of documents to Notion and then use the regular Share Options for pages to give anyone access. File Uploads are restricted to 5 MB per file on the free plan. All other plans support unlimited file uploads.

Do pages inherit sharing settings in Notion?

Yes, sharing settings are inherited in Notion. That means that any sub-page inside your main page will also be accessible if you share the main page. However, you can restrict this by navigating to the share settings of the sub-page and turning off the access.

You can download this Notion Template plus another 21+ other free templates here:

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